Today I will piggyback on last week’s Ron Swanson extravaganza problem with meetings. If you missed it, you need to know that I used, as a procrastination example, the episode where April schedules more than 90 meetings for March 31st, believing that day doesn’t exist.
Now it is time to focus on meetings and, most importantly, on avoiding the most meme’d comment in the history of office space:
You will also get to learn one of my biggest pet peeves. The one that triggers me the most and makes my head grow grey hair whenever I face it. I won’t spoil it. Not just yet.
Back to Ron, April, and the crew. They have to deal with a bunch of folks that requested a meeting so that they could petition something. All those meetings could have been an email. However, something tells me that Ron et al would not reply to an email to solve a problem even if their life depended on it, lol. Meetings can only be emails if email recipients actually read and reply to those emails when requested, so before getting snarky and funny with comments about meetings and emails, invest a couple of seconds introspecting what part you are playing to improve (or worsen) the situation.
I do think I need a meeting!
Before scheduling a meeting, we should always ask ourselves:
- What do I need?
- Can I get #1 via mail or whatever IM tool the team uses?
Let’s suppose you do need a meeting. Then ask yourself again: What do I need? How will the universe (my universe) be a better place after the meeting? What do I want to have acquired once the meeting is over? This will be your goal, and you must work relentlessly to achieve it. When you schedule the meeting, run it, and recap it, always remember the goal.
If there is only one thing you will take from this article, let it be this one: you need to be clear on the goal, then keep it in mind when you prepare, run, and recap the meeting. At every step along the process, you will need to constantly act in a way that gets you near your goal. You must be super intentional when selecting the attendees, writing the agenda, finding a time and place, starting the meeting, keeping it on track, closing, and recapping it.
Note: intentional and relentless don’t mean rude; quite the opposite. When we make everyone comfortable during the meeting, agreement and alignment come more efficiently and smoothly.
Maybe this is an excellent time to share my major pet peeve: I HATE seeing meeting titles that start with “discuss.” IMO, the meeting title should be very close to the goal, and the goal is never to “discuss,” the goal usually is to align, define, learn, or produce something (and more). “Discuss” is just the vehicle to achieve the goal, not the goal itself, and when I see it on a title, I start to suspect that the meeting creator is not being intentional enough. Then I fear that maybe (only maybe) the meeting will end without clear outcomes or action items, and we will end up needing another meeting, and folks will get frustrated and say:
How do I make sure my meeting is successful?
The world doesn’t need that I put on my smartypants dress and list some tips for successful meetings when others have already done it very successfully. You can google it and/or trust me and look at these tips for effective meetings. Observe how every single step has the goal in mind! They are great tips, read the article, pretty please.
One more thing before I shut up. Well, two:
First, this applies to big meetings where consensus, alignment, or decision is needed. Regular check-ins with your team, manager, or report, informal or impromptu gatherings with a small group, or even training or webinar-type sessions may escape some of these tips for effective meetings (you still need a clear goal, tho). Apply common sense (and remember your goal), and you’ll be ok.
Second, writing this and telling you what to do is more straightforward than applying it to real-life meetings. Are all my meetings smooth and effective? Not always, to be honest. I keep in mind everything I preach, but sometimes things get out of hand. If that happens to you, be kind to yourself, introspect, learn, and make it a goal to improve. You rock!
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