8 Executive-Backed Meeting Strategies to Fuel Growth and Change

Looking to maximize productivity while ensuring your team members feel valued and happy with their contributions? Leaders who do this well are the difference between organizational success and poor company performance.

It can be challenging to balance company priorities with employee needs for growth and development, especially during periods of transition, but there is a way to leverage something that already exists – meetings.

For companies navigating change, focusing on meeting effectiveness can be a game-changer. This article outlines how and provides leaders of high-potential companies with strategies to ensure their meeting practices drive optimal results.

Learning Meeting Strategies from the Best

The reality is that more does not always lead to better, and that certainly rings true for meetings.

Some of the most famous business executives implemented very specific approaches when it came to their meetings. We’re not talking about leaders who competed and succeeded, but rather those who radically transformed entire industries.  

Given the impact and track records of these leaders, it’s worth paying attention to how they managed meetings within their organizations and used them to fast-track their success and influence.

Meetings During Periods of Change

Growth and scale are two common business stages that companies go through, and if managed well, provide a foundation for long-term success. However, avoid the temptation to book more meetings because that does not necessarily promote better communication or strategic goal alignment.

Creating Stability: Proven Tactics for Managing Change Effectively

With an estimated one billion meetings taking place around the world every day, most leaders recognize the important role meetings play in driving productivity and achieving results.

Then why are meetings so controversial? Because not every meeting is well executed.

Successfully run meetings leave participants feeling energized and empowered. They want more not less.

During periods of transition, business leaders and their teams manage complexity and uncertainty as they relate to resources and shifting priorities. Risks to be aware of include:

1. Goal misalignment - Leaders need to ensure team members are clear on business priorities and how their roles support what is important. Otherwise, confusion and decision paralysis can occur.
2. Heightened stress and anxiety - Leaders who are transparent are more likely to garner support from their team members even when facing challenging circumstances. At the end of the day, leaders are ultimately managing people and emotions. When tasks, resources, decisions, and outcomes are viewed through a ‘people first’ lens, leaders are more likely to build trust and foster engagement among their teams.
3. Communication confusion - Be mindful of using meetings to share updates. Leaders can demonstrate that they value their direct reports’ time by scheduling meetings around specific business outcomes and only when active collaboration is required. Inviting team members to meetings where their input is essential helps avoid frustration and resentment that their time is being wasted or keeping them from other more important work.
4. Stifling creativity and innovation - Properly executed meetings bring the right people together to answer questions, solve problems, or reach a consensus. Leaders who create ‘psychologically safe’ spaces encourage diverse perspectives and allow respectful disagreement, ultimately supporting discussions that are more likely to foster creativity, build resilience, and support adaptability.

Key Takeaways from Prominent Executives

Case studies are a solid way to gain insights and learn. Some of the most renowned global executives have shared what has worked best for managing during periods of change within their organizations. Like them or not, it’s hard to ignore the efficiency and results these leaders achieved with their respective organizations.  

Here is a quick summary of their meeting recommendations for business leaders.

1. Elon Musk – prepare adequately
   • Preparation is often overlooked as a key factor in meeting success. Leaders who set clear expectations on meeting goals and how attendees should prepare prior to the meeting are better positioned to utilize actual meeting time to achieve results. 
2. Steve Jobs – limit the number of meeting participants
   • Having more people at the table can lead to deviations from the topic at hand. By limiting participants, leaders maintain focus on the issues that the meeting was called for. The most effective number of attendees to aim for is between six and eight participants, but it depends on the purpose of the meeting. For example, idea generation meetings can include more attendees than decision-making meetings.
3. Larry Page – enable decision-making outside of meetings
   • Sometimes speed is of the essence and waiting for a meeting delays decision-making or compromises a company’s ability to respond quickly. Leaders who empower their team members to make decisions prevent unnecessary delays and also builds trust, a key element of job satisfaction and morale.
4. Satya Nadella – host weekly extended leadership meetings
   • Bringing together teams across business units provides visibility across the organization and promotes alignment. Cross-functional check-ins keep teams informed on one another’s progress and highlight the bigger picture, ensuring strategic objectives are always kept in sight.  
5. Ben Horowitz – host structural one-on-ones
   • One-on-one meetings are an essential part of any leader’s toolkit because they are an opportunity to engage and build strong relationships with team members. Allow your direct reports to drive the agenda and ensure that you spend more time actively listening rather than talking.  
6. Marissa Mayer – default to data and analysis
   • Whether it’s reviewing ideas or making decisions, data is essential. Leaders who promote environments where ideas are evaluated and refined before broad implementation are more efficient and less likely to waste valuable resources.
7. Alfred Sloan – send actionable follow-ups after every meeting
   • The true value of successful business meetings extends beyond the time spent in the actual meetings. Integrating follow-ups as a standard practice post-meeting summarizes discussions, assigns accountability, and provides visibility to who owns what. Leaders who incorporate this practice ensure that meetings go beyond dialogue and result in actual outcomes.
8. Sheryl Sandberg – maintain a strict agenda  
   • Adhering to tight agendas facilitates focused and efficient discussions. Leaders applying this practice are also less likely to go over allocated meeting times and achieve outcomes by remaining on track.  

Sharing agendas in advance can also help participants know the topics to be discussed and level set expectations. Bonus – this can help attendees prepare as needed before the meeting.

Next Steps

The cumulative effect of adopting these principles can be significant but overwhelming if you attempt to execute them all at once. Identifying specific problem areas can provide business leaders with a starting point for areas of improvement.  

Contact the experts at Kairos to learn how you can streamline gathering your company’s meeting data, generate actionable insights, and provide evidence-based guidance to address areas for improvement.

We can help you learn more about your business meeting culture, and provide the foundation necessary to accelerate your momentum to drive competitive advantage.