I estimate I’ve been to 10k (*) meetings in my career (holy smokes) and I’ve never written a blog post on meetings, so here it is. There are tons of recommendations online on effective meetings, things like having an agenda and setting goals for the meeting, inviting only necessary attendees, etc. In this post I would like to highlight just a few things that I think I might be doing differently and I will bring them in light of what I don’t like about the meetings :)

“What are we discussing?”

Let’s start with this: I really don’t like when people call for a meeting and don’t provide even a line of context or agenda. First of all this doesn’t give me or others means to properly prepare for the meeting. Effectively by not providing context or agenda the organizer is robbing themselves of a chance that some attendees will have more to contribute to the meeting. Additionally there is a good chance the meeting will be hijacked. In my view not having an agenda shows a grain of disrespect because the organizer demonstrates that this isn’t something important to them either.

• DO: Always, always add a bit of description to the meeting invitations you send. At a minimum say that the agenda is coming if you need more time to prepare but have to book time. But most of the time target creating meeting notes documents and adding context, agenda and any relevant info to the doc.

“So what was the decision?”

Another thing I don’t like about meetings is when there is not a single output artifact. After such a meeting, I’m asking myself “What was I doing here?” Lately I started solving this problem by just starting to take notes in meetings independently of my role in the meeting. If no one is presenting their screen I will just silently start sharing mine with notes being taken. I’ve been thanked on multiple occasions for notes that appeared out of nowhere. I’ve also been complimented for keeping the best track record of 1:1 or other discussions where I play a more active role.

• DO: Always play a role in the meetings you are attending. If noone is taking notes, take them yourself, if no one prepared an agenda/context but you have context – just create that doc. Maybe request the organizer to add the notes. Just 5 min of your time could make the meeting go in the direction you want it to go. Yeap, this is because by sharing the screen and people reading the context and agenda you put they are likely to follow some of that even if they are 2-3 levels above you (you can influence without authority in such a “weird” way). For big townhall kind of meetings, always attempt to prepare one question, this will keep you engaged in the meeting, otherwise just don’t join.

“That could have been an email!”

Oh, I also don’t like long or “that could have been an email” meetings. You know, those where all the useful information has been shared and discussed in the first 5-10 minutes and then people just chat about related topics and say they need time to think about it and respond, meaning that if it was an email the course of action would have been the same.

• DO: Well if something can be shared/asked via email just do it. But if you have to have a meeting schedule just enough time for what has to be discussed. You will be pressured to arrive at a conclusion within time you have and if you really need more time just schedule a follow-up. I found that 30 minute meetings are almost always enough.

“I want out of here.”

Oh, how about the “fill the void” where you feel like there is pressure to say something? In these kinds of meetings those who like to speak a lot take pleasure in just speaking and speaking and those who don’t like speaking secretly cannot wait for the meeting to be over.

• DO: If you are leading the meeting, encourage people to speak so long as new ideas are flowing and value is being added. The moment things become repetitive, same people talk non-stop, or there is disengagement, consider concluding the meeting, no shame in that. If anything people will thank you.

Conclusion

Unquestionably we need to meet at work. The purpose of meetings is to add value, help arrive at decisions and drive progress. The things that frustrate me the most, like a lack of agenda, no clear outcomes, and unnecessarily long discussions, are often avoidable with just a bit of effort and intentionality. By always preparing an agenda, ensuring there are actionable takeaways, and taking control when needed (even as a participant), you can influence the flow and value of a meeting.

(*) 16 years x 52 weeks x [5(early career) – 20(later career)] meetings/week = [4k – 16k]