“Too many meetings!” “I’m in meetings all the time!” “I don’t have time to get any ‘real work’ done because I’m always in meetings!”
Can you relate?
The unpopular truth is this: as a leader, meetings ARE the place you should be spending your time. If done well, meetings are the forum for getting leadership-level work done.
Without meetings, it’s pretty difficult to accomplish these things well…
→ Collaboration
→ Brainstorming
→ Reviewing progress on team priorities
→ Talking about what went right OR wrong and what we can learn
→ Sharing newly gleaned insights with team members
→ Problem-solving
→ Setting strategies
→ Discussing important trends and market conditions
The issue we should be solving for is not how many meetings, but how to make them exceptional. Here’s a simple but useful checklist to guide you:
✓ Why am I in this meeting? What value do I add? Should someone else from my team be here instead of me?
✓ What is the purpose of this meeting? Is it clear? Are we making progress on achieving it every time we meet?
✓ Are the right people in this meeting? Are they actively engaged? Who DOESN’T need to be here?
✓ Do we start and end our meetings with clarity (Purpose→Decisions & Actions)? How often do we get sidetracked or go down rabbit holes? What can I do to change that?
✓ Are we always prepared for this meeting? Are we doing a thorough job of giving people the information, time, and thoughtfulness this topic deserves?
Here’s to a future of interesting meetings where meaningful work occurs.