“If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be ‘meetings.” – Dave Barry

“Bro, the last thing in the world that I need in my life is more meetings!”

My friend Nick was on the phone and I had just proposed that as part of our effort to help our parish priest revitalize our small parish we schedule a weekly sit-down with the Father to help him get more organized, provide some direct, honest feedback and to support him as he worked to improve our church.

…And Nick wasn’t buying it.

“I’ve told Father a thousand times what he needs to do and he just needs to DO SOMETHING, now” said Adam. “I don’t need to waste another minute of my time sitting in a meeting to tell him the same things that I’ve already told him a thousand times”

I feel his pain. Really I do. As a coach who gives advice for a living, usually in a meeting setting, years ago I used to deal with the pain of unproductive meetings on a regular basis. That is, until I started treating meetings as my BEST opportunity to actually accomplish something. Fast-forward to today and I will tell you that I LOVE MEETINGS!

Now before you accuse me of being delusional, ask me to prove that I’ve been taking my meds, or simply skip to the next article, here are the three reasons why I love meetings:

(Properly scheduled) Meetings Provide Deadlines – Let’s face it, most people wait until the last minute to complete tasks that they have been assigned. In fact, if you’re a Tim Ferris fan, you may have heard of “Parkinson’s Law” which states roughly that the amount of time it takes to complete a task is directly proportional to the amount of time allocated to complete that task. A properly scheduled meeting will increase the probability that tasks get completed in a timely fashion by making that “last minute” a real thing. It will also provide opportunities to check in, reallocate resources, and adjust time frames to ensure the timely completion of projects and deliverables. The Simple Economist has a great blog post on Parkinson’s Law that you should check out.

(Properly run) Meetings Are Productivity Powerhouses – The biggest reason that people hate meetings is because most meetings aren’t run very well. After a period of small talk, most meetings proceed in “round robin” fashion with each attendee giving an update on their progress (or something) while the rest of the attendees barely pay attention, check their phones and generally bide their time until the meeting is over. A meeting with a SHORT, STRONG agenda that includes ONLY the attendees that should be in the meeting can become. Here is my favorite SIMPLE agenda for regular meetings:

What has happened since the last time we met?
What do you intend to happen between now and the next time we meet?
Where are you stuck?
Use this agenda any time that you don’t have time to put a more detailed agenda together.

(Properly acted upon) Meetings Create Results – We’ve all felt the excitement in the room when it SEEMS as if something BIG is about to happen. Smiles all around the room…. people genuinely engaged in the discussion…a general sense of accomplishment…and then…. nothing happens after the meeting. We get to the next meeting and no one can remember what we promised each other to complete and we drag ourselves back into another unproductive meeting (typically rehashing a watered down version of the last meeting). Properly acting upon meetings is the KEY to capitalizing on the synergies created when smart, engaged people spend time together. I recommend using a task manager like Asana to keep track of the “promises” made in meetings. There are a lot of great tools out there to help you track tasks, but over time I have gravitated to Asana for its ease of use.

I believe that we have learned to hate meetings for three simple reasons:

We do not schedule meetings with deadlines in mind.
We allow the meetings to “run themselves” because we don’t take the time to properly prepare short, strong agendas.
We fail to implement the actions proposed in meetings because we don’t utilize a centralized task management system.

Do you hate meetings? What is the one thing that you could do differently to make your meetings something that you (and your employees) look forward to attending?

Over the years, I’ve seen all sorts of different meeting models; from the “no meetings ever” model to the “meetings all the time” model and I’ve settled into a schedule that I think works well for most small businesses. I call it the {insert} meeting method. Here’s what it looks like:

Daily Huddle (5-15 minutes) – Typically a “stand-up” meeting with all staff members, the daily huddle is the foundation for a healthy company. Daily huddles keep employees focused on the same strategic goals, ensure timely answers to pressing questions, and enforce team accountability because everyone knows what everyone else is doing. My recommendation is that these happen FIRST THING each morning and include ALL TEAM MEMBERS who are working that day. Each team member gets a chance to speak and the meeting should feel light and motivating. One of the formats that I like best for daily huddles is as follows:

Victories from Yesterday
Priorities for Today
Anything That Has You Stuck?

