Cracking the Code for High-Quality Meetings

Signs of a dysfunctional meeting

• Mostly talking, little listening

  Just as common as not hearing from some people is a meeting with just too little listening all around.

• Hijacking agenda

  Many meetings struggle with sticking to the agenda and bringing it to fruition.

• Boss holding the court

  Where the meeting feels more like you are an audience for your boss to think out loud than a discussion.

• Unpreparedness

  The material needed for the meeting is not ready beforehand and pre-meeting questions like ‘why this meeting’ are unanswered.

Peak Meeting Function

The thing is that most people say they don’t want to have meetings. Most say “oh that meeting could have been handled with an email or Slack message”. They might be right. But that is only if you take the meeting literally. Meetings mean so much more to a company than conveying information or deciding.

Here’s how to ensure your meetings can be as effective as possible.

• Shared goals

  Everyone with the same goal should be present in the meeting. If the goal of the meeting doesn’t concern certain team members, it is okay to conduct meetings without them.

• Agreed schedule

  Almost all meetings can be scheduled in advance. Doing so helps in avoiding unpreparedness or lack of participation.

• Predictable processes

  Having systems in place that everyone is familiar with for meetings like a status update or introduction calls saves time during the meeting.

Apart from this, do not forget to…

1. Start and end on time

   Open-ended meetings can take up more time for less outcome.

2. Schedule carefully

   Schedule meetings in such a way that they have the least effect on the team’s productivity, reduce the number of meetings needed, and can have maximum output.

In conclusion

Talking, listening, and discussing are the ingredients for a shared understanding, and with a shared understanding the micro-decisions that everyone makes every day whether writing code, creating positioning, deploying a build, or designing an experience, become more aligned with the final goal.

The more we know about what and how people think, the more the micro choices you make day in and day out (without meetings) will likely be made in unison. Usually, high-performance teams require fewer meetings but the entire team is well-connected and aligned with each other. This connection comes from talking, listening, and doing so on repeat. This can be achieved with high-quality meetings.