What does it take to have a great meeting?
Great meetings are reverse engineered with clear input and outputs.
YOU wiLl LEARN
In this module, you’ll learn how to design and host effective and engaging meetings.
We’ll cover:
What psychological needs meetings give us
How to design a productive meeting
Clarifying the reason to meet
What to do after the meeting
KEY CONCEPTS in this module
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Let’s get started.
Why do we have ineffective meetings?
If you feel you spend half of your week in meetings, you’re probably right.
Between 2020 - 2022, meetings increased by between 100 - 600%. There was a 10% increase in 1:1’s and a 18% increase in the amount of meetings booked with less than five minutes notice.
Recent data also shows that office workers typically spend two working days a week on meetings and emails.
So if you’re finding yourself thinking ‘there’s just not enough time’... well, probably there isn’t.
Meetings meet a number of our psychological needs.
What we all want to have is clarity on our priorities, confidence we know what we’re doing, and validation we’re on the right track. And it just so happens that meetings do that, and more.
For example, meetings give us:
Certainty e.g. checking in on priorities and getting clarity we’re on the right track.
Validation e.g. getting a respected peer’s perspective.
Visibility e.g. building relationships and credibility by working in public.
Approvals e.g. to work autonomously or at pace.
Supervision e.g. someone with influence or authority can give us the ok to carry on.
Safety e.g. asking in a group vs scheduling a 1:1 with the boss.
Structure e.g. creating a sense of urgency and a deadline.
So if you notice you book and/or attend meetings by default, you’re probably getting what you need on some level. There’s nothing instinctively wrong about that. It’s just that there are other ways to get the same, if not better, result, that will give you more time, energy and hopefully over time, more money.
The five reasons to meet
The purpose of a productive meeting is to do one of the following:
Inform (e.g. a WIP, reporting or RAG status).
Decide (e.g. a strategy or sales pitch).
Debate (e.g. workshop a strategy, problem solve).
Collaborate (e.g. generate ideas and workshop).
Connect (teams who are connected are more productive in the long run).
If meetings don’t tick this box, that’s a useful piece of data in itself. We can ask whether it’s a compelling reason to meet, or if the intent could be achieved in a different way.
When we treat the above as a menu of options, it becomes clear when a meeting helps us and when it probably is a clarification or validation exercise.
Meeting Audit (QUICK EXERCISE)
Write down every meeting in your calendar (in the entire year)
Write whether it is designed to inform, collaborate, decide, debate or connect
What do you notice?
The M.E.E.T Model
M.E.E.T stands for Meeting Outcomes, Essential Participants, Ease and Value, and Tangible Actions. Both the planner and the attendee check each part of the list.
M: Meeting Outcomes
The meeting organiser is clear on:
The outcome they want to leave the meeting with.
Which of the 5 reasons to meet it is (inform, decide, debate, collaborate, connect).
A compelling reason why a meeting is more effective than an email or one pager.
The meeting participant knows:
The intent of the meeting.
Why they have been invited and the expectation of their role in attending.
What will happen as a result of the meeting.
E: Essential Participants
The meeting organiser is clear on:
Who is essential to attend vs nice to be included.
Why their participation adds value.
The meeting participant knows:
Why they have been invited.
What the expectation is (e.g. am I presenting? Contributing?).
What they need to say no to, to say yes to this meeting.
Why this meeting is in alignment with, or more important than, their existing priorities.
E: Ease & Value
The meeting organiser is clear on:
What needs to happen before this meeting for it to be the best use of everyone’s time.
What needs to happen after, so that this meeting has been time well spent.
The meeting participant knows:
How they can add value in the meeting.
What they need to consider / reflect / read to contribute thoughtfully.
Whether they’re expected to present an update.
T: Tangible Actions
The meeting organiser is clear on:
If this goes well, then what?
Who will do / lead / recap following?
What is the promise or agreement made at the end of the meeting and how could I make that explicit in the meeting?
The meeting participant knows:
What my commitment is, as a result of this meeting. e.g. based on what I now know, what does that mean for what I do or don’t do next?
When we put our decisions through this M.E.E.T Method, figuring out whether we should meet, and who we should invite if we are meeting, becomes clear. If and when any of the list isn’t clear, it’s a useful cue to both the meeting organiser and potential participant to clarify.
Tips and tricks.
Ways out of Ineffective Meetings
Engaging Meeting Tips
Alternatives to Meetings
Creating ways to distribute information, in a way that’s unique to your company culture, is one way to help people work on their critical thinking and become even more effective communicators.
Let’s look at some alternatives to meetings.
A short summary is distributed to the leadership team. In the email it says, ‘please share your feedback on the attached, by COB Friday’.
A written business case for the boss to consider. In the email, it says ‘here is an overview of my thinking for your upcoming presentation’.
A 1000 word summary is linked in an email, housed on the Intranet. An email is sent saying ‘many of you have asked about our meeting protocol post pandemic. Please find it linked here. Below are optional workshops you can attend to learn how to apply this within your role. Click the link to RSVP.’
A 20 minute video is recorded explaining how to use a new technology. An email is sent saying ‘please find the recording of the new technology we’re now using’.
A PDF is shared post a collaboration workshop outlining what was discussed, what was agreed on and what is not yet clear (e.g. parking lot).
A voice recording is sent to a colleague to update them between meetings so you can keep going, as can they, knowing you have their back.
Looking for more?
READ: Quick Guide to Effective Meetings - Happiness Concierge