3 Ways to Have Better Team Meetings
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Stop wasting your team’s time with bad meetings.
Harsh, but so many teams suffer from bad meetings.
Here’s three quick ways to have better, more efficient and effective team meetings.
1. Clarify the purpose of the meeting.
Get clear about the purpose of the meeting — is it to make a decision? Are you meeting to gather other people’s input or feedback? It is a quick check in about how people’s weeks went or to get aligned at the start of the week?
Be clear about what kind of meeting you are having and communicate that to your team. Avoid idle meetings by creating an agenda beforehand to provide more clarity to the purpose and structure of the meeting.
“When we need to have a quick, efficient meeting, everyone on my team knows that a machete meeting is code for chop out the fat and get right to it. ”
One idea that I use on my team is the concept of Machete Meetings. This is code on my team for a meeting that is free from small talk and solely focuses on covering what we’re there for and then getting off the meeting as quick as possible. When we need to have a quick, efficient meeting, everyone on my team knows that a machete meeting is code for chop out the fat and get right to it.
Also, create designated time for personal check-ins and time to connect just as humans. Our team meets most Fridays for a short chat to discuss how our weeks went, and allow everyone a chance to catch up with each other. This is especially important because we’re often remote and don’t get as much face time with one another as when we’re all in the office together. Carve out space for your team to do that as well.
2. Create ground rules for your meetings.
“Establish a few ground rules for your meetings that people can follow to create more intentional behavior and processes inside meetings.”
Establish a few ground rules for your meetings that people can follow to create more intentional behavior and processes inside meetings. This is massively helpful to increase efficiency and avoid common pit falls for your team.
For example, if you often get off track during meetings, try creating a code word like “Shiny things!” that anyone can say in a meeting if they realize that you’ve veered off track or gone down a rabbit hole. You could also adopt a motto like “Say your piece and zip it.” so that everyone knows in advance to not continue to belabor any points that they’re making.
This can be a game changer to address things that are unique and specific to your team by creating some guidelines to improve your time together.
3. Create a clear agenda.
If you’re facilitating a meeting, here are some things to consider, plan for, and be conscientious about beforehand:
Who is going to be in the meeting and are the topics relevant to everyone invited to the meeting? If you have items to go over that don’t pertain to certain people, cover them last and let people leave the meeting once their portion is over.
How much time do we have? Be clear about how much time you’ll need for different parts of the meetings and actively check that time to ensure you’re staying on track. Don’t have a 20 minute meeting that ends up taking 45 or an hour. Be vigilant and realistic about meeting time. Don’t get into the habit of double length meetings.
What are the topics we’re covering and what does a successful meeting look like? Again, like the first part of this blog, what are you in this meeting to accomplish, how will you know when you’ve accomplished it? Are you here to make a decision, or gather input? Get clear, communicate this at the outset of the meeting, and stick to it.
No one wants to sit through 30 minutes of an idle meeting that has nothing to do with them, so be considerate of everyone’s time and relevancy in the meeting. Plan for your meetings, create an agenda, and don’t let meetings be the place where everyone goes to have their time wasted.
And speaking of…
4. (Bonus!) Don’t have the meeting.
I know I said I only had three things, but here’s a fourth bonus tip: don’t have the meeting. If it can be in an email, a slack message, or just isn’t necessary, be okay with not having it.
“Time is money, multiplied by the salary of everyone in a meeting that doesn’t need to be there.”
Many companies and leaders waste hours and hours of every team member’s time every month in meetings that don’t need to happen. Time is money, multiplied by the salary of everyone in a meeting that doesn’t need to be there. Don’t have meetings just for the purpose of having a meeting.
Add structure and clarity to your meetings, be intentional about not wasting anyone’s time. Your team will appreciate it, and maybe even look forward to your meetings instead of dreading having their time wasted — they’ve got things to do, let them get to it.
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This article was created by Galen Emanuele for the #culturedrop. Free leadership and team culture content in less than 5 minutes a week. Check out the rest of this month's content and subscribe to the Culture Drop at https://bit.ly/culturedrop
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