3 Things You Can Do Today to Lead More Purposeful & Effective Meetings
Hannah Prevost-Schultz
Have you ever been in a meeting and asked yourself: “why are we talking about this?” or “how much longer is this going to take?” or “do I really need to be here”?
Unfortunately, you likely answered yes because the research shows that most of us spend 31 hours in unproductive meetings over the course of a month. While meetings are necessary for work to happen, unproductive and ineffective meetings don’t have to be! Imagine if the 31 hours you and your colleagues spend in unproductive meetings each month were reallocated to purposeful & effective activities?
I have good news- it is possible and there are numerous practices you can start doing today to reduce the quantity, increase the quality and ensure a sense of purpose in your meetings.
At the upcoming Ignite Leadership Training, “Leading Purposeful & Effective Meetings”, we’ll be covering 10 key practices to consider related to the before, during and after portions of your meetings. Here are 3 highlights that can have impact right away:
1. Determine the Meeting Type
Knowing what type of meeting you need sets you up for success from the start. Imagine how frustrated you would be trying to do strategic planning during a daily team check in meeting- choosing the right type of meeting matters.
Patrick Lencioni, author of Death by Meeting, separates administrative activities from strategic ones that require more in depth conversations and filters all meetings into 4 categories: Check-Ins, Weekly Team Ops, Strategic / Topical, and Offsites. Using a simple framework like this, will help you identify the right type of meeting for your needs.
2. Identify the Meeting Purpose
Next, it is essential to be clear about your meeting’s purpose. Your meeting’s purpose is different from choosing a meeting topic. Priya Parker explains how a clear meeting purpose let’s you...
Know who should and shouldn’t be invited
Design a cohesive meeting agenda
Understand what will be different as a result of this meeting
The best meeting purposes begin with a verb. For instance, instead of having a topical meeting about “strategic planning”, you would have a meeting with the purpose of “Create Framework for 2-year Strategic Plan”. This will inform your participants what to expect and provide the foundation for your agenda and meeting facilitation. During the meeting, if someone begins to discuss a client/customer issue, you can refer back to your purpose, and put that topic in the parking lot for another meeting.
3. Intentionally Invite Meeting Participants
The third key practice is to apply generous exclusion & inclusion to who you invite. While the two concepts may seem at odds, when both are applied strategically, you allow for heightened and sharpened diversity, rather than a diluted hodgepodge of people who serve no purpose being there.
Parker explains the idea of Generous Exclusion as the meeting owner’s responsibility to create a focused participant list that serves your meeting’s purpose by asking:
Who fits and helps fulfill the meeting’s purpose?
Who threatens the meeting’s purpose?
Who do I feel obliged to invite and what will happen if I do/don’t?
The idea of Generous Inclusion is important because a company’s inclusive culture is lived out in day to day meetings. Research shows that diverse teams of people make better decisions, and by being strategic with who you include in meetings, you can embrace that advantage. Be sure to share with each attendee why they have been included both to affirm their value and to inform the role you hope they will play.
Conclusion
Try using even one of these key practices the next time you create a meeting and see what difference it makes. If you want to learn even more key practices, please join us at the upcoming Ignite Leadership Training happening on Thursday, November 18th at 11am CT, where I’ll cover 10 Key Practices that will increase the purpose and effectiveness of your meetings.