Meetings

The problem with meetings is most people view them as something that keeps them away from proper work, they don’t become engaged and the meetings are not structured correctly and flit from subject to subject without coming to any real conclusion.

The big surprise in how to cure this problem is that you don’t want fewer meeting you need more meetings. I’ll say that louder “YOU NEED MORE MEETINGS”. However not just any old meetings but meetings of the right type.

Daily Check in – 15 minutes maximum

The rules of this meeting are that you don’t sit down, you never cancel it (even if some people can’t attend), and it is administrative, it lasts no longer than 1 to 2 minutes per person, no tactical or strategic issues discussed.

The purpose of the meeting is to share that day’s schedule and activities with the relevant people.

The Weekly Tactical – 60 minutes maximum

The rules of this meeting are there is no set agenda and strategic issues are not discussed.

The first part is a lightening round where everybody present state their two or three priorities of the week. One minute per person.

The second part is the progress review which looks at key factors in the business e.g. sales, expenses, customer satisfaction. What you report on depends on your business.

The last part is the real time agenda. This is based on the result of the first two sections. It is looking at the short term and not long term strategic issues.

The monthly Strategic meeting – 2 -4 hours

The rules of the meetings are there is a limit of one or two subjects, The agenda is sent out in advance to allow preparation, encourage conflict.

The topic may come from the Weekly Tactical meeting.

These ideas come from a book called Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni

For further advice on getting more out of meetings and how Anthony Russel may be able to help, please get in touch.