Why Designers Should Run Your Meetings

This is article 1/3 on the most frustrating part of work: meetings

Everyone has sat through the unproductive, frustrating sessions where nothing gets done, and people don't feel heard. The question isn’t why meetings are so often broken — the real question is: how do we fix them?

HBR surveyed 182 senior managers in a range of industries: 65% said meetings keep them from completing their own work. 71% said meetings are unproductive and inefficient. Why isn't more done to fix this problem?

At IDEO, we’ve learned that applying a designer’s mindset—focused on people, experimentation, and iteration—can transform meetings into tools for alignment, clarity, and momentum.

We still have meetings that have room for improvement – we're not perfect – but we invest time in making collaboration better with our clients, here are three ways to start thinking like a designer when you meet:

1. Align on Outcomes, Not Activities The goal of a meeting isn’t to “get through the agenda”—it’s to achieve specific outcomes. Before your next meeting, ask: “What do we want to achieve by the end of this session?” This single question can refocus the room and ensure your time is well spent.
2. Clarify Roles to Encourage Balanced Participation Every attendee should know their role: Are they there to decide, contribute ideas, or listen and learn? Clear roles create balanced discussions and prevent a handful of voices from dominating.
3. Make Discussions Tangible Abstract conversations often lead to confusion. Use quick visualizations—like a shared whiteboard or simple sketches—to ground ideas and ensure alignment.

I saw this play out while working with a global automotive company. Key leadership meetings lacked clear objectives, participation was uneven, and decisions often stalled. By prototyping small changes—like rethinking agendas and introducing visual tools—we helped transform their meetings into moments of real progress. You can read more about another big project where meetings were a key step in culture change.

If you want to keep reading and dig deeper in to designing better collaboration, the full article is here on Medium - send me a message if you want to talk more.

What ways have you made meetings better, I'd love to learn what's working for you