Create More Meaningful Meetings!
I love Patrick Lencioni’s book title, Death by Meeting, because so many companies spend too much time in terrible meetings, so when I mention this, everyone gives me a knowing smile. Once, when gathering input on a company survey, a group said, “we have too many meetings” as a complaint about company culture, I realized that if meetings mattered, and people felt like important things were happening there, they’d never say there were too many nor would they say it was contributing to their impending mortality.
Most team meetings have three primary problems: they’re full of the wrong content, unfocused, and go on too long; people forget their purpose. What can you do today to create more meaningful meetings?
Stop doing round robin updates. This is the least effective and worst use of your time in meetings. It’s so tempting (which is why more than 90% of meeting agendas follow this plan) to think that once you get the gang together, you need to give everyone a chance to share what’s going on in their area, so we are all informed and transparent. The problem is that this is a passive activity, and after the third person begins sharing their update, everyone has already started to tune out, doodle, scroll on their phones, or worse (if the meeting is virtual) load up their digital shopping cart. And, it’s super expensive (no matter who they are) to bring people together for a meeting, thus removing them from their focused work, so the meeting should not be a literal or perceived waste of time.
What to do instead: Find a more practical, creative way to offer updates and share general information. Use your internal digital platforms for notes or reports, and if someone needs to read or prepare for the meeting, post those items there or share beforehand.
Stop meandering and diving into rabbit holes. People often complain because even though they attend these regular meetings, they feel like nothing gets accomplished or resolved, and they have the same conversations over and over. Or, a few team members monopolize or grandstand during the meetings, so that feels like the same-song-different-verse meeting on “repeat.”
What to do instead: Though it seems obvious, have an agenda and a plan for what needs to happen in the meeting. Create the right infrastructure to make your meetings productive, effective, and efficient. First, begin with good news, celebrations, or shout-outs. This only needs to take 5 minutes or less and is an important tone-setting part of the agenda. Second, identify the “top 3” topics for discussion—read that again: discussion. Your meeting needs to be centered around robust discussion, debate, brainstorming, creative responding, etc. If your team is prepared and the agenda items are compelling, then real work gets done in that time. Third, leave at least 10 minutes before the close of the meeting to summarize what’s next, what action is required, and who is committed. This is a simple and effective general agenda where you can offer nuances or variations. End on time.
Don’t let meetings go on forever. Sometimes, when we don’t clearly articulate and refine the purpose of our gathering, a meeting can become a default on our calendars and lose its significance. People become disengaged (or misbehave) if they aren’t unified around a purpose or goal for that particular meeting.
What to do instead: If you’re running the meeting, even if it’s been a standing meeting for a long time, begin by stating the purpose as a grounding and unifying activity. We’re here today to . . .(What are you doing? What is your charter or purpose? What is the goal/project you’re working towards? What is the decision you’re making?) Take time, even if you think everyone knows the purpose or reason, and don’t assume they do! Also, regularly assess the efficacy of your meetings. We like to use a Leader Meeting Assessment Tool to help leaders look at how they’re spending their time, whether a meeting has lost its way, whether they could delegate their attendance or participation, or whether a meeting has reached its logical end.
The truth is, if meetings mattered, people would never want to miss them, and real work would get done in them. Revitalize your meetings so they are a great investment of time and energy for everyone!
Reach out if you want to discuss liberating your team from tedious meetings!
