Blog | Meetings

For Employees

Team meeting with a clock on the table to make their meeting shorter

The Easiest Way to Make Meetings Shorter

I facilitated a couple of full-day meetings last week. In both, I implemented a simple process that made the discussions quicker and better. Try this structure to make your meetings...

Woman working on a laptop and looking at a large screen with plans on it

8 Alternatives to Having a Meeting

I love a good meeting, especially if its format is well-tailored to its content and purpose. But, wow, there are way too many meetings! Why is a meeting the default?...

Team meeting viewed from outside the glass walls. No boss present.

Six Reasons to Meet Without Your Boss Present

Most teams I work with meet regularly. The routine is usually the same: the team leader calls the meeting, owns the agenda, chairs the discussion, and gets what they need...

Team leader standing and talking to team who are seated around a table in a meeting

Dos and Don’ts of Different Meeting Types

How many times a week do you complain about meetings? Too many, too long, too boring. Not worth it, not set up for success, not the right people? Wrong agenda,...

Welcoming a new person to a meeting

Be My Guest

If you’re trying to make your meetings more efficient and effective, one place to start is by doing a better job with guests. Bad meetings are already enough of a...
Team working in crisis mode

Too Many False Alarms

Since the advent of nuclear weapons, there have been several incidents where false alarms might have caused a cascade to global thermonuclear annihilation. One such episode was triggered by a...
Team of people around a meeting table

Stop Solving Problems

Imagine you’re sitting in a typical leadership team meeting (and by a leadership team, I mean you're a people leader and so is everyone else around the table). It probably...
People in a meeting with a video conference

How to Improve Hybrid Meetings

Have you suffered through a hybrid video meeting where you’re remote while a few of your teammates are together in person? Here’s my question. Did you at any point:
  1. Tune...
Two people in a meeting, bored and balancing pencils on their upper lips

Questions to Redirect a Low-Value Meeting

How many hours have you spent stuck in mind-numbing meetings where the conversation is so mired in the weeds that you have to amuse yourself by coloring in the holes...
There are many good reasons to attend meetings, but unfortunately, there are just as many bad ones. Stop going to meetings for the wrong reasons

Why you shouldn’t go to that meeting

In my previous post , I reacted to an editorial in the Guardian by Simon Jenkins, who came to the conclusion that meetings are killing people and destroying organizations. His...
People in a meeting

If Meetings Suck, Why Do You Keep Going?

I read an editorial by Simon Jenkins in the Guardian this morning about meetings crushing morale and killing productivity. Jenkins’ list of the perils of meetings touches the personal (meetings...
People in a meeting

Are you meeting at the wrong time?

This weekend, I facilitated a workshop about change and transformation with a large group of leaders. Once we finished talking about the perilous task of transforming an organization, we started...
Presenter and people looking at their phones

When you’re not the subject matter expert

I’ve watched you do it. While you’re presenting your content at the meeting, you’re interested and engaged and you add so much value. I love your passion and your feisty...
Pre-Reads are made for a reason - here's why you should always read them

Read the damn pre-read people!

I was talking with someone this morning about the sorry state of meetings. We spend so much time in the weeds and waste a precious opportunity to have valuable conversations...
Here are some tips on how to improve your presentation skills and keep your audience engaged

5 steps for better presentations

There are almost infinite posts in the blogosphere about how to give better presentations. If you want good ones, try www.PublicWords.com by Dr. Nick Morgan. Today, I’m dedicating this space...
person getting aggravated

Use your words

“Use your words.”  It’s a line you probably heard as a child when you were getting agitated but not articulating what was wrong.  Your parents taught you that expressing your...
two team members conversing

One trick to turn a useless meeting into effective communication

How often do you meet with your team without actually communicating with them? For one team I worked with recently, that kind of meeting was commonplace. Now they were offsite...

Some meetings are critical - so here are some tips on how to ensure they're useful at the same time

How to make a meeting more useful

In my previous post, I drew a parallel between our society’s consumption of empty calories and the prevalence of useless meetings. You can read that post here .  The idea...

WAIT! Read this before attending another useless meeting

I hear no shortage of complaints about meetings.  Sometimes I hear them from people who just mindlessly move from one meeting to another requiring them to move their individual job...

office gathering with holiday presents

Twas the night before

Some days I worry that it's less naive to believe in Santa Claus than to believe that healthy, productive teams really exist. I believe in both.  Here's my Christmas wish...

For Managers

Team meeting with a clock on the table to make their meeting shorter

The Easiest Way to Make Meetings Shorter

I facilitated a couple of full-day meetings last week. In both, I implemented a simple process that made the discussions quicker and better. Try this structure to make your meetings...

