Communicating

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• Make Every Meeting Matter: 3 Things You Must Review on Any Meeting Agenda to Keep Meetings Short and Sweet – don’t let your meeting agendas turn into lengthy to-do lists. Follow these tips and review your agendas the right way.
• 5 Things you can do to Stop Wasting Your Employees’ Time

‘Meeting fatigue’ is real. Here’s why having too many meetings is counterproductive

Meetings are on the rise and so, too, is meeting fatigue.

With executives spending an average of 23 hours per week in scheduled meetings, and research showing that 70 percent of meetings keep employees from completing their tasks, the need to reform meeting culture is clear.

An increasing number of global organizations trialing meeting-free days, restricting the number of hours an individual can be in meets each week, and capping attendee numbers have given rise to speculation about how to tackle meeting fatigue effectively. Many are questioning what internal communications will look like with fewer meetings or no meetings at all.

Organizations that have transitioned from management to leadership have implemented a no-meeting and no-email policy, and are seeing great benefits from this approach in productivity, communication, and morale.

But to see these results, a no-meetings model must go further than simply canceling diary invitations. Companies should consider building a culture around no meetings, with the infrastructure and tools to ensure that communication doesn’t suffer, but thrives instead.

What’s the problem with meetings?

Meetings can hold up progress, especially for teams who operate across time zones. Employees tend to suspend taking action until the next time they can touch base with their team, which creates bottlenecks.

If employees put their individual tasks on hold to accommodate meetings, spend hours on “Zoom” or “Teams” calls, and have little time for heads-down work, these are telltale signs that too many meetings are being held.

What are the benefits of reducing meetings?

A no-meetings model can provide a solution for organizations looking to bolster productivity, refocus communications and boost morale. It is found that, without meetings, communication is incredibly clear, focused and effective.

Misunderstandings and internal conflict are minimized by communicating through team-level project management tools. These transparent, collaborative tools mean that our employees don’t have to recall something said in a group setting and can instead refer to previous projects to find the answers.

There are clear benefits for productivity, too. In a pro-meeting culture, if an employee is most productive earlier in the day and a meeting is scheduled on their calendar during that window, it can derail their workflow. Removing meetings restores control to the employee, enabling them to determine their schedule and maximize their productivity by working at a time and place that suits them best.

Furthermore, without meetings, organizations can invest more in creating an inclusive and celebratory workplace culture that fosters well-being. By opening up channels of communication, there is a reduced risk of employees feeling excluded or undervalued.

One organization celebrates milestones with our entire team by circulating videos throughout their organization, so all our employees are made aware of, and share in, the success and journey of our company.

Another idea is to create a ‘Kudos Wall’ channel on “Slack” or “Teams” where teammates can publicly congratulate and show appreciation for each other. Admittedly, we weren’t sure it would take off but, after a couple of years, the engagement levels are incredible, and the positivity continues to flow.

No-meetings approach: A new model of communication

The transition to a no-meetings model can’t take place overnight because a cultural shift, which goes beyond simply canceling meetings, is required. It’s essential that leaders provide employees with the right education, tools, and infrastructure to support a no-meetings approach.

Like any plan, goals should be set, for example, to maximize autonomy and flexibility for our remote-first workforce. As such, create an asynchronous communications process, switching from emails and meetings to company-wide project management and communication tools.

There are a number of advantages to adopting an asynchronous communications model. Project management tools allow us to provide highly-defined actions to our team, which help to structure their workflow and maintain task focus.

For remote workforce, these tools promote transparency and enable leaders to monitor progress, while also allowing team members a high degree of personal responsibility as they’re able to organize their own work days.

By removing the demand to respond immediately, employees are afforded the time and space to refer to past projects and formulate clear, coherent responses via written communication.

The first step to implementing an asynchronous communications model is to set up clear and transparent communication processes across your company and then clearly explain the purpose and benefit of the model to employees.

The next step is to provide teams with the education and training to effectively use the tools and infrastructure that have been implemented.

Once educated and equipped to use the new model, employees can buy into a shared culture around the approach, which allows the entire organization to work harmoniously within an asynchronous system.

Flexibility is also an important part of the model, and there may be times when a meeting is unavoidable.

To ensure that unnecessary meetings don’t slip back into calendars, it’s important to have a clear protocol for assessing the value of any proposed meeting.

Employees must initially try to resolve the issue without a meeting, using the company’s project management software. If they can’t resolve it asynchronously, the employee must create an agenda and request the meeting. Meetings are usually limited to two people and for up to 30 minutes. Afterward, detailed notes are posted in the project work, so everyone can benefit, and recordings of Zoom and Team meetings are posted in their entirety.

