Effective Meetings

Lots of people say “I have too many meetings” and “It’s impossible to book a meeting because everyone is already fully booked”. 

Every event in a calendar is not a meeting!

• After-Work and Friday Wins
• Recurring team events
• Workshops
• Focus time and group work
• 1-on-1s

TRY THIS: Color code the different event types in your calendar. Whatever you didn’t color code might be a meeting.

If it is, make sure it follows the upcoming best practices for meetings. If it doesn’t, consider cancelling it.

When should I call a meeting?

1. Call a meeting when there is confusion.
2. Especially if that confusion affects more than one team.

There are 3 ways to reduce confusion:

• Communicate information
• Take a decision
• Solve a problem

What do I need for an effective meeting?

• A Purpose: Mandatory for all meetings
• A Goal: Mandatory for all meetings
• Material: Send over material prior to the meeting to prepare the attendees
• Attendees: Think carefully before sending mandatory invites 
• Time: Start and end the meeting as scheduled

QUICK SUMMARY

• Every event is not a meeting – color code!
• Every meeting should resolve a named confusion, by either:
  • Giving information
  • Making decisions
  • Solving problems

Checklist before a meeting:

• A Purpose: What’s the topic?
• A Goal: Type of meeting?
• Material: What can you send ahead?
• Attendees: Who needs to attend?
• Time: Will you join and end on time?