This is an Intervention

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We need to talk about meetings. This is an intervention.

COVID changed our work world and 2 years later before we perpetuate a crushing pace, we need to be introspective.

Our work lives have been overtaken by a hyper, meeting centric, daily grind. Whether by default or on purpose, meetings have become a kind of a proxy for presence. We've begun to equate meetings themselves with productivity and establish a new understanding of what it means to be a productive team. New entrants to work-life will perpetuate our accidental hyper meeting culture unless we capture it and purposefully take a new direction. We need to establish a healthy and helpful perspective on how and why we meet to benefit these new entrants to the workforce (and, frankly, for us).

Take a moment and see if your organization's deployment supports this link:

https://myanalytics.microsoft.com

That hurt, didn't it? Hopefully, the report(s) encouraged you to read on.

As a sales leader, I want my field-facing team(s) to face the field and not spend time droning on with their support teams without a precise aim and specific purpose. With my sales leader's hat on (a top hat), I collected 6 observations with best practices inside each observation.?

First, my observations:?

1) meetings need a purpose: set it up, 2) meetings need control: passage of time, 3) meetings need structure: framework, 4) meetings need to be sharp: you're saying more than you need to, and no one wants to keep listening to a double-point. It's just more than is required in order to get your point across. 5) find another way: something else first 6) take the test: "so what."

Set it Up:

With the frenetic pace of the virtual office, meetings get slammed onto calendars without the attendees understanding a meeting's purpose or background. Attendees show-up lead by the nose, blindly following their calendar's direction for the day. Worse, often, attendees cannot know the prospective outcome of a meeting, because the invite is void of any background.??

If you want my team in a meeting or me, simply so that I/they can understand what is going on, I question the value of that hour. Don't bring me in if you seek an audience for your meeting. Send me a short email after. Some of this hyper meeting culture continues because people have said, "my calendar is up-to-date, just book some time," and booking time has become as easy as a few keystrokes. Meeting conveners, often, haven't taken the time to outline their meeting's purpose.

They need to set it up.?

This approach is acceptable when a company's culture isn't "meeting first". However, in a meeting first culture, teams will soon be overcome by wandering directionless meetings with individuals wandering from meeting to meeting, like vagabonds on the corporate lands.

When this happens, teams get less and less done. ?

If yours is a meeting first culture, calendar kludge can become a badge of honor wearing double and triple booked meetings like honorifics.

You should ask yourself, is the value of my role provided to the company in meetings???

If the answer is no, you'll need to manage your time and not be overcome by meeting kludge.

Set up the meeting. Let people know the meeting's topic and plan. If you're setting up the meeting, answer the question, what type of meeting is this. Make decisions about setting it up based on the kind of meeting. For example, if you're setting up a collaborative working session, have a collaborative document and background ready. Be sure all the people in the meeting are needed to collaborate and set the appropriate time. If the meeting is informational, make it as short as possible to pass the information on. If the purpose of the meeting is to gain a decision, think hard, does this decision need to be a consensus, is it one person's decision or the group, or am I using a group of people as a crutch to get to an end that is inside my scope of responsibility?

Also, be sure your meeting isn't an email. Meetings aren't how you make up for people not reading your emails, being interesting, relevant, and painfully brief are. If you invite someone as non-critical, take the time to add them as "optional." Think about what each attendee brings to the meeting. If they won't specifically bring anything, I.E., shape an outcome or take an action item, leave them off.?

Tips:

• Normalize pushing back and asking, "what is my role at this meeting."
• Provide an agenda with topics and outcomes.
• Don't accept meetings without agendas. Decline and ask for one.

Go do:

• Decline a meeting. I give you permission.
• Champion a culture of meeting as a last and necessary event.

Passage of Time:

Think about how you book meetings. Are they back-to-back with others? Start 5 minutes after the hour, as a company book 45 and 25-minute meetings. Last week I looked at my calendar and saw no seems for 8.5 hours. That is crushing. No one can survive on an endless zoom/teams/whatever meeting. Staying to an agenda is essential. If you're taking time from the people's workday, you owe it to them and the company to manage that time. Have an agenda with assumptions of blocks of time. Establish a time block for each topic and follow that outline.?

?Be sharp.??

?Be a manager of time.??

?Tips:

• Book 45 or 25-minute meetings.??
• Anything more than 2 hours, as my colleague and friend Shonte Eldridge (you should be following her), says, "anything more than 2 hours is an off-site event".
• Create agendas with time blocks.

