Many internal meetings don’t provide the kind of value that compels people to want to attend.
Because they are mandatory and represent an obligation for team members, people show up and make the best of them.
But that doesn’t mean they are the productive gatherings they should be.
What if meetings were voluntary? How many people would show up if they didn’t have to?
Sadly, not many — and the most talented team members would be the quickest to bypass them. Why?
The truth is that most meetings are boring by design. They’re built around status updates and lengthy discussions that don’t go anywhere.
They lack urgency and avoid tackling tough issues with candid debate.
They are low-energy affairs where people go through the same motions without clear outcomes.
They simply don’t deliver enough value to justify the time.
Of the many best practices good leaders incorporate to make meetings more effective, one is starting to catch fire.
More teams are doing pre-work to frame the issues, problems, or decisions before they gather.
This allows them to use meeting time almost exclusively for discussion.
Each issue or decision is assigned to a team member, who frames the context in a short written brief that the team can digest before the meeting.In addition to framing the issue, the team member names the question to be discussed.
If the framing and question aren’t sharp, the discussion won’t be either.
So if they can’t state the question to the satisfaction of the team leader, the issue is tabled for future discussion.
A clear question is the minimum bar for discussing anything at the meeting.
When issues arise without time for pre-work, leaders insist on short presentations and longer discussions.
Too many meetings are focused on the opposite ratio, with a team member presenting and talking at people with little time for discussion.
The whole point of convening people is to do what can’t be done away from the group gathering.
First among these is debate, discussion, and brainstorming.
In the best organizations, a meeting earns its existence by doing something that can’t be done in other formats or with other tools.
Discussion is the heartbeat of any meeting worth having.
Team members want to contribute to the discussion that productive meetings depend on.
When they know they’d miss a lively debate on an issue or decision that affects them, team members willingly show up — even if they don’t have to. In your meetings, how is time split between presentation and discussion?
When discussion and debate dominate, no one wants to be the person who skipped.
