Eliminate Drag (3 of 3): Tackle the Meeting Madness

In this last part of my three-part series on eliminating the drag that's holding your business back, we'll tackle one of the biggest drains of time and energy: ineffective meetings.

Here are five habits that will help you make your meetings count and create more capacity and time to do the work that matters most.

The Pain Is Real

When working in the corporate world for over 20 years, my calendar was out of control, with meetings stacked one after the other. Half of them were unnecessary, too long, or unproductive and the other half seemed to result in more confusion than clarity. It felt like the only time I had to get MY work done was early in the morning, late in the evenings, or on the weekends.

Does that sound familiar?

The average manager spends 33% of their week in status and update meetings — a full third of their working hours primarily sharing information. For senior leaders, the cost is even higher: research from Harvard Business Review found that business leaders spend an average of 72% of their time in meetings during any given week.

There's a high soft cost of all of this time spent in unproductive meetings, and it's taking a toll on our well-being.

An international study on the cost of poorly organized meetings showed that people think 71% of the meetings they attend are unproductive and inefficient.

No wonder we are frustrated at work!

And 65% said these meetings keep them from doing their work and, more importantly, what we call deep work. That's the work where you find purpose, inspiration, and a sense of accomplishment — and we can't work on it because we are sitting in unproductive meetings.

And lastly, something I believe is essential but is often overlooked: 62% of professionals say these meetings miss an opportunity to bring the team closer together. That is a huge miss.

This all sounds pretty bad, but it's not news to you. The good news is we can learn how to change meetings and our current meeting culture from an energy-draining, time suck to a productive, engaging experience that genuinely drives results.

Habit #1: Kill the Status Meeting

The first habit is Kill the Status Meeting, and I put this habit first because it is a gamechanger. If you only implemented one of the five habits, this would be it. Status meetings are where we spend most of our meeting time, and we are dying in them. There's a much better way to approach status meetings that will transform your work.

Note: This habit is based on this earlier blog post you might want to check out.

Habit #2: Ditch the Agenda

Yes, I can hear jaws dropping. But most meetings are an hour or less, and the fact that we even need an agenda is evidence we are trying to accomplish too much and don't understand how to focus the attention and energy of a larger group. The best way to maintain focus, promote deep thinking, and achieve meeting goals is to have absolute clarity on the One Thing you want to accomplish. Requiring a clearly defined One Thing in each meeting invitation title will improve each meeting's outcome and participant's experience.

Note: This habit is based on this earlier blog post.

Habit #3: Squash FOMO

Information is currency. FOMO is part of what drives so many big meetings and why we are afraid to decline meeting invitations or send someone else in our place. If people don't trust that they will get the information they need to do their job — or that no one will hear or consider their point of view on an issue — it's understandable to fear missing out if you're not in the meeting.

This view perpetuates a meeting culture fueling the number of meetings and the number of people in a meeting. The good news is, there is a better way.

Transparency is the antidote. Creating transparency, squashing the FOMO, and nurturing trust in the organization transforms how your team communicates outside of meetings.

Habit #4: Keep Meetings Small

We all know that smaller meetings are better meetings, but it can be tough to implement. Often meeting size expands because we want to include as many viewpoints as possible, and we don't want anyone to feel left out. We end up adding people to meetings just in case they may want to add something, or so they feel included. And the meeting size only balloons.

While this is well-intentioned, it doesn't serve the organization or the meeting participants — big meetings are ineffective for getting work done. But we need to be inclusive and get feedback, and it's possible to do that without feeling like you have to invite everyone to every meeting.

Habit #5: KonMari Your Calendar

With habit #5, we apply Marie Kondo's method (the author of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up) to our calendars. Like an unruly closet, our calendars can become stuffed with meetings that no longer serve us. Two techniques will help you become your fiercest time guardian to create more capacity and reclaim your time.

Note: This habit is based on this earlier blog post.

In all honesty, it wasn't until I was out of the corporate world and managing my own business that I truly understood how crazy the corporate meeting culture is. The problem is we've become so desensitized to it and have just accepted that this is the way it is.

It doesn't have to be this way.

We know that one of the biggest drivers in fulfillment at work is making progress on meaningful work — doing the stuff that matters. But we have to create the capacity to do this vital work, and the corporate meeting culture is one of the biggest obstacles holding us back.

Let's get started!

Work well,

Adriana McLane

I help privately held distributors build strategy that holds up through growth, leadership transition, and what comes next. Fifteen years running Fulfilling Strategy — the last six spent deep inside distribution, working alongside the leadership of privately held distribution companies to build strategy that holds when a competitor moves in on your territory, when a President steps back, and when the next generation takes the lead. More about Adriana →