Do the Impossible and Unlikely: Make Meetings Fun. Yes, You Can. Here’s How.

Fun Meetings. Not an Oxymoron.

My ex used to work for a company that paid a great deal of money for him to sit for hours on end, all day long, three days in a row while low-level managers pontificated. Listened to the sweet sound of their own voices. Got nothing done other than to piss off a lot of expensive contractors.

Endless, mindless meetings.

He liked getting things done. He was paid on how much he produced. Or fired for that matter.

So when monumentally inept folks required three -day meetings once or twice a month, meetings which largely didn’t touch his work, he was deeply resentful.

As were a great many others. There are few folks who are more annoyed when they are a captive audience, especially when it seems that the only reason your butt is in a seat in the auditorium is to shore up some manager’s questionable sense of importance.

He left. So did a lot of other folks. That’s how you lose really good talent.

You browbeat them with stupid meetings.

How do you fix this?

Easy formula. Hard to enforce, but easy to organize. And, once people get used to it, they will absolutely love you for it. Even enjoy your meetings. Here’s how:

Successful Meetings Recipe

1. Only invite those who have a real and defined role. Be brutal about this. When people whine they weren’t invited, tell them why. Most are afraid of being left out- that’s their problem. The only ones who are there are those who have a need to provide input or to know.
2. Have an agenda. Never, ever run a meeting without a crisp, clear agenda. Keep the number of discussion items short, to the point. And assign a time limit to each.
3. Set a time limit. Half an hour. An hour. DO NOT DEVIATE.
4. Assign a timekeeper. That cannot be you. The purpose of the timekeeper is to ensure that whoever has an agenda item stays within strict limits. When someone who is attending has this responsibility they have a vested interest in keeping folks on track. Major power role.
5. Advise attendees in advance what their time limits are. Ensure they understand that five minutes means FIVE MINUTES. When the timekeeper calls time, they are DONE. The first time you let this slide, you lose all integrity. Tell your attendees to practice in advance. It’s your job as manager to coach them how to do this (and you’ll learn how to do this better, too) Not only is this good skill-building practice for them, other attendees learn your expectations. This is NOT negotiable.
6. Assign a RELEVANCY CHALLENGER. This, along with your timekeeper, is your secret weapon. Again, this cannot be you. Someone in the meeting is responsible for challenging anything that isn’t on topic. Vary who this person is every meeting. This is one of the biggest reasons that meetings drag on. They are given the right to call out any off-agenda topic. It doesn’t matter how important it is. If it’s not on the agenda, it gets rescheduled. A Relevancy Challenger can save your meeting every single time. And secretly, other attendees will love you for it. Next to you as the meeting organizer this is THE power role. The Relevancy Challenger can challenge YOU as well, and if called out, you have to respect the challenge.
7. Start and end on time, every time. Never wait for people who are late. Never. Set the expectation, begin on time, and you can even “fine” those who come in late. End precisely on time. Again, be brutal about this. This is also not negotiable.

Are these rules challenging? You be they are.

Do they work? Remarkably well. For several reasons.

People hate meetings because 1) they run on, well past the scheduled time. 2) People drone on forever, often about things that are completely off-topic. 3) They aren’t run efficiently.

Meetings are supposed to serve the attendees, not be a bully pulpit for insecure leaders.

True leaders delegate the responsibility for well -run meetings to the attendees, who have a vested interest in their quality.

Give people the power to control the quality, time and value of the meeting, and you will have happy employees. And a great deal of respect for your leadership.