Go do:

• Consider your last 5 meetings. If a consulting firm observed them, what pointers would they give you?
• Look at the meeting invite for your previous 5 meetings. Was there a plan (or even a hint of the topic)??

?Framework:

Meetings based on their type need a framework. Have one. Perhaps like me, you've been attended meetings that feel like you walked into a conversation and didn't know what anyone was talking about. That is a framework problem. Meeting facilitators need to have minimally introduced the people on the call, made clear the purpose and outcomes of the meeting, managed the time, and driven to results. Jumping in and talking as a continuation of a discussion disrespects everyone's time and shows little value in your meeting. These are simply running conversations.?

Frameworks push us towards outcomes or conclusions. Otherwise, what is the point of meeting?

?Tips:

• Follow a framework for every meeting.
• Cancel any meeting with no framework.
• Meeting conveners should take the time to structure and follow up on meetings.
• Don't host or perpetuate meetings without tracked outcomes and owners or notes.

Go do:

• Define your meeting types.
• Write your meeting introduction.
• Have a personal framework for your meetings.

You're Saying More Than You Need to, and No One Want's to Keep Listening to a Double-point. It's Just More Than is Required in order to Get Your Point Across.

?That.?Is. It.??

Riddle me this, have you ever heard someone during what should be their intro slip into the topic? It goes like this, I'm XXX, and I do XXX at the company. When I think about problem YYY, I think it's this, so we should... (this is starting the meeting - stop being that person).??

Maybe you've heard someone ask a question, and through the 4-minute droning-on-and-on, explain why they're asking the question, give background on the question, and give 2-3 examples illustrating the question, then re-ask the question.???

Tips:

• Say it shorter.

Go do:

• In your next meeting, listen to someone and ask, how could I have made that statement/question/etc. faster.
• Perfect getting there faster.

Something Else First:

Someone is perpetuating this meeting culture. I so often hear, "this meeting could have been an email," funny (and accurate), but someone is booking the meetings - I think it's you.??

That said, do something else first before you book a meeting, anything else first. Here are some alternatives. Think before you book - what is the minimum effective collaboration to move this forward. You have options. Consider an IM, a call, or an email.

IM:?

When – during times, all you need is a quick answer from one person, and the timing is essential (I.E., within 30 minutes).

How - in two sentences no more, ask. I.E., I'm working on X deal. I want to say Y, do you agree??

Call:

When - where one person can answer the question and after the 2nd IM and no answer, after the 2nd email and no conclusion.?

How - Call with a clear picture of where the breakdown is happening and a path to resolving it. I.E., I said, XX what I mean is a) b) c) is that helpful and what do you think.??

Email:

When - you must have more than 2 sentences to make your ask and when 1 or more people need the information. Use CC appropriately. Only people who need to reply to an email appear in the email's to field. The CC field is for informational people. Passive-aggressive people only use BCC, don't use it. If you do use BCC, minimally understand that you're passive-aggressive and likely an unhealthy element in the organization.?

?How: use the minimum effective dose of information. Don't go on a rant. Everyone has meetings to get to. Write it, then make it shorter. Then, make it more straightforward again.??

Tips:

• It takes less than you think to say what you want to say.
• Your topic is WAY less interesting than you think. Make it shorter.

Go do:

Read your last 5 emails. How long did it take you to read each? Does it pass the "so what" test (more on that below)???

"So What...":

"So what" is my favorite question to ask. It provides a kind of self-test. It has lots of contexts where it helps. It is a force multiplier as when a topic fails the "so what" test, time is preserved.

Here is the concept in practice:

• So, what if I get this answer? What will I do with it?
• So, what, if I make this statement, what will others do with it?
• So, what if I book this meeting, how will there be a positive benefit?

?You need to be brutal with yourself on the "so what" question.??

?Tips:

• When a?"so what"?fails:
• Don't take that next step.??
• Don't make that statement.
• Don't ask that question.
• Don't book that meeting.

Go do:

• Cancel a recurring meeting that fails the "so what" test.
• Fail a?so what?test this week. If you can't, think again.

But wait, there is more - Bonus point 6:

Relax, don't do it

Don't book that meeting.

Make the decision yourself.

Draft the work product yourself.

Act yourself, don't hide in a crowd.

Step out!

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