This is an effective agenda that keeps the meeting on track and allows each person to give feedback and ask for help. Your job as an owner is to celebrate victories, help the employee clarify priorities and to help employees who are stuck by teaming them up with the right person to help them immediately after the meeting. You must resist the urge to solve every challenge at this meeting. That’s not the purpose of the huddle.

Weekly Management Meeting (60 Minutes) – The weekly management meeting is your opportunity as an owner to meet with your management team in a CLOSED setting. The Weekly meeting lasts 60 – 90 minutes, and is scheduled for the same day and time each week. IT IS NEVER SKIPPED. In this meeting, teams drive accountability to the plan and identify and resolve issues impeding progress. While there is some discussion of status and progress, this agenda keeps all of that short. Instead, much more time goes directly into problem solving. It’s a very rewarding way to work, because not only do you stay up-to-date, you see that you’re part of a group that can deal with issues and get stuff done. Here’s an agenda that I really like:

Weekly Management Meeting Agenda

• Welcome & Review Actions List (5 minutes)
• Schedule Announcements (5 minutes)
• Review the Numbers (5 minutes)
• Review Quarterly Priorities & Progress (5 minutes)
• Identify Top Issues (5 minutes)
• Tackle Top Issues (60 minutes)
• Review and Confirm Actions List (5 minutes)

Weekly Direct Reports 1-on-1 Meetings (30 minutes each) – One of the greatest complaints that employees have is that they don’t get enough face time with their direct supervisor. Owners some times think of that as a silly complaint, after all don’t we spend all day interacting with our direct reports? The truth is that although owners spend tons of time WITH their direct reports, they spend almost none of that time in a one-on-one setting with them. The weekly direct report meeting gives owners and direct reports a chance to connect with one another in a private environment free of distractions. It also provides an opportunity to proactively discover challenges, address performance issues and recognize contributions.

The format of a weekly, direct report, 1-on-1 meeting (in fact, almost all meetings) should always be kept simple and follow a regular rhythm. Here is one that I recommend that you start with until you move into a format and rhythm that you find works better for your particular situation:

Their Update – If you’re a manager, typically these meetings start off by asking “how’s everything going?” In the first fifteen minutes, ask questions that dig deeper into how they are feeling about their work, their teammates, and whatever else they’d like to talk about. In this section, you can uncover what motivates each employee. Make sure to take notes as this will help you craft an employee experience that maximizes everyone’s strengths.

Your Update – Successful one on ones aren’t team vent-fests, but instead are a two-way conversation. It’s common for issues to pop-up, and it’s important that you provide context and help them understand why a certain decision was made.

Next Steps – In the final five minutes, agree on next steps (if needed). As a manager, this is why taking notes is so important. If a direct report brings up an issue or suggestion for improvement, take it to heart and do everything you can in your power to fix it. Also make sure to communicate progress along the way. If an employee shows vulnerability and brings up an issue that may be tough for them to discuss, it’s your job to do something about it. Make sure you follow through.

Weekly (or Bi-Weekly) Cash Flow Meeting (60 Minutes) – Keeping track of your finances can be a daunting task if you don’t have a regularly scheduled time to go over your cash flow and make a plan for paying bills and retaining profit. That’s why I recommend actively reviewing and planning your cash flow on a weekly basis. I discussed this in detail in Issue #2, but here are the main reports to review:

8 Week Predictive Cash Flow – How much money do you have now and how much are you planning to have over the next eight weeks.
Accounts Payable – To whom do you owe money and who will you choose to pay this week.
Accounts Receivable – Who owes you money and what will you do to collect that money this week.

That’s it. Of course, there are quarterly and annual meetings that I recommend as well, but I think that you’ll agree that 4 meeting groups each week for a total of approximately 5 hours of your time to COMPLETELY manage the employees and finances in your business is well worth the effort.