3 Ways to Fix Your Meetings
Let’s face it: meetings have a bad reputation. They’re called useless, a waste of time, a way to distract people from “real” work. But I call bullshit.
Meetings can be downright magical — I’ve seen it! People enter a room empty-handed and leave with an incredible idea. They plan a project. They agree on a direction. They talk and listen to one another. Collaboration leads to great ideas.
The real problem is that bad meetings ruin the reputation of meetings. So people stop showing up on time. They half-ass their input. Or they sit glued to their laptops or phones working on something else.
Instead of dismissing meetings, how about we make them better? And here’s the thing: it’s not actually that hard. It just takes a little effort. Here are three things that I believe can make any meeting better:
Have a Goal
The process of finding a time and space to accommodate a million different schedules is daunting. So daunting, that I can’t believe anyone would schedule a meeting without first knowing why they’re calling the meeting.
By a goal, I don’t mean saying “this meeting is about Y topic.” And it’s not just naming the calendar invite. That trick won’t fool me. A goal is knowing what you want to get out of the meeting. The goal should be something tangible and achievable: a proposal outline, a decision on which piece of content to produce, a project plan.
If a goal is too vague, you won’t achieve anything. If a goal is too big, the meeting will collapse at the start.
Not sure what your goal is? Don’t schedule the meeting until you figure it out! Take a step back and think through what you need in order to move forward.
Create an Agenda
I doubt I am the first person to tell you this, but let me be the most recent: Every single meeting should have an agenda. Period. Don’t tell me you don’t have time. Writing an agenda can take as little as five minutes.
“But I have a goal,” you say! “I don’t need an agenda,” you say! “I can keep things on track,” you say!
Nope. The only way you’re going to keep a room of people on track and moving toward your goal is if you have a piece of paper that says what you’re going to talk about and when.
I’m a flexible person. Sometimes agendas are made to be broken. But have something to break. Know the topics you need to cover and estimate how long you’ll need to cover them.
When I craft agendas for workshops and brainstorms, I schedule things down to 5-minute intervals. Time is valuable. And if people feel like you’re valuing their time, they’ll be more likely to participate and more willing to come to meetings in the future.
Here’s a little secret: Having an agenda also means you get to make the rules. It gives you the authority to move conversations along or halt rogue tangents. You’re the boss, you have the agenda!
Pro tip: Send your agenda ahead of the meeting to get buy-in. This allows you to show that a) this is a serious meeting; and b) gives attendees the opportunity to make suggestions.
Cast the Right People
Instead of thinking of a meeting as scheduling, think of it as casting. Your job is to pull together the right mix of people for the task at hand. That doesn’t necessarily mean more people. Often, it means fewer.
There are three key things to consider when casting a meeting:
You need the people who can help you achieve your goal. If the goal of your meeting is to land on a decision and the key decision maker is missing, how can you achieve your goal? I know folks are often busy and hard to schedule, but if they’re important to the success of a meeting, work with their availability.
Know when to excuse people from a meeting. Yes, there are feelings to consider. But how many times have you been told you don’t need to be in a meeting and felt sad? Probably zero. If you don’t think someone is vital to the meeting, don’t invite them. You can loop them after by sharing notes, briefing them on outcomes, or looping them into follow-up conversations. If you’re worried about fallouts from excluding more senior folks, pull that person aside and explain. But an unneeded senior person sitting in a meeting scrolling on Instagram sends a terrible signal about the value of the meeting. It’s really just better they’re not there.
Think about the right mix of personalities and experience. Too many introverts and you’ll end up with a silent meeting. Too many extroverts and you’ll wind up with a couple of people dominating the conversation. You want to find the right balance of personality type as well as experience. A newbie can offer fresh ideas, but you need those old-timers to provide context. Be conscious of the mix in the room.
So those are my three fail-safe: know your goal, craft an agenda, and pick your people. I promise it’ll help. Try it for your next meeting and tell me how it goes.