To Meet Or Not To Meet...

Make meetings great again

How many times have you left a meeting and thought, “That could have been an email”?

We say we value quality over quantity but when we are bringing multiple people together to form a team, the definition of those definitions are subject to the definers.

I am of the opinion that if a meeting can be an email it should be. But, if an email can be a quick face to face conversation it should be.

If you are going to have a meeting, it should have a clear purpose, it should be as concise as possible and it should be as interactive as possible.

How do you have a clear purpose?

Whatever your idea is, send an email or have a quick conversation first, if you find that these mediums are insufficient then elevate the topic to a meeting. If you can’t cover the topic succinctly, the details are too great or multiple people are stakeholders in the outcome, then it may be time to have a meeting. As best you are able, stick to that issue for that meeting.

How do you keep meetings concise?

Every meeting should have at least a rough outline, a desired outcome and an agreed time span. If we have a time commitment and we hold ourselves to that boundary we force ourselves to respect the agreement. Keep it on track and if other issues come to the foreground, which is a positive thing, note them and determine whether a follow up meeting needs to occur.

How do you make meetings interactive?

When we have issues we want to get all of our minds working together to solve them. Typically meetings spring from issues or solutions that create more issues. Solving problems is why we are all in business and our businesses have problems we need to solve if we are going to be effective at solving our customers problems. If you make it your goal to have interactive meetings make sure your habits in those meetings open the floor for input.

It may not happen right away, but if you want your meetings to be of value it is essential that you develop your process intentionally. Connect, collaborate and conquer are the guiding principles. Connect with each other, get on the same page. Find areas that you can collaborate to share ideas, optimize resources and row together towards conquering your goals.