Meetings without assigned action items and owners create accountability gaps, waste resources and kill momentum. They transform potentially productive discussions into dead-end conversations that accomplish nothing concrete.
The key problems are:
- There's no accountability. When nobody owns a task, nobody does it.
- They waste time and money. It's paid collective procrastination.
- You lose momentum. These meetings are where good ideas go to die.
- They create confusion. When there are unclear next steps, everyone leaves confused about what happens next.
- You rehash the same discussions. The same topics resurface endlessly without progress.
This shit happens because it's easier to have vague discussions than make concrete commitments. When you assign someone a specific task with a deadline, suddenly things get real. They might push back, ask for resources or point out obstacles. It's messier but actually productive.
Instead, everyone gets to feel like they participated in something important without anyone having to stick their neck out or be held accountable for results.
The cruel irony is that meetings about making things more accessible often aren't accessible themselves. And when they produce no concrete outcomes, it sends a message that accessibility isn't actually a priority. They train your team that meetings don't matter.
People start showing up mentally checked out because they know nothing concrete will come from it anyway. Employees feel unheard, accessibility advocates get burnt out and the trust erodes.
Think about it.
When you're constantly pushing for change with no visible progress, you'll eventually stop believing the organisation actually cares about inclusion. Meetings become performative rather than productive. Organisations get to check the "we had an accessibility meeting" box without actually improving anything.
Meetings need follow-through. If you're not hearing names tied to dates and specific deliverables, you're just talking for the sake of doing it.