4 Ways to Lead Meetings That Work
Meetings that work energize talent.
Principal #1: Meetings give the illusion that something got done.
If you spend all day in meetings:
- You waste time.
- You can’t make decisions.
- You don’t know how to delegate.
- You’re self-important.
- You spend your day assigning work to others.
“… one either meets or one works. One can not do both at the same time.” Peter Drucker
4 Ways to Lead Meetings That Work:
#1. Seek feedback.
Talk with a meeting participant immediately after your next meeting.
- What am I doing that makes our meetings effective?
- What were the most energizing moments in the meeting?
- What were the de-energizing moments in the meeting?
Tip: Give them your feedback questions before the meeting begins.
#2. Eliminate the word “discuss” from agendas.
Decide, inform, explore, assign, or report, but never discuss.
Tip: Agendas are action items, not discussion points.
#3. Expect people to state their point before they explain it.
Say this, “Let’s try something in our meeting today. Give us your conclusion or suggestion in the first sentence. Is that ok with everyone?” Give them words to begin with.
For example…
- “My suggestion is…”
- “I think we should do X…”
- “The next step is…”
- “The problem is…”
Tip: Choose one of the opening phrases listed above. Expect people to use it word-for-word. When people forget to begin with their conclusion, say, “You must have forgotten, for this part of the conversation we agreed to begin with, ‘My suggestion is….’” Be light-hearted when you do it.
#4. Shorten one-hour meetings by 16.67%.
All 60-minute meetings become 50-minute meetings.
Meetings that work disrupt the status quo.
What would it take for leaders to run meetings that work?
How could leaders run meetings that work?
Still curious:
10 Commandments that Fix All Lousy Meetings
1. Always have an agenda.
2. For each agenda item, list the desired outcome (make a decision, solicit 3 volunteers, assign roles and responsibilities etc.)
3. Assign staff members to run parts of the meeting.
4. After each meeting, do a “process check.”
Thanks, Paul. Love #3. Who said the boss has to run all the meetings?
#3 is central to Robert’s Rules of Order for running meetings. Nothing gets discussed on the floor without a motion. “I move that we cut _____ by 20%.” If this motion is seconded, then the mover can speak as to why. The next speakers declare I’m speaking for/against the motion. This doesn’t keep all meetings on track, but these rules help.
Direct and clear, at least it’s an attempt at being direct and clear. Thanks for jumping in today, Pete.
Agenda.
Robert’s Rules.
No Rabit Holes allowed.
Leave the meeting with everyone assigned something to do (except yourself as leader).
Thanks, Ian. Anyone who consistently leaves a meeting without a job shouldn’t be in the meeting.
Meetings that work:
>Provide an agenda that explains why the meeting is important and how participants are expected to contribute to achieve the meeting purpose at least a week before the meeting
>Are at least 50% interactive meaning equal participation across participants (equal participation correlates with collective intelligence according to Dr. Anita Woolley whether in-person or virtual)
>Have a positive meeting ROI by using facilitation best practices in planning, designing, and executing the meeting (meeting value minus meeting costs is positive)
Thanks for your insights, Valerie. My favorite is, assure equal participation of everyone across several meetings.
I really like the meeting ROI concept. Every meeting notice I send has a PURPOSE: statement at the top. Meetings that I attend have an expected OUTPUT. Not everyone gets an action item, but without something moving forward, the meeting was a bad investment of time.