No-meetings model: The verdict

Many organizations especially those with a remote workforce, can benefit from reducing meetings.

Meeting-free days or limited meeting numbers are a first step, but they’re not enough to tackle meeting fatigue and productivity bottlenecks.

To truly see the benefits of a no-meetings policy, organizations need to invest in the right infrastructure and cultivate a shared culture around the approach among their employees.

Once this is in place, leaders should lead by example in operating under a set of clearly defined asynchronous communication processes. When their teams understand, and buy into, a company-wide culture built on asynchronous communications, the no-meetings approach will likely lead to positive results in productivity, communication, and morale.

Stop Wasting People’s Time with Meetings

Some organizations are trying to get a grip on wasteful meetings, introducing no-meeting days, empowering people to make their own decisions, and improving the way meetings are planned and facilitated. At their best, meetings are purposeful, inclusive (of the people who actually need to be there), and participatory. Nevertheless, some leaders don’t pay much attention to their own contributions. At a time when there’s more focus on the quality of meetings, it pays to take the opportunity to showcase your best self to your colleagues and make sure you’re spending your time and energy wisely. The author presents five strategies to help you do that.

Meetings provide a platform for people to investigate issues, explore new avenues, and agree on actions. They’re also an opportunity to highlight leadership skills, interests, and managerial styles. However, many fall short of this promise. Ask yourself how much return you get from your involvement in all meetings, but especially the board and executive meetings you attend. How much time and energy do you have left in your schedule to think, imagine, and communicate in other ways?

Some organizations are trying to get a grip on wasteful meetings, introducing no-meeting days, empowering people to make their own decisions, and improving the way meetings are planned and facilitated. At their best, meetings are purposeful, inclusive (of the people who actually need to be there), and participatory.

Nevertheless, some managers don’t pay much attention to their own contributions to meetings, whether they’re leading or attending. One CEO had any manager that attended more than 20 hours of meetings a week, began reporting directly to them.  When asked why he said, “Anyone that is that valuable needs to report to them.” It was amazing to see how much availability managers had on their calendars.  When the CEO was asked about his strategy for meetings, he replied, “I don’t have one.”

In a world where there’s more focus on the quality of meetings, it pays to take the opportunity to showcase your best self to your colleagues and make the most of your own time and energy. The following five strategies should help.

Articulate Your Ambition Clearly

Too often, it’s not clear what a meeting is meant to achieve. Instead, the chair starts the meeting with some pleasantries before rattling through the agenda.

If you’re looking to establish a clearer ambition for your meeting, take the following actions:

• • Invite clarification beforehand. Avoid assuming that everyone agrees with the agenda. Encourage people to call out clarifications or disagreements before the meeting. Doing so increases the quality of discussion and buy-in of the group.
  • Explain why the meeting matters. During the meeting, describe the relevance, materiality, and urgency of the discussion in relation to the organization’s strategy and journey. Be explicit about what you’d like to achieve, using statements like, “I’d like this meeting to move us closer to…” and, “We have an important decision to make in relation to…”
  • Convey your belief in the group. If you’re looking to tackle complex issues (as meetings should; otherwise, let people get on with it themselves), you’ll need everyone to share their best thinking. Put them in a positive frame of mind by signaling your belief in their abilities, for example, by recalling past successes. Use a statement like, “Remember when we had a great discussion about…”
  • Work out how you want to show up. Don’t forget to develop your own ambition. What do you want others to think, feel, and do because of your contribution? What lessons can you learn from your impact in previous meetings?

Decide What Roles You Want to Play

Many executives adopt roles in meetings based on what they think is expected of them or what they’ve done before. For example, a CFO will represent the finance function and lead finance-related discussions. Doing this can limit your sphere of influence and your contribution. By deliberately shaping the role you want to play, you can quickly uncover new information, invalidate long-held assumptions, and test scenarios that may initially seem improbable. Here are a few roles to try out:

• • Initiate a discussion and stimulate fresh thinking through analogies, stories, or precedents.
  • Ask how a decision will play out in the organization and what it would take for it to land well.
  • Question the logic, coherence, and validity of an argument with data, experience, and/or intuition.
  • Encourage full participation by inviting others to join the discussion, and making connections (“bridging”) between points and the people involved.
  • Decision-maker. Frame the topic clearly, invite discussion of the issues and options, and make a decision in the meeting (avoiding taking it “offline” whenever possible).

If you’re left to your devices, select a role that the discussion requires and that you enjoy playing, for example, a “custodian” when considering the integration challenges of an acquisition. “Be careful not to play multiple roles at the same time, otherwise you risk confusing and disenfranchising others,”. Use spaces between agenda items or pauses in the discussion to signal a change in your role. Help others understand this by asking someone to address the agenda items so that you can focus on the facts.