Woman working on a laptop and looking at a large screen with plans on it

8 Alternatives to Having a Meeting

I love a good meeting, especially if its format is well-tailored to its content and purpose. But, wow, there are way too many meetings! Why is a meeting the default?...

Team leader standing and talking to team who are seated around a table in a meeting

Dos and Don’ts of Different Meeting Types

How many times a week do you complain about meetings? Too many, too long, too boring. Not worth it, not set up for success, not the right people? Wrong agenda,...

Woman talking on phone and running to a meeting

Want People Back in the Office? Deal with the Meeting and Email Burden

This is the third and final instalment in my series about how badly we’re botching the return-to-office transition. This time, I’m putting leaders in the crosshairs and imploring you to...

Team meeting viewed from outside a glass-walled room

How to Evaluate the Quality of Meetings

I’ve been working with several leadership teams recently to help them become more efficient and effective, particularly in their meetings. It’s a simple process that makes a big difference, particularly...
Welcoming a new person to a meeting

Be My Guest

If you’re trying to make your meetings more efficient and effective, one place to start is by doing a better job with guests. Bad meetings are already enough of a...
Team in a meetings

8 Techniques to Make Meetings More Effective (Part II)

In the previous post , I provided four techniques you can use to set your meetings up for success. This post includes four strategies for facilitating a great meeting.

More...

Woman preparing for a meeting

8 Techniques to Make Your Meetings More Effective (Part I)

How much of your week do you spend in terrible meetings (and by terrible, I mean meetings with poor planning, unclear agenda, facile facilitation, and no clear outcome)? I’m going...
Blurred photo of people rushing out of a meeting

End Your Meetings Properly

You know how a gymnast loses major marks if they don’t “stick the landing?” That’s how you should think about your meetings. I don’t care how many flips and twists...
Team working in crisis mode

Too Many False Alarms

Since the advent of nuclear weapons, there have been several incidents where false alarms might have caused a cascade to global thermonuclear annihilation. One such episode was triggered by a...
A team standing around a whiteboard designing a process

Design by Committee

Do you know the old adage, “a camel is a horse designed by a committee?” That line nails it for me. Imagine you’re sitting in a leadership team meeting. At...
Team of people around a meeting table

Stop Solving Problems

Imagine you’re sitting in a typical leadership team meeting (and by a leadership team, I mean you're a people leader and so is everyone else around the table). It probably...
People in a meeting with a video conference

How to Improve Hybrid Meetings

Have you suffered through a hybrid video meeting where you’re remote while a few of your teammates are together in person? Here’s my question. Did you at any point:
  1. Tune...

Dealing with the Person Who Skips Your Meetings

Another week, another great question from an audience member. This time, “What do I do if a colleague from another department keeps skipping the meetings I schedule and then complains...
It doesn't take much to take 25% off of each and everyone one of your meetings. Try these techniques to give you time back in your day

8 Quick Tips to Shorten Your Meetings

I was facilitating an executive team meeting last week. Although the meeting had been scheduled as a full day, four people started the day saying that they needed to leave...
People in a meeting

If Meetings Suck, Why Do You Keep Going?

I read an editorial by Simon Jenkins in the Guardian this morning about meetings crushing morale and killing productivity. Jenkins’ list of the perils of meetings touches the personal (meetings...
How to draw out the introvert on your team

How to Draw Out the Quiet People

When I’m preparing to facilitate a session, I always conduct individual interviews with the members of the team I’ll be working with. The last question I ask is, “what advice...
How do you deal with the person who talks too much?

How to handle someone who talks too much

“I’m trying to chair efficient meetings, but I have someone on my team who always needs to talk it out before coming to a decision. How can I reduce the...
Pre-Reads are made for a reason - here's why you should always read them

Read the damn pre-read people!

I was talking with someone this morning about the sorry state of meetings. We spend so much time in the weeds and waste a precious opportunity to have valuable conversations...
Tips on how to have a great, productive conversation

How to get a juicy conversation

When working with senior executives, one of the most common requests I get is to help create “juicy conversations.” What they mean by "juicy" is deep, probing, uncomfortable, novel, productive...
Here are some tips on how to improve your presentation skills and keep your audience engaged

5 steps for better presentations

There are almost infinite posts in the blogosphere about how to give better presentations. If you want good ones, try www.PublicWords.com by Dr. Nick Morgan. Today, I’m dedicating this space...
people gathered with sticky notes on the wall

Running a great strategic meeting

You spend a huge amount of time in meetings; make it time well spent. I’m in the midst of a series on better meetings. I started with how to split...
person writing 'agenda'

