Depending on who you ask, meetings are either a key determinant of organizational success or a necessary evil.
When used strategically, meetings are arguably the most powerful but overlooked tool leaders have for driving organizational alignment and accelerating results. This article explores different perceptions related to meetings, why they are important, and how leaders can be strategic game-changers, leveraging meeting culture to catalyze their company’s success.
What Makes a Meeting Good?
Most of us are familiar with meetings and participate in them regularly, but have you ever considered what made a meeting enjoyable, productive, or successful? Renowned organizational psychology expert, Dr. Steven Rogelberg, has spent a lifetime researching meeting science. In his book ‘The Surprising Science of Meetings’, he summarizes key findings and highlights ways leaders can impact meeting success.
Some of his recommendations include:
- Allow all voices to be heard
- Encourage shared understandings to promote consensus
- Drive energy and use creative ways to involve all participants
- Set a positive tone but also share power and the speaking floor
- Minimize distractions (such as phones and side conversations)
And while managers and those leading meetings drive a lot of the success of meetings, participants also have a role to play. We will explore the concept of ‘followership’ in a future blog.
Meeting Training – Ever Heard of It?
If you answered no, then you are not alone.
75% of managers report that they have never received formal training on how to conduct productive meetings. This may explain why so many managers and businesses struggle with running efficient, engaging, and inclusive meetings. The rise of hybrid meetings post-pandemic also presents unique challenges that many companies are still trying to navigate—another topic we’ll explore in future posts.
What do Leaders Say about Meetings?
According to a 2024 State of Meetings Report, 81% of leaders from a variety of sectors and organizations believe meetings are beneficial to an organization. Engagement with managers, connections with colleagues, and visibility to other projects are the top perceived benefits meetings, as shown in the graph below:
Source: Calendly
Operationally Speaking – What do Functional Leaders Tell Us?
Operational leaders within an organization are probably the most aware of the power of effective meetings and pitfalls of those not executed well. Being process oriented and efficient, these are managers who truly get it. They structure meetings with clear purpose and are comfortable saying no if they believe a meeting is unnecessary. They empower their team to decline invites to prevent meeting overload because they understand the concept of ‘less being more’.
How do Senior Human Resource (HR) Professionals View Meetings?
For HR team leaders, their primary concern is talent recruitment and retention, job satisfaction, and employee morale. They know that employees spend 20% to 60% of their time in meetings so the cost of poorly run meetings can add up. When employees feel their time and work is not valued, it can negatively impact job satisfaction.
And unhappy employees leave.
Over time, this can negatively impact a company’s overall performance.
Quick and Dirty Short-Term Meeting Fixes
Here are a few practical tips for leaders to boost meeting effectiveness immediately:
- Clarify and confirm purpose: before sending a meeting invite, think about the objective and whether active collaboration is needed. If not, consider other meeting alternatives.
- Address the fear of missing out (FOMO): sometimes being excluded from meetings causes employee concern or FOMO. Learn how to streamline your invite list while maintaining an inclusive culture here.
- Empower your team: meeting overload can impact productivity. Give your direct reports the ability to decline invites that lack relevance and a clear objective.
Understanding the Real Issue with Meetings
In today’s hectic and dynamic business environment, time is an invaluable resource. Leaders tell us they don’t have enough time to prepare for meetings effectively.
The result? Disorganized discussions; a lack of accountability for outcomes; and unclear ownership for action items. Over time, this can lead to inefficiency and poor results.
We know that well run meetings promote active collaboration, yet today’s pace of business prevents managers from having the time to appropriately prepare for meetings. Logic tells us that the obvious solution is to simply make the time.
Easier said than done because where do you magically find more time?
Say it Louder for those in the Back
Imagine if you could automate essential meeting preparation tasks.
That could be a game-changer, ensuring that every meeting scheduled was purposeful and focused. By facilitating and guiding meeting research and preparation, managers can approach meetings strategically, creating a culture of meetings that support positive outcomes rather than hinder them.
As a leader, you can be the change agent who shifts your company’s meeting culture. Alter how prep time and meetings are managed throughout the organization and accelerate company performance.
How to Change Meeting Culture Long-Term
While short term tactics are helpful, they offer symptomatic relief and do not address root causes. To truly transform meeting culture over the long term, consider an integrated holistic approach that uses a combination of tools. You need to understand meeting activity within your organization before you can improve it.
- Leverage Data and Analytics: Track meeting metrics to understand where time is being spent and identify patterns that reveal opportunities for improvement.
- Automate Meeting Prep: Use automation tools to streamline the preparation process, ensuring that each meeting is equipped with a focused agenda, clear objectives, and the necessary resources.
- Empower Bottom-Up Change: Encourage all team members to provide feedback and participate in creating a positive meeting culture.
As a leader within your organization, the opportunity to make a lasting impact is yours. Leverage meetings as a tool for alignment, collaboration, and decision-making, and unlock a significant competitive advantage.
Curious about how to start? Book a demo to see how you can take your organization’s meeting culture to the next level and set the foundation for accelerated results.
