Death by meeting, or is there another way?

We’ve all been in a meeting that we’ve been desperate to get out of. The moment the diary invite hits your inbox you let out a deep sigh because you already know it’s an hour of precious time that you’ve lost (again). 

In the meeting you aren’t even listening, and nor is anyone else. Even the person running the meeting doesn’t look like they want to be there. No amount of coffee is getting you through this, and by the end of it, you feel uninspired and entirely confused as to why you were involved in the first place.

The truth is, meetings can be an incredible tool to empower, motivate, and most importantly run a business! 

The art of running a meeting can be difficult to master, particularly if you’re in an industry or a team that is largely reliant on meetings and collaboration. Some teams can work really well with minimal meeting time, whereas others can’t avoid it due to the nature of the project/job.

We’re going to deconstruct what an impactful meeting can look like, as well as offer you a free resource you can use to keep yourself accountable when running meetings, too!

1. Does this need to be a meeting?

Satire aside, the first question you need to ask yourself is whether you need to gather everybody into a meeting for what you have to discuss. 

Meetings are good for two things: idea generation, and making decisions. The latter is the most important, as idea generation arguably could happen without having to call a meeting. 

And finally, is this a meeting for everybody? The last thing that we want is people to be wasting time in a meeting that isn’t particularly relevant to them!

Meetings can be a huge time suck, and ultimately impact the productivity of a business, especially if you’re rinsing and repeating the same meeting, time and time again.

2. Be intentional 

It’s easy for a meeting to derail by chatting and going off-topic, so setting boundaries is crucial. However, building rapport is still vital, especially in the current world we are living in where people don’t come together often! Our suggestion is to be very intentional about how you use meetings to build connections and lean into the ways it can facilitate great collaboration and decision-making. 

Some great ways to approach a meeting with intentionality are firstly an agenda, which enables you to define the outcomes, and secondly, having assigned roles. Someone who chairs the meeting, for example, and someone who is responsible for keeping everybody on track! This doesn’t need to be a leader, either. Keep it fresh by assigning different roles to different people.

Even a meeting as short as 15 minutes can be incredibly effective if structured correctly, with distractions eliminated! If you’re planning for it to be 60 minutes long, have you broken it down into shorter, 15-minute chunks and left enough time for questions? 

3. Keep it organized

Being organized and efficient are your two superpowers when running an impactful meeting. Don’t rely on attendees to know what’s expected of them if you haven’t given them any information beforehand.

Everybody has different ways of processing information, and everybody has different levels of anxiety around meetings. So, it will always be appreciated to send out a clear agenda with further information in advance. It’s a more inclusive way to lead, and it’s also just good practice. That way, your team can prepare - and there can be no excuses for lack of effort or organization!

4. Use the time for positivity (and end on a high)

Meetings should be used to empower your team, even if the subject matter is difficult to digest. Always aim to end the meeting on a high, so people leave feeling energized and positive, instead of deflated and confused. There is a caveat to this, however - as in some cases you may be delivering bad news. In those instances, we should at the very least, aim to provide clarity around the next steps!

5. Encourage questions, but be mindful of using meeting time to answer them

Questions are likely to crop up during the meeting, but to keep pace and ensure that all subject matter is covered, you can also opt for all questions to be saved until the end - where you can use the last ten minutes to answer them. 

There will also be occasions where answering questions in a follow-up email is more effective (and can therefore be sent round to the whole team to read in their own time) this can also be a great way to respect everyone’s time and keep a paper trail of questions raised. 

And finally, don’t forget to read the room

Meetings can be incredibly fun, and it can be great when people leave the room feeling inspired. However, if you pay attention it’s pretty easy to spot when the team or individuals are disengaged during the meeting. Reflect on the reasons for that and get curious.  Be proactive about seeking feedback on meetings - what else can you be doing to engage people and better support them? 

If you’ve been running the same meeting for the past 5 years, like everything in life - things should be evolving! Remember, keeping things fresh is always a winning strategy. 

To get our full guide on how to run an impactful meeting, click here.