"Sharpen the Axe" Meeting to Improve & Innovate
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A simple way for teams to innovate: “Sharpen the Axe” meetings.
Every team faces their own unique issues that impact efficiency, communication, processes, outcomes, etc. This week’s #CultureDrop is a simple meeting format to help teams address those issues and improve them: a short, focused “Sharpen the axe” meeting.
This is a lightweight format any team can use at any time of year, and it works well as a regular practice. I think a sweet spot would be once per quarter, but by all means if your team is feeling ambitious or loves the format, do it every month or two,
The goal is straightforward. Identify one real challenge the team faces and come away with a decisive plan to improve it.
“Many meetings run long, drift, repeat points, or try to solve or address too many things at once.”
A 30-minute rule.
Try it where the entire meeting is capped at 30 minutes. That constraint is intentional.
Many meetings run long, drift, repeat points, or try to solve or address too many things at once. This format builds the muscle of making decisions quickly, coming to agreement, and moving forward into action without overthinking.
Set a timer. When the time is up, the meeting is done.
The purpose of a “sharpen the axe” meeting.
This is not a loose brainstorming session or space to vent. The purpose is to:
Identify one area of opportunity or challenge the team consistently faces
Agree and align on it as a group
Create a concrete, actionable plan to address it
The Meeting Format
The first 15 minutes: Identify the challenge.
Spend the first half of the meeting identifying a single challenge or opportunity. This should be something that regularly makes work harder, slows projects down, or creates friction within the team.
A few important guidelines help this work well:
Pick something within the team’s control. External constraints like regulations or company-wide policies are not good candidates.
Focus on systems and patterns, not individuals. This is about how the team operates, not calling someone out.
Choose just one thing. There may be many valid issues, but the practice here is prioritization.
“Get into the habit of being able to decide and align on the specific, pinpointed challenge or issue without taking an hour to get there.”
Everyone does not need five minutes to explain their perspective. The goal is efficiency, not perfect consensus through endless discussion.
Get into the habit of being able to decide and align on the specific, pinpointed challenge or issue without taking an hour to get there.
This may be hard. That’s ok, you can learn to get better at doing hard things. If you can identify and align on the issue in only 5-10 minutes, you’ll get more time to generate a concrete plan.
The second 15 minutes: Decide on a plan.
At the halfway mark (or earlier if you decide quickly), shift from problem identification to solution mode.
Use the remaining 15 minutes to agree on one or two concrete, actionable things the team will do to address the challenge. This usually looks like a small system, process, or operating change.
By the end of the meeting, the team should be clear on:
What actions will be taken
Who is responsible for what
What success looks like
When the team will check back in to assess and evaluate, make tweaks to the plan, etc.
Clarity matters here. “Let’s try to be better at this” is not enough. Everyone should leave knowing exactly what to the plan is specifically, and how the team will measure progress.
“You can’t talk solutions into existence — have a bias for taking action and then learn, tweak, and improve as you go.”
Ground rules that keep these meetings effective.
A few simple rules to help make these meetings successful:
Don’t belabor points. Make decisions and move on.
Be decisive as a group.
Keep the focus on collective improvement.
Respect the time limit.
The discipline of staying within 30 minutes is part of the value. It reinforces that progress does not require endless discussion. You can’t talk solutions into existence — have a bias for taking action and then learn, tweak, and improve as you go.
Why this works.
Done regularly, this meeting can become a steady way to improve how you work together as a team. Small, targeted changes add up over time. Just as importantly, your team will build confidence in its ability to identify issues, agree quickly, and take action together.
Short, focused, and practical. A great way for teams to continually improve and never stop becoming better.
Related Blogs:
Upward Brainstorming: How to Brainstorm Effectively with Your Team
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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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