Meetings, Meetings, Please, Not Another Meeting

How Can I Get My Work Done With All These Meetings

The dominant complaint in most organizations is that too much time is spent in meetings. Followed by, most meetings are a waste of time. This widespread complaint is a wonderful opportunity for leadership, for someone to step in, or step up, and make a contribution by transforming meeting effectiveness. And it can be anyone who participates in meetings. It doesn't have to be the boss or the person who called the meeting.

If meetings are to be productive - that is forward the vision, strategy and values of the organization - then the people who want to demonstrate leadership need to think about the design purpose of each and every meeting then follow some rules and guidelines to make them work.

Given virtually everyone in an organization attends meetings, putting the key elements of attitude and behavior that leaders want to see in the organization's day-to-day functioning into the design of meetings will go a long way towards transforming the culture of the organization.

Meetings are fundamental to the design of organizations. Transform the design of meetings and that will contribute to transforming the organization. Not only will productivity be improved, so will morale, relationships and the general vitality of the organization.

Anyone who aspires to be a leader can be seen as a leader by just going about their day-to-day business participating in meetings with colleagues, whether one-on-one or in larger groups. Leaders can change meeting interactions and outputs by being aware of what's going on, and intervening with a few questions and requests that can make meetings contribute to transforming work-life instead of be the bane of work-life.

Some Fundamentals of Meetings That Work

The amazing thing is that most people know what contributes to meetings that don't work. Everyone I have spoken to about the huge drain on time and energy that results from unproductive meetings can list off in a heartbeat what needs to change. The problem is that many people think if they can't change everything about unproductive meetings then it is not worth the energy to change anything.

Here Are Some Things We all Know

1. If we don't have a purpose and intended outcome the meeting will waste time, effort and energy. So don't lead a meeting or participate in a meeting until that is clear. If it is not clear ask.
2. The purpose and intended outcome needs to be specific, measurable and in time – beware of those jargon laced gobbledygook statements that nobody understands. If you don't understand ask, that's what leaders do.
3. When we are intentional stuff happens. If you are going to be in a meeting be intentional – this is the outcome I want, less than that will not be acceptable. 
4. Are the right people in the room to accomplish the intended outcome? If not reschedule.
5. When you are a participant in somebody else’s meeting, and you get clear that participating does not forward your accountabilities. At that point you should politely excuse yourself and leave.

During the Meeting, Manage Conversations With Rigor

When we boil down the job of leading and managing and examine what is really going on, it soon becomes clear that all people are doing is having conversations with each other, a constant back and forth. Really effective leaders and managers know how to manage this back and forth, this constant network of conversations. For example:

1. If you are in a conversation for information sharing, then do nothing but share information.
2. If you are in a conversation for possibility, then do nothing but create possibility until you have enough to work with – so as to decide on the available opportunities to act on. Stop all conversations for "I don't agree", "It can't be done", "We tried that it didn't work", "How are we going to do that"...
3. If you are in a conversation for action, then listen for promising – who is going to do what by when so as to produce X desired outcomes. If a meeting ends without promises for action and outcomes, in all likelihood it was an unproductive meeting.

Watch Out For The Ways People Can and Do Derail Meetings

Consciously of unconsciously people derail meetings, which means that the intended outcome is not produced. Here are some derailers you will recognize:  

1. Speaking equivocally when action is called for – practice identifying uncommitted speaking in the many forms it shows up and simple ask for specificity
2. Defending the past with reasons, explanations, opinions, theories, beliefs, justifications, and so on, rather than speaking for the future to which the leadership of organization is committed, and which each meeting needs to be forwarding.
3. Being attached to interpretations ungrounded in facts so that the conversations devolve into defending differing points of view rather than facing and dealing with facts.

Keep The Meeting on Purpose

ANYONE can keep a meeting on purpose simply by pointing out when it strays and making a request that we return to the conversation at hand.

If the meeting is moving too slowly, or is getting off purpose call a time-out and redirect the meeting.

To ensure that relevant off purpose topics are noted, use some parking-lot mechanism to keep these topics in existence. Just prior to the wrap-up of the meeting you as leader, and the participants, can decide how they should be dealt with – if at all.

And remember, it is possible to make a difference, produce great results and have fun, enjoy the interactions with colleagues, and be satisfied with a job well done.