Work Out Your Most Distinctive Contribution

An effective meeting requires a range of perspectives, skillsets, experiences, and styles, especially when the subject matter is complex. The challenge is for you to demonstrate your best self while being a good team player.

If you’re looking to make a more distinctive contribution, start by working out where your strengths can best address the topics of the meeting. This could be from your:

• • Credibility, or license to contribute from prior successes.
  • Subject matter knowledge.
  • Ability to problem solve or reframe, for example, using scenarios.
  • Insights from other organizations, industries, or ecosystems facing similar issues.

Create “profiles” of other meeting participants in the same way you might for your customers. Map out their backgrounds, interests, perspectives, questions, and historical contributions. This helps you identify:

• • White space. Topics where you might have more to contribute than others given your expertise and experience.
  • Allies who share a common interest, experience, or background with you.
  • Colleagues who have an opposing view to yours.

Use this insight to anticipate the perspectives, contributions, and reactions of others. Look to influence people in advance, if appropriate. Don’t go too far, though. Being distinctive isn’t about you winning and your colleagues losing, it’s about using your strengths to set yourself apart from others. It also shouldn’t leave you inflexible or dogmatic, loaded with limiting assumptions that may not prove to be true.

If you’re on an established team, reflect on your experience from a series of meetings and think about the capabilities you need to develop to make a distinctive contribution. For example, if you’re regularly dealing with sensitive topics, you’ll need to listen attentively to fully understand the perspectives of others before exploring options. Or, if you’re tackling a crisis, interrogate the issues by using problem-solving skills. Work out the best way to enhance these capabilities, from observing others who possess them to create your own personal learning cloud of online courses and tools to using an external coach.

Use Signals Wisely

Meetings are full of signals and cues as to peoples’ interests and intentions. But many executives don’t take the opportunity to be intentional with their own signals because of a lack of preparation and self-awareness. They also fail to capture what’s said (or implied) in the meeting.

We’ve all seen the person on “autopilot.” Their mind is elsewhere as they replay what happened in the previous meeting or plan the next one. And, over time, their colleagues get frustrated, or worse, disillusioned with their contributions.

Think carefully about what you wanted to convey in a meeting, both in what you say and how you come across. That meant using your words, voice (pitch, volume, intonation), facial expressions, and body posture to:

• • Interest in the topic.
  • Determination to solve a pressing problem.
  • Creativity in developing new ideas.
  • Ability to listen, recognize, and respond to the perspectives of different people.
  • Confidence in high-stakes situations.
  • Positivity in challenging circumstances.

You may find it helpful to write down the questions you seek answers to, or at least the hypotheses she wanted to test, before the meeting. That allows you to start the meeting with greater intentionality. Also scheduled proper reflection time, immediately afterward and a few days later.

Manage Yourself in the Moment

Meetings can be emotional rollercoasters, especially if there are big characters and pressurized circumstances. A comment, suggestion, or implication from a team member can provoke a strong reaction, including frustration, insecurity about your position, or anger.

The challenge is to maintain enough of your composure to think clearly and communicate effectively. Avoid an overreaction that can linger in peoples’ memories and erase many of your positive contributions.

You can make strategic choices about how to manage yourself at the moment by:

• • Being clear about where you should focus. If you’re clear about the topics you truly care about, and think the group should care about, you’ll be more selective about which battles to fight and which ones to steer clear of.
  • Anticipating the triggers. Write down a list of topics (“We must do something about our customer service”), events (“Whenever we’ve tried to launch a new product, it’s gone wrong”), or people (“Whenever they interrupt me”) that will trigger an emotional response in you. Then develop a list of more constructive responses (“That’s past, we’re a different organization now,” “I’ll come to you after I’ve finished my point, if I may”).
  • Label your reaction. When you feel an emotional response, label it (in your head) as if you were a dispassionate third party. Pay attention to where you’re focusing and how you’re feeling while recognizing your limitations (so-called “meta-awareness”). Create some distance, even at the moment, look out the window, have a glass of water, control your breath, or center yourself physically (feet square to the floor, sit up straight).
  • Refocusing your attention. Remind yourself of your ambition and focus, then look to reframe the discussion by refocusing attention on different ways to address the issues at hand.

Becoming more strategic in meetings is not about being self-absorbed or ultra-competitive. It’s certainly not about over-planning to the point that you become rigid in the meeting itself. Rather, practicing these five strategies will help you be more intentional with your actions and more likely to bring your best self to the discussion.