Let’s talk about meetings. When we’re working with other people (whether team members or clients) meetings are essential to keep things rolling, to make sure that everyone is “on page” with each other, and most importantly to share priorities and problem-solve together.
However, most people HATE meetings. Why? Because often they feel like a waste of time, frustrating, or highly contentious. Some of these issues can only be resolved through better communications strategies (or better hiring to make sure you have the right people in the right “seats on your bus.”)However, what can we do to eliminate meetings that feel like an arduous, waste of time?
If you regularly have meetings (particularly weekly staff meetings or similar) that take over 1hr, then it’s time to make some changes to help those meetings become LASER-focused and clip the bulk. I will say that I learned the importance of this the hard way after participating in (and leading) never-ending, marathon meetings for years. Finally, the problem was painful enough for everyone, that I started developing this strategy, to get our meetings down to 20-30 minutes or less.
If you regularly have meetings (particularly weekly staff meetings or similar) that take over 1hr, then it’s time to make some changes to help those meetings become LASER-focused and clip the bulk. I will say that I learned the importance of this the hard way after participating in (and leading) never-ending, marathon meetings for years. Finally, the problem was painful enough for everyone, that I started developing this strategy, to get our meetings down to 20-30 minutes or less.
Take “Status” Out of Meetings
The biggest time suck in most meetings is the unending “status” updates from various team members on different projects. Have you ever asked a team member “Where are we with… xyz?” Then, gone on to hear a long story, followed by many questions, and the debates ensue? OK… then you’ve experienced a “status meeting.”
These extended conversations and “update stories” tend to be the BULK of most meetings, but they are not the most effective use of this shared time. Gathering a group of invested people together to move a project forward needs to be focused exactly on that… moving the project forward. Not bringing everyone up to speed on what’s already happened.
How do you make that change for your team? Require status updates 24-48 hours prior to the meeting. Now, I know that some people might cringe… ugh, ask people to provide a status update and then review those submitted by others in advance… doesn’t that take a bunch of time too? Yes, sharing information will always take some time. However, status updates don’t have to be big beefy reports, or polished docs, or powerpoint presentations like you might remember from your old corporate days. We’re entrepreneurs right? Let’s keep it easy, simple, and effective!
What if prior to each meeting, each person had a list of the projects they were responsible to provide updates about. Then, 24-48 hours prior to the meeting each team member with project responsibilities:
- Recorded a quick Loom video
- Recorded a voice memo
- Drafted some bullet points
- Took some screen shots and marked up important changes or issues
Right there, that’s 3-10 minutes per person removed from the length of the meeting.
Then, that information could be:
- Pasted into an Evernote note for that meeting’s agenda
- Shared in a dedicated slack channel
- Added via a link to the meeting calendar event
- Added to any other shared (meeting-relevant) workspace.
Basically, rather than telling all those stories in the meeting, this section becomes “asynchronous,” which allows team members to review/listen and gather this information prior to coming together.
There are so many benefits of this approach:
- Team members can “get up to speed” at a time and place that’s convenient for them during the day before the meeting. Yep, listen while you’re on the bus to your co-working space or sitting at the pool.
- Team members have time to consider what they’ve heard and identify any questions or clarifications they want to ask for during the meeting.
- Actual meeting time can focus on answering questions, troubleshooting problems, and identifying next actions for each team member.
- Encourages team members to show up “prepared” because they’ve already filed their status update, asked for specific feedback or posed questions, and considered the updates and questions of their colleagues before the meeting even starts!
Making this shift with your team will require a bit of conversation to ensure everyone is on board and understands the goal, the benefits of this change, and the actions that are being asked for. However, what if that one longer conversation to teach everyone the new process could save you dozens of meeting time hours each month or hundreds of hours each year? You may even notice, that once your team gets into the swing of this new structure there are some meetings that don’t even have to happen!
Focus Your Meeting on What Matters
When you take the status updates out of your meetings, then they can focus on the conversations that are best for your team to have together:
- Problem-solving – bringing all the needed heads together to find options and solutions.
- Decision-making – Identifying options, weighing concerns, and deciding how to proceed.
- Identifying next actions for all relevant team members – moving the project forward.
- Ensuring everyone is aligned around priorities and setting expectations for the work being done.
Then, after the meeting someone on the team updates your Master List system with newly assigned tasks and you all get back to work! In my upcoming course, The Freedom Evolution, I share even more about the exact process, templates, and tools I use to create a solid meeting agenda and follow-up process.
Your Freedom Map:
Next Actions:
Now, in order to do make this shift from “Status Meetings” to “Next Action Meetings” you might need to reflect on and review the processes and systems you currently use for your meetings. Don’t have a meeting process yet? Or ANY processes at all, then make sure that you pick up a copy of:
Your Freedom Map:
A Location-Independent Entrepreneur’s Guide
to End the Grind & Create a Business That Runs on Auto-Pilot.
It will help you:
- Brainstorm the processes that you can simplify, document, and delegate to start freeing your time and energy.
- Learn the difference between a system, a process, and a tool so that you can always be solving the right problem not just churning through new productivity apps.
- Get a step-by-step approach to clarify your business processes so they become easier to do and to delegate.
- Identify the areas of your business where you’ve been “flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” for too long and wasting time and energy.
- Discover the 7 Core systems that you NEED to run ALL 50+ Business Processes.
Having a process for your team meetings allows you to stop all the boring, wasteful, unnecessary conversations, and get everyone focused and moving forward. It’s a great place to start if you want to make your team even more focused and effective.
