What do you do if your business strategy meetings are unproductive?

Set a Clear Destination: Before you blast off, what exactly do you want to achieve in this meeting? Is it brainstorming new ideas, making a decision, or diving deep into a specific problem? A clear goal is your launchpad!

Define a clear Purpose - What is the purpose of the meeting? Are you 1) Discussing? 2) Deciding? 3) Information Uploading? - each of these purposes require a different level of preparation from the participant. Ensure you've provided the participant with the appropriate time prior to the meeting to ensure they can get and be prepared to achieve the purpose of the meeting! Lastly, ensure you are scheduling the appropriate time allotment for what you need to achieve during the meeting. You may not be productive, because the meeting time is too short, or too long - no time to achieve productivity, or too long without a clear sense of what to be productive about. Adjust your timing given the results you achieve from the previous meeting.

If your business strategy meetings aren't productive, try a few things. First, set clear goals for each meeting so everyone knows what to focus on. Encourage open discussion and listen to everyone's ideas. Limit distractions like phones and side conversations. Consider using visual aids or interactive activities to keep everyone engaged. Finally, after the meeting, follow up with actionable steps and deadlines to keep things moving forward.

Firstly, start by the lessons learned on the previous meetings: what worked, what could be improved etc. You can seek feedback from the attendees, ideally just after the meeting so it is fresh. Then, work on a plan to implement the lessons learned into the future meetings. Thinking about SMART goals always help to set clear objectives. Also, consider if the meeting is the best format... maybe many objectives can be solved through emails or collaborative documents.

Para você transformar as suas reuni?es em produtivas antes você precisa definir o motivo da reuni?o, seja específico e lembre-se que abordar muitos temas diferentes dispersa a aten??o das pessoas. Avalie se precisa da reuni?o ou uma liga??o bastaria. Convide as pessoas certas, s?o aquelas que contribuir?o ao seu objetivo. Agende com antecedência e pe?a confirma??o. Cuidado com os agendamentos on-line, nunca convide uma pessoa que está com o horário reservado, pois ela n?o comparecerá. Detalhe a agenda. Caso necessite de prepara??o prévia, fale com a pessoa, isso lhe poupará de transtornos no dia da reuni?o. Cuidado com o tempo da reuni?o, reuni?es longas s?o cansativas, ent?o determine intervalos regulares para descanso.

Al considerar a los asistentes de tus reuniones estratégicas, es crucial invitar adecuadamente: 1. Participantes clave: Incluye solo a aquellos con un interés directo en los resultados o cuya experiencia sea crucial para la toma de decisiones. 2. Productividad: Evita sobrecargar la reunión con demasiados participantes o con individuos que no contribuyen a los objetivos. 3. Discusiones relevantes: Asegúrate de que cada contribución agregue valor y sea pertinente al tema en discusión. Invitar correctamente garantiza reuniones enfocadas y productivas.

When you're formulating the strategy, consider bringing not just the C-level, but also employees who are in direct contact with the customer (they usually are the first ones that realize something is changing), external participants such as partners, customers, startup founders, employees from different generations, etc. to have a more diverse group.

Business Strategy meetings are vital for aligning initiatives with organizational goals. However, lacking a clear agenda can lead to inefficiency as attendees may deviate from the topic. Additionally, poor communication between teams may result in duplicate meetings. Ensuring confidentiality is critical; all attendees must grasp the sensitivity of discussed topics. In initial meetings, establish a schedule to highlight strategic objectives and clarify participant roles. It is essential that participants understand not only the meeting's purpose but also the ultimate goals and benefits of the final strategy for the corporation.

There are many good practises which are easy to implement regarding meeting structure to improve the productively or output of strategic meetings, starting with agenda. The purpose of the meeting and the agenda should be clearly communicated well in advance. The agenda for the next meeting can be discussed and agreed at the end of the current session. Allowing expectations to be outlined with regards to preparation and also any ambiguity resolved. Also having a consistent meeting cycle helps attendees to plan time to dedicate to strategy. Finally ensuring the meeting is well chaired and the agenda is adhered to will also contribute towards successful output.

Fuel the Fire: Get everyone involved! Share an agenda beforehand and encourage participants to come prepared with ideas or insights. Diverse perspectives are the rocket fuel that propels you forward.

To revitalize unproductive business strategy meetings, prioritize engagement. You can share agendas in advance and encourage participants to contribute ideas, which will leverage diverse perspectives to drive meaningful discussions and propel strategic progress. By ensuring all voices feel valued and heard, it will fostering an inclusive and engaging environment.

The advantage of using technology to track tasks, OKRs, and goals lies in leveraging asynchronicity. It's not always necessary for the team to meet face to face to review and assess the progress of work. Such meetings often lead to distractions, unnecessary discussions, and loss of focus. As Jason Fried wrote in his book titled "Rework", "meetings are toxic". Most topics of meetings can be discussed or resolved by simply emailing a few truly necessary individuals.

Always leave time at the end of the meeting to summarize what was decided and next steps. Make sure everyone is aligned. Have everyone agree before leaving the room (or the call). If there is any confusion or decision gaps, now is the time to figure it out. If you wait for the "follow up email", you might find out all the time spent working on the details in the meeting were a waste of time. It is better to stop "planning" during the meeting and secure/confirm what you already decided and work on next steps.

Enhance strategy meeting productivity by scheduling progress review as the first agenda item. Participants should be reminded to submit their updates to either the meeting facilitator or fellow attendees the business day prior. This preparation ensures all participants have the opportunity to review the shared documents beforehand, facilitating a focused discussion on progress at the meeting's start. It rewards those on track and brings attention to those who need to pivot to increase productivity.

Navigate with Focus: Keep the discussion on track. If things veer off course, gently remind everyone of the goal. A skilled facilitator is your mission control, keeping things focused and productive.

You should have a clear strategy process, one is usually related to formulating the strategy and the other to make sure you are executing it. Both run simultaneously and feed each other. To evaluate how you're executing it, you should establish a clear yearly agenda (periodicity of meetings) so everybody knows this in advance.