One question that stops you wasting hours in meetings

People constantly complain to me about the amount of time they waste in internal meetings.  They tell me that they rarely start the work they had intended to do that day until late in the afternoon – after their meetings are done, their inbox is cleared and they’ve dealt with interruptions.

We’ve added a layer of fake work on top of the real work. Our productivity plummets as our stress levels soar.

Work itself isn’t the cause of stress. The stress comes from how we work and more specifically our lack of boundaries, routines and ability to say ‘no, I’m not able to do that now, but here’s another option for you’.  Badly run meetings are productivity-killers and highlight ineffective leadership.

It is time for this boundary-less meeting culture to stop.

Have you ever been taught how to chair a meeting effectively, or trained your teams in facilitation?  It’s a crucial skill that’s rarely taught.

I’m not going into detail here about tight agendas, (with each agenda item written as question),  starting dead on time, swopping from the standard, round 60 minutes to 45 minutes, compulsory reading of papers and so on.

I’m just going to give you one simple question.

My clients report back that it cuts their meeting time by about a third.

This the question I have got them to use that immediately anchors everyone in to the objective of the meeting and shames people out of hijacking it for their own agenda/ego.

‘Let’s just take a step back here.  What do we want to achieve in this meeting?’

It’s not rocket science, but it is magic.  You have discovered the goal.  Identify the real, true, goal and then the best solution becomes clear.

Ask it at the beginning, confidently, with a helpful not aggressive intention.  Straight in, before the rest of the agenda and the usual fifteen minutes of small talk and preamble.

Get a consensus on what everyone wants out of it.  If this takes a while, fine.  If people have different interpretations of what you are trying to achieve, better to get agreement at this stage, and nip problems in the bud, or you risk an entirely ineffective meeting.

Follow it up with who should contribute what, and how long you need. Then get on with it. Don’t wait for the stragglers to arrive.  Next time they’ll be first in the room, I promise.

Give people the gift of time.  ‘We should be able to do that within 30 minutes,’ will make you the most popular person in the building.

If what other people want to talk about doesn’t contribute to the agreed purpose of the meeting, then they soon learn to keep quiet, or look foolish.

What difference would it make to you, and your organisational culture, if your meetings took one third less time?  Try it.  Pick a notoriously long internal meeting next week and ask this question right at the beginning:

‘Just to be clear, what do we all want to get out of this meeting?’

Notice the immediate difference in the participants – how people sit up and pay attention, drop their phones and look at you. Either tell them what you want to achieve in the meeting and get buy-in, or get their opinions, as appropriate.

What’s the worst that can happen?  You’ll come across as professional, focused and competent.

I’d love to know your feedback on how this works for you.

I’m an Executive Coach, Author of Mind Flip and Speaker.  My prioritisation session is called Crazy Busy and it will help you to get more done in a day than you do now in a week.  I created it when I realised that the difference between success and failure at work often comes down to how well we structure our time.

I’m Crazy Busy in 2018 running Crazy Busy sessions, helping people to manage distractions and get their real work done.   Click here for more information:  https://www.zenaeverett.com/speaking/crazy-busy-masterclass/

Please feel free to share this with anyone in your network who might find it helpful.

Best wishes
Zena

Zena Everett 
Phone: +44 20 3287 9505 | Mobile: +44 (0) 7968 424650
zena@zenaeverett.com | https://www.zenaeverett.com

WATCH MY QUICK ANIMATION ON CONFIDENCE & SUCCESS:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WawSh33byLoo

Author of career manual Mind Flip – Reinvent Your Future, available on Amazon, in good bookshops in the UK and Dubai.