In a survey of senior managers, 71% said meetings are unproductive and inefficient. And a study of 20 organizations revealed that dysfunctional behaviors in meetings — like complaining or criticizing others — are associated with lower market share, less innovation, and lower employee engagement.
Luis Velasquez, executive coach & author
Takeaways of Note:
How to keep team’s meetings on track:
- Enhance your meeting focus…
- Determine the primary objective
- Reframe goals as inquiry-driven statements
- Invite only team members who have a direct role in achieving the meeting’s objective
- Communicate with clarity…
- Importance – explain why meeting is needed & potential impact of its outcomes
- Relevance – communicate how the meeting directly relates to team members’ work or goals
- Involvement – communicate the expectations for each participant, including pre-work
- Handle Meeting Derailers… align team on 4 Dysfunctional Meeting Behaviors (GAAS)
- Gravity problems (sucked into discussing a challenge or issue that’s fundamentally unsolvable at the team level)
- Assumption overload (make excessive or unverified assumptions about a specific issue, person, or even themselves)
- Annoying negative thoughts, i.e. (1) All-or-nothing thinking, (2) Overgeneralization, (3) Catastrophizing, (4) Emotional reasoning
- Squirrel chasing (stay focused on purpose of meeting & don’t introduce unrelated tangents)