The State of Teams - Teams Flounder in Meeting Madness

In my last newsletter, I shared the #2 reason teams flounder is because members aren’t open to learning with and from one another. They resist seeking feedback, avoid admitting to mistakes, and rarely ask for help.

The #3 reason teams flounder is because of the time and energy wasted in unproductive and ineffective meetings. Teams who flounder claim over 40% of meetings are a waste of their time and energy. As one executive claimed,

“There way too many meetings with no real decisions. People attend out of FOMO rather than necessity."

Research conducted by Harvard Business School in 2018 (pre-COVID) showed amongst senior leaders:

• 71% claim meetings are unproductive and inefficient.

• 65% claim meetings keep them from completing their own work.

• 64% claim meetings come at the expense of deep thinking.

• 62% claim meetings miss opportunities to bring the team closer together.

Run the numbers – calculate the direct and indirect costs of the wasted time and energy leaders spend in unproductive and inefficient meetings. Wasteful meetings are one of the greatest contributors to workplace burn-out, stress, and anxiety.

To help address the meeting madness, here three things to try:

1.     Adopt a 10:60:30 ratio - dedicate no more than 10% of the meeting time to informing, 60% to discussing and clarifying, and 30% to making decisions. Most meetings waste time on information-sharing, which can be done more effectively outside the room. Meetings only matter when they enable debate, clarity, and decisions.        

2.    Apply the ‘rule of 8’ – before you invite ‘all’ to the meeting, identify a maximum of the 8 people who need to attend because they are the accountable persons. Hold the 8 attendees accountable to communicate what was discussed and to coordinate action to achieve what was decided.

3.    Adhere to the P.O.S.T. meeting format – it’s simple but powerful:

Purpose: clearly articulate the purpose of the meeting and the preparation attendees are required to complete prior.

Outcomes: list the agenda as outcomes to be achieved rather than open ended topics.

Structure: adopt the 10:60:30 structure – be ruthless with time management.

Tasks: don’t end the meetings until all know what will be done, by whom, and by when.

INVITATION

To make meetings matter, promise yourself you will not accept a meeting invitation until you have sought clarity on the purpose, preparation you need to do and outcomes to be achieved. If the meeting organiser can’t answer these questions, then respectfully decline. If you don’t respect your time, no one else will.

May you flourish.