Leading productive meetings – Lessons from Amazon?

Meeting, the very word evokes negative emotions and reactions in many of us. Yet, we continue to attend and set them up ourselves. We have the power to say no and influence how meetings are run, yet we behave like sheep, going with the flow, and complaining afterward about the lack of outcomes and wasted time. Let's not even get started on Zoom meetings. We've all seen the memes about virtual meetings, from technical challenges to conveniently blaming technology for not paying attention.

However, meetings are essential and productive when managed correctly. We need meetings to debate and discuss ideas, make effective decisions, and connect with others at a human level. It takes preparation time to run effective meetings, and we have so many meetings in our diary that we are simply meeting hopping. Here are my top 5 tips from my experience working at Amazon,

Tip 1: Two-Pizza Rule. The number of people you invite to a meeting must be enough to serve two pizzas. The purpose behind this rule is to force the meeting chair to be critical of the meeting's purpose and think through the people that must attend to achieve the meeting objectives. Furthermore, having too many people in the meeting leads to too many opinions and debates and increases the probability of the discussion going off track.

Tip 2: No PowerPoint. This is controversial one. I am 50:50 on this one, as I do love my PowerPoint as a visual thinker. Some love it and some hate it, it's a culture shock for many new joiners, including the most senior recruits. Amazon believes that a well-written document is a better format to provide content clarity to the reader. It puts more emphasis on the content rather than the need for the author to jump on different calls to explain the content repeatedly.

Tip 3: Coping with Silence. When someone wants to talk about their project, they will invite the participants, explain the meeting's purpose and expected outcomes, and give participants 20 minutes to read the document in silence. Most people turn off their cameras. After 20 minutes, everyone comes back on the camera, discusses the content, and asks the author for clarification. Allowing time to read during the meeting allows everyone to be on the same page, and the discussion is far more fruitful.

Tip 4: Psychological Safety. I cannot claim this is a widespread behaviour, but my interactions with my manager (my role model) and the VPs I interacted with, they spend a few minutes at the beginning of the meeting to set the right meeting tone. They take personal responsibility for creating the psychological safety of all the people in the room, debating ideas, and offering feedback without making it personal. They focus on data, process, concepts, and the end outcome rather than passively attacking the person. This allows people to speak their minds and deliver great business outcomes.

Tip 5: Storytelling. Leaders at Amazon make behaviour expectations simple and relatable by narrating them through stories, such as the 2 Pizza rule. These stories serve as a powerful tool for reinforcing the desired behaviours and values within the organization. Moreover, leaders at Amazon actively demonstrate and live out these expected behaviours to inspire and motivate their teams to follow suit.

I hope this article has prompted you to think about how to make your meetings more productive. You may find some of the tips helpful while others may not resonate with you, and that's okay. I encourage you to share your own top tips so that we can learn from each other and improve our meeting skills together.

#meeting #managemet #leadership #productivty #jaysriskanthan