We have meetings.
We have meetings to plan meetings.
We have meetings to debrief on meetings.
We have meetings where the first question is what the meeting is about.
We have meetings missing critical people because they’re in other meetings.
Many organizations suffer from meeting overload. The worst part is that so many meetings are terrible – where nothing meaningful is accomplished.
There’s more to booking a meeting than opening your prescribed calendar app, adding attendees, finding an open time slot, adding a title, and hitting “Send”.
Nothing about this sets the stage for a good meeting.
What is the meeting for?
What should people do to prepare?
What are you hoping to accomplish?
Who needs to bring what to the meeting?
Given how much time we spend in meetings, there’s enormous opportunity in their optimization.
If we have better meetings, maybe we won’t need as many meetings.
Here’s what should be in every meeting invitation:
AGENDA
Itemization of the topics to be discussed or materials to be shared, and a time allocation for each.
OBJECTIVE
What do you need to accomplish?
CONTEXT
What do people need to know to contribute effectively?
Is there anything to review prior to attending?
RESPONSIBILTIES
Who is responsible for leading the meeting?
Who needs to do specific work prior to the meeting?
SUCCESS CRITERIA
What outcomes will represent a successful meeting?
Pretty great, right?
Look kind of like a lot of work and a complete pain to pull all of this together?
Good!!
Maybe it’ll discourage meetings that are a waste of everyone’s time!
See ya later, got to get to another…