The evidence is in about meetings... and here's what it means for you

Through coaching hundreds of leaders, I've found that anywhere from 30% to 70% (true story) of leaders' time can be spent in meetings. That's an eye-watering number if you consider what the average meeting is like...

Picture it:

You're in one of many "recurring" meetings. The agenda? A routine update broadcasted to a group of people in the room. As you scan the room, you see Joe from accounting barely staying awake, Tony from sales thumbing through his emails, and Jane, the project manager, updating spreadsheets on a laptop (unrelated to the meeting, of course). Then, there is you... you're oscillating between doodling, thinking about that team member you need to chat with, and slowly starting to wonder how many days are left till your next holiday. As you reflect, you notice your jaw is clenched and your shoulders are bunched up.

By all objective measures, you're disengaged in the meeting and, if we are honest, are frustrated with how these meetings never change.?

You're not alone, per the stats...

A survey of 5,000 workers conducted by Atlassian, an Australian-leading company, revealed that 72% of meetings are ineffective. That is profoundly saddening.

If meetings are ineffective, you must be wondering why. Here were the five stand-out reasons the survey found:

1. Unable to get a word in - too many dominant players creating a lack of contribution from others
2. Unclear next steps - meetings that don't result in a decision, don't have clear roles and don't provide clarity
3. Song on repeat - the same info and messages on repeat without any new information or progress
4. Could've been an email - everything covered in this meeting could have been an email, which means a waste of time and brainpower
5. Conversational chaos - no agenda means topics and convos jump around, and no one knows where it's going next

Enter you, the leader who has our secret recipe (below)

I deliver an inordinate amount of team development work (with high and low-performing teams), helping those teams understand their operating rhythms (behaviours, routines, processes and practices). Within that, there is always a need to reset their meeting practices. To do this, these are the areas each leader must get right in their meetings:

1. Clear agenda - having an actual agenda for the meeting sounds simple, but in my experience, roughly 2/3rds of meetings do not! Without an agenda, conversations drift, and decisions are few and far between. As a leader, you have to set an agenda and get it to people in advance so they understand the purpose and focus.
2. Clear roles - the minimum roles I recommend are a clear facilitator (doesn't need to be the leader), a process keeper (to keep conversations focused) and a timekeeper (to keep the conversations on time and ensure the agenda is delivered upon).
3. Tracked actions - any meeting that doesn't result in clear actions that are assigned, tracked, and followed up before the next meeting is simply a recipe for lack of progress and missed objectives.?
4. Shortened length/an end - over time, your meetings should require less time if they are run effectively. The best meetings end up fully disappearing once they get people delivering consistently on their own, e.g. a meeting isn't needed if people are clear and communicating effectively outside of the meeting.

Struggling to implement this or feeling your meetings have lost their spice? Message me to boost your meeting game.