I’m asking some of my linked in connections about meetings at the moment.
I’m gob-smacked by the fact that some people have “fixed” the meeting problem, and others consider themselves victims of meetings. On the other side I’m looking for ways to improve meetings.
This great page has particularly interesting stuff around huddles and how to make them work better.
The TED talk below mentions some stats on how many hours we spend in meetings, and the interesting idea that people who love meetings are usually people who don’t care about whether they move the needle with a meeting!
He points out these useful things:
- “no spectators” and partial meeting attendees
- 1 hour should not be the default – dial it back (see this post on 22 minute meetings)
- try different kinds of meetings (walking meeting? coffee shop meeting?)
- start the meeting well – you’re a host! Bring snacks!
- evaluate the meeting periodically (the people who hate meetings most are often the ones who schedule them in the first place)
- make the agenda “questions to be answered” not topics
