Make the time to properly plan and process meetings

Create more meaningful and memorable interactions in daily meetings and dialogue.

“I have back-to-backs all day” is a widely used phrase in the modern workplace, but it’s an ineffective use of time. It might seem like you’re cramming more in and getting more done, but you’re almost certainly not, and what you are getting done is almost certainly diluted, or you have to work evenings and weekends to make up the time to either process those calls or plan for the coming week.?

On arriving at a meeting, we should be ready to contribute meaningfully; we should have read and absorbed any supporting material and, at the very least, understood the agenda. We’ve all been on meetings where much of it is spent on discovery and getting up to speed, whereas meetings, where everyone prepares ahead of time, are always more effective and generally lead to better outcomes.?

Equally, allow yourself time after the session to process the meeting. What are the next steps going to be for you and the team, what are your specific responsibilities, what have you just thought of that you wished you had shared and could you share that now in a constructive way through electronic communication? If we don’t process the session and identify actions and next steps, what was the session for or maybe more concerning – why were you there?

I advocate and fully support a culture that rewards outcomes and results and isn’t demanding that people have meetings for the sake of it or without any space in between. It’s impossible to be optimally set for a meeting at 10:30 if your 10 am meeting finishes at 10:30. Equally, downtime from sessions, our computers and devices is crucial for our health and wellbeing.

I’m asking everyone today to think differently about their meeting commitments, obligation and organisation. Imagine that each meeting was three times as powerful and produced incredible results. My suggested approach isn’t about doing less work; this is about doing your job better and achieving a more meaningful outcome.