Death by Meeting*

August 21, 2009
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strategiesIf your management team suffers from boring, tedious, and unproductive meetings, here is a solution.  Patrick Lencioni’s book, Death by Meeting proposes a better structure and context for meetings:  Stop throwing every topic needing discussion into 1 meeting (meeting stew) and instead, create 4 different meetings – each with its own important purpose and function.

 

  1. Quarterly comprehensive strategy – the opportunity to step away from the daily and weekly issues that tend to occupy most of our attention and take a holistic view of the business
  2. Monthly strategic – the time to review ‘parking lot’ items that have come up in weekly tactical meetings and wrestle with and decide on the critical issues.
  3. Weekly tactical – resolve issues, remove obstacles, and ensure everyone is on the same page
  4. Daily check in – wait…don’t panic!  This is only 5 minutes per day and it will save you heaps on time in the rest of your day because you will coordinate schedules and cut down on email chains

I actually had the opportunity to implement this in my own organisation once, and I can say…it really worked.  Some people will object with ‘it’s too many meetings’.  But, as Lencioni points out, if you add up the hours your management team spends leaving voice mail, roaming the halls to clarify issues, and the lag time of staff waiting for clarity, the methodology suddenly doesn’t seem quite as overwhelming.  Doing meetings right is about getting it right the first time so everyone can get on with the business at hand. 

Tips for success:training

  1. Daily:  don’t sit down, keep it administrative, hold it daily, regardless of travel schedules
  2. Weekly:  don’t set an agenda.  Start with a lightning round where each manager gives an update and shares key metrics for 60 seconds.  Let the group set the agenda after the lightning round, based on what is most important.  Postpone strategic discussions until the monthly meeting
  3. Monthly strategic:  Discuss, deal with and decide critical issues impacting long term success.  Do research prior and engage in ‘good conflict’
  4. Quarterly off-site:  Don’t overstructure, but don’t turn it into a boondoogle either.  Consider using an outside facilitator

The book is written as a management fable, which sometimes feels a bit insulting to the intelligence.  But, it’s worth persevering.   We all know how frustrating and time-consuming un-productive meetings can be.  I can speak from personal experience – this is a powerful tool that can make a huge difference to productivity and job satisfaction.  Need help?  Give me a call.

*Lencioni, P. (2004).  Death by meeting.  San Francisco, CA:  Jossey-Bass.

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