Running a great monthly meeting

Meetings are where team goodness should happen, but meetings these days tend to be awful. I’m in the midst of a series on better meetings. I started with how to...
group of teammates sitting around a meeting table

Running a great weekly meeting

  In my previous post , I outlined the ways you can improve your meetings by creating a structure that differentiates meetings based on their purpose. I recommend that you...
Are you finding your meeting to be useless? Try this meeting structure to improve your productivity

A better meeting structure

One of the most common outcomes of the first team effectiveness session with a new team is an overhaul of the team’s meeting structure. It happens through a very logical...
business person breathing through an oxygen tank

Wasted time in meetings

Teams, and especially executive teams, spend way too much time in the weeds. It’s a colossal waste of precious time together and, in my experience, the main reason why people...
people engaged in a good discussion

4 ways to stimulate better discussions

  I was preparing to facilitate a day-long meeting for a new team leader.  He had just joined the organization and was pulling together the team of direct reports he...
person looking into a mirror

An alternative to using ground rules for meetings

Try this at your next team meeting. Rather than having a standard conversation about ground rules, try using this question instead. What could you do (or not do) today that...
two team members conversing

One trick to turn a useless meeting into effective communication

How often do you meet with your team without actually communicating with them? For one team I worked with recently, that kind of meeting was commonplace. Now they were offsite...

group of people standing around a flipchart

How to facilitate an efficient meeting

Inefficient Meetings

Do your meetings go off on tangents so that two hours later you’ve covered a wide swath of territory but made no progress? Do you find yourself at...
people leaving a meeting room

How to end a meeting

In my previous post , I gave you some tips on how to start a meeting to set it up for success. Today, it’s the other bookend—how to end a...
people shaking hands across a meeting table

How to start a meeting

It’s been a while since I posted a new Right Words to Say video, but I’m back with a few new answers to questions sent in by members of the...
Some meetings are critical - so here are some tips on how to ensure they're useful at the same time

How to make a meeting more useful

In my previous post, I drew a parallel between our society’s consumption of empty calories and the prevalence of useless meetings. You can read that post here .  The idea...
group of people looking totally bored around a meeting table

Are you starving for a useful meeting?

One my favorite books is a healthy eating book called In Defense of Food , by Michael Pollan. It’s part nutrition guide and part history book on the evolution of...
office gathering with holiday presents

Twas the night before

Some days I worry that it's less naive to believe in Santa Claus than to believe that healthy, productive teams really exist. I believe in both.  Here's my Christmas wish...

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Illustration of a person looking happy with two thumbs up

For Coaches

Team meeting with a clock on the table to make their meeting shorter

The Easiest Way to Make Meetings Shorter

I facilitated a couple of full-day meetings last week. In both, I implemented a simple process that made the discussions quicker and better. Try this structure to make your meetings...

Woman working on a laptop and looking at a large screen with plans on it

8 Alternatives to Having a Meeting

I love a good meeting, especially if its format is well-tailored to its content and purpose. But, wow, there are way too many meetings! Why is a meeting the default?...

Team leader standing and talking to team who are seated around a table in a meeting

Dos and Don’ts of Different Meeting Types

How many times a week do you complain about meetings? Too many, too long, too boring. Not worth it, not set up for success, not the right people? Wrong agenda,...

Welcoming a new person to a meeting

Be My Guest

If you’re trying to make your meetings more efficient and effective, one place to start is by doing a better job with guests. Bad meetings are already enough of a...
Team of people around a meeting table

Stop Solving Problems

Imagine you’re sitting in a typical leadership team meeting (and by a leadership team, I mean you're a people leader and so is everyone else around the table). It probably...
Pre-Reads are made for a reason - here's why you should always read them

Read the damn pre-read people!

I was talking with someone this morning about the sorry state of meetings. We spend so much time in the weeds and waste a precious opportunity to have valuable conversations...
Here are some tips on how to improve your presentation skills and keep your audience engaged

5 steps for better presentations

There are almost infinite posts in the blogosphere about how to give better presentations. If you want good ones, try www.PublicWords.com by Dr. Nick Morgan. Today, I’m dedicating this space...
Some meetings are critical - so here are some tips on how to ensure they're useful at the same time

How to make a meeting more useful

In my previous post, I drew a parallel between our society’s consumption of empty calories and the prevalence of useless meetings. You can read that post here .  The idea...
office gathering with holiday presents

Twas the night before

Some days I worry that it's less naive to believe in Santa Claus than to believe that healthy, productive teams really exist. I believe in both.  Here's my Christmas wish...