By Steve Moran
Two weeks ago, I asked you to track your meetings. Some of you did it. But most of you didn’t. That’s okay, this will still work, just not as well. Or better yet, go back and do part one. This article will still be here. Here is the link.
When leaders have done the first exercise, here are some things they have said:
“78% status updates. I wanted to throw my laptop across the room.”
“I run six recurring meetings every week. Four of them accomplish nothing.”
“Someone else just sent me a screenshot of their spreadsheet with one word: ‘Ouch.'”
You saw the numbers. You felt it in your gut. That sick realization that you’ve been wasting your team’s time. Not on purpose. Not because you’re a bad leader. But because you’ve been running meetings the way everyone runs meetings.
Which is badly.
Here’s what happened next for most of you: nothing. You looked at the data, felt uncomfortable, then went right back to your regular meeting schedule. Because knowing you have a problem and knowing how to fix it are two different things.
So let me tell you how to fix it.
It’s simpler than you think: Meetings are only for solving problems.
Not for updates. Not for coordination. Not for information sharing. Only for problems that require the group’s collective thinking.
Everything else goes in Slack or email.
I know what you’re thinking: “But my team needs to know what everyone’s working on.” Maybe. But they don’t need a meeting for that. What they need is for you to stop wasting their time listening to information they could read in 30 seconds.
Here’s how to make it happen.
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