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:

1. You waste time.
2. You can’t make decisions.
3. You don’t know how to delegate.
4. You’re self-important.
5. 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.

1. What am I doing that makes our meetings effective?
2. What were the most energizing moments in the meeting?
3. 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…

1. “My suggestion is…”
2. “I think we should do X…”
3. “The next step is…”
4. “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

How to Run a Meeting