We spend an unhealthy amount of time in meetings. If you work at a company with a meeting heavy culture, the concept of chain-smoking your meetings likely resonates. This means your day is back to back with so many meetings you don’t have time to exercise your human right to eat or use the restroom. It’s unhealthy, unsustainable and most often leaves us asking: how many of these meetings could have been an email?
When we asked a room of professionals how many of their meetings are highly effective, the answer was between 15 to 50 percent. In other words, somewhere between half and three quarters of your calendar is a group hostage situation with no snacks. The cause is rarely bad people. It is missing structure. Most meetings have no purpose, no agenda, no end time and no clear reason why half the guests were invited. Then we act surprised when forty minutes pass and the only decision made is to "circle back."
So here is a question worth some self-reflection: If most meetings you attend fall short, how sure are you that yours don't?
The mindset shift
Stop treating a meeting as part of the work. Treat it as a pause in the work. In meetings, nothing is being built, sold or delivered. That makes a meeting an expensive pit stop, and nobody wants a pit stop that includes a tour of the garage. It also means all laptops should be closed. Multitasking in a meeting is not multitasking. It is multi-failing.
Five phases of a meeting that earns its calendar slot
Prepare. Set a clear purpose and benefit, and invite only people who have and are clear about their role in the meeting. Send an agenda with time blocks and a calendar invitation that explains why each person is needed. Make big decisions before the meeting, not during it. If someone is there "just in case," send them the notes and give them their afternoon back. Add time blocks to the agenda so you have permission to say "lovely point, we are out of time."
Open. Start with a connection question that is more creative than “How are you?”. Then run a Purpose Benefit Check: state why you are meeting, what everyone will gain, and confirm that people agree. It’s better to hear "Actually, I wanted to discuss something else" in minute two than minute forty. Confirm roles and let people leave the meeting if the notes will suffice. Ask permission to request feedback about how you ran the meeting at the end.
Run. Stay on time and steer tangents into a parking lot, politely. When the most senior person wanders off topic, a gentle "This deserves its own time, shall we pick it up separately?" works nine times out of ten. Take the notes yourself, because whoever writes the notes shapes what people remember.
Close. Start wrapping up 10 minutes early, not 4. Summarize what was agreed, confirm who does what by when and book the next meeting right there. Check that you met your purpose, ask for feedback and thank people for something specific beyond their time.
Follow up. Spend 15 minutes after the meeting sending a recap and reminders. Then finish a few minutes early. People will remember you fondly for giving them time back.
Your homework this week
Put a purpose and benefit in every meeting invitation.
End one meeting by asking for a single piece of feedback about how you ran the meeting.
Leave a gap after your meetings so you can visit the bathroom and drink water like a human.
If you only do one thing, do the first. Clarity on the purpose of a meeting makes everything else much easier.
Interested in learning more about how to make every meeting you run and attend more effective? Click here to learn more.