Meeting-free Fridays. Focus days. GSD days.
“We have too many meetings.”
Does this sound like your organization?
I support reaching an uninterrupted state of flow. And when we find ourselves having to draw these kinds of boundaries to achieve it, it’s a reaction to something.
It’s not about having too many meetings. It’s about not finding value in the meetings you’re having.
Common themes I see:
Too many people in the meeting
For fear of leaving anyone out, everyone gets invited to the meeting.
Lack of purpose
Not every person in the meeting is clear on what we’re trying to accomplish.
Going through the motions
We have an established pattern of conducting the meeting and we never question its effectiveness.
Status updates
Rather than collaborating on progress towards a common goal, individuals give reports on their own work.
What can you do to have better meetings?
Have a clear agenda
My agendas usually contain what questions we’re answering by having the meeting. I learned this from Applied Frameworks. I’ve seen people use the SMART framework to shape the agenda. Whatever you do, keep it clear and concise. Include enough information for people to know what they’ll get from attending, or to let them opt out of it’s not relevant for them.
Focus on a shared goal
Instead of encouraging individual reports, build your agenda around a shared goal that everyone wants to achieve. Think “what will we do today, together” vs “what will I do today.”
Restate the purpose
At the beginning of the meeting, restate why we’re here. Even if it feels awkward. This is to reaffirm we share the same idea of what we’re doing. And it helps people who didn’t read the agenda.
Check in at the end
Before the meeting’s close, you can solicit feedback from attendees. Use stickies in Miro, thoughts in chat, a poll, or a thumb vote on how it went. Use that feedback to shape your next meeting.
Record the meeting or document notes
This is to mitigate the fear of “if I don’t show up, I won’t know what’s going on.” Share info freely, ideally putting your notes or recording in your organization’s information sharing space so it can live on outside of just e-mail. For those that need to be at the meeting, invite them. For those that don’t, share what happened.
If all of this sounds like a lot, it should be. It’s a big deal to take up people’s time. And it must be undertaken with care.
And if you find yourself in a meeting that isn’t worth your time?
Use the law of two feet.
Want more on engaging meetings? Check out the work of Judy Rees and Mun-Wai Chung.
Photo by Arek Adeoye on Unsplash