Meetings suck.
I know — we've all attended those 2-3 hour status meetings that drone on forever, stray WAY off course, and never get anything accomplished.
And the personalities — the boss who thinks they're so important, the empty suit who has ‘great’ ideas and yet never acts on them, and the quiet triumvirate in the corner who never says anything.
Now move that into a virtual world which makes it SO MUCH WORSE.
How do we make our meetings better? Get more accomplished in less time? Shut down the gabbers and get the smart people talking? I have three actions that make my meetings fun, collaborative, and powerful:
ACTION 1: Flip it up.
Most meetings try to do these four things: communicate, collaborate, build trust, and motivate. I want you to flip that around — when you hold your next meeting, focus on how you will motivate your team, build trust, collaborate, and communicate.
Don’t just host a meeting — make it powerful. Figure out how the meeting should motivate your team, build trust between you and them, deliver a platform for healthy collaboration, and finally, host a two-way communication platform so everyone participates equally.
Whenever you schedule a meeting, you are taking people away from the real work that matters. So make sure this time is important, powerful, and motivational — so when they head back to their desk, they are focused and excited about what they do.
ACTION 2: Make them shorter — way shorter.
Outlook has corrupted our meetings. When you schedule a meeting, Outlook naturally blocks out a one-hour segment. Meetings don’t have to be an hour! How many times have you attended a meeting and within 15 minutes, you solved the problem, and now you veer off into uncharted territory for the next 45 minutes?
Schedule half-hour meetings or even better, 15-minute meetings. Get in, state the issue, and get out. Don’t be afraid of hosting a 5-minute status meeting — everyone chimes in and know what they have to do — say goodbye and leave the Zoom meeting. The shorter, the better. I used to hold 5-minute project status meetings while everyone stood. My team LOVED them — get in-get out.
ACTION 3: Have an agenda.
Structure is the enemy of a bad meeting. If you send out a quick, short agenda of what you’d like to accomplish and discuss, attendees can come prepared and you can run a faster, more efficient meeting.
How many meetings do you attend without an agenda? How many of them are awful? A short, 3-5 point agenda can cut down on side conversations, eliminate irrelevant diversions, and shut down the Tommy-Talk-A-Lot’s who always attend.
Try one action (or all three) this week. You’ll thank me.