David Ross - VUCA Strategist. Corporate Peacemaker’s Post

Problem- Crappy Meetings?  One Solution: Invite the minimum/right people Core Problem: We invite too many people to a meeting or miss key members who must be present for a quorum. When deciding who should attend a meeting, consider the following: Always minimize the number of attendees to those required while balancing the need for all valuable input. Informational meetings can accommodate a group of nearly unlimited size. However, meetings should not be called to simply relay information. There are other, much more effective, and unobtrusive methods for this type of communication (recorded video, email, etc.). It is boring to sit in a meeting for no other reason than to listen. Collaborative meetings are optimal with up to 6 attendees and must include trustees from each area impacted. Therefore, there will be times when you must invite more than the optimal 6. One neglected technique is inviting attendees for only the agenda items affecting them. These special guests can then be allowed, but not required, to leave to do the important work waiting for them. If you are still worried that someone would be interested in attending even though they are not required…  Consider inviting them as optional if they are not required to make a quorum.  That way, they can decide if attendance would generate enough value for the organization.   Please remember: When an invitee replies as tentative / maybe or decline / no, it is time to consider postponing or canceling the meeting.  Attending a meeting where decisions cannot be made because of missing constituents is incredibly frustrating. Just my opinion.  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments. #Vistage #EffectiveMeetings #CrappyMeetings #BusinessMeetings #Meetings

Meetings Are a Trainwreck. Avoid These 7 Fatal Errors to Make Your Meetings Better Right Now https://flip.it/XL2A.S

Meetings Are a Train Wreck. Avoid These 7 Fatal Errors to Make Your Meetings Better Right Now https://buff.ly/3x202k7

Meetings - How to make them Effective? It is not uncommon that Meetings have several known flaws even when experienced professionals conduct them. I am sure you might have also encountered some or all flaws, such as hijacking by one of the attendees, allowing such hijacks by the organiser, discussing irrelevant items away from main topic, struggling to complete on time, failing to follow up, not reviewing earlier meeting points, last but not the least, not capturing minutes !! Way out? Be aware and stick to Dos and Do Nots. Best Practices help here to a great extent. Here is the list for you to evaluate: 1.    Meeting invites must be sent in advance to ensure that attendees can plan and ensure their presence. 2.    All invitees must be present during the meeting on time. 3.    If it is delegated to another person, that person should be a decision maker with complete knowledge of agenda. 4.    The agenda must be clear and made known to all attendees to come prepared. 5.    Previous meeting points should be reviewed before starting current meeting (Not applicable for the first meeting). 6.    No Excuse such as ‘will get back after the meeting’ is allowed. 7.    Time estimate must be reasonably accurate and the moderator/organiser must be watchful on this. 8.    Each attendee must stick to agenda points; No major deviation is allowed. 9.    No undue interruptions are allowed. 10. Key points must be captured in the Minutes of the Meeting. 11. MoM must be complete in all respects. 12. Mechanism to track actions within timelines agreed. Do share your views on these points and how you managed such obstacles ...

Meetings Are a Trainwreck. Avoid These 7 Fatal Errors to Make Your Meetings Better Right Now https://flip.it/Yxq5kp

It's incredible how much leaders in business and academics are willing to go to update their approaches to productivity but neglect improving the timesink that is bad and useless meetings. Countless chairs and office layouts are considered, yet no attention is paid to eliminating or enhancing hour-long morning meetings, weekly check-ins, and monthly half-day meetings that feel like torture. I strongly recommend giving this article a read and taking the advice to heart or forwarding it to your favorite administrator. My sole critique is the oversight that some meetings are intentionally "painful" or "soul-crushing." Malicious meeting organizers are a constant threat, and meetings can be as effective in enhancing productivity as they are in generating turmoil or emphasizing trivial disputes that lead to discord.

"Why have 'one-on-ones' if we talk all the time?" We get this question a lot. We define one-on-one meetings as short, but frequent check-ins. We recommend that these meetings be scheduled as a weekly recurring meeting even if they are just 15 minutes in length. Here's the thing -- you need to make a point to stop and talk about specific things, whether that's issues, questions, or feedback, on a regular basis so that the conversation becomes more direct and important than just an unintentional side conversation. Your team wants to know that you genuinely care about the issues they are facing around certain projects and by taking the time to schedule a meeting to talk openly about it, you are letting them know that they matter. Knowing they have their name in your calendar each week to speak with you lets them know that they are important. Plus, they can be prepared for the conversation. Bonus -- one-on-one's can eliminate disruptions, because it allows each person to create a list of things that they will hold off discussing until you're both together. Meaning you make the most of the time. We recently put together all of our resources for one-on-one meetings in one location on our blog posts. You can check it out here to get more information, including free downloads to help you make those meetings more successful. https://lnkd.in/enAa2Dsg

News flash - you can’t get rid of all of your meetings. But what if you could access a #tool to help you hold only the necessary #meetings, and draft a clear #agenda. Decision making meetings take time to organise, and take time out of everyone's calendar. But you know, they have their worth. They help you: ⚡️ Progress projects with clients  ⚡️ Address risk in your business  ⚡️ Connect with your team and move your business forward. If you have a decision to make at work and you’re not sure how to draft the agenda, or whether you need a meeting at all, check out my latest blog - Too many meetings? Ask yourself, to meet or not to meet. The blog takes you through the five steps in my To Meet or Not To Meet decision tree. By step three you’ll know if it’s an email or a chat and by step five you’ll have a perfectly crafted decision making meeting agenda. Head to https://lnkd.in/gy2TQ7Wt.

Ever been to a good, useful, well-run meeting? In 46 years of going to business meetings, I can only remember 1 or 2 that qualify. Here's the short (remember that word) list of what made those meetings "good": 1. They started early. Right, scheduled for 8AM, but started at 7:55 AM. The people who arrived at 8 had the sense of "Shit, this is for real." 2. There were no more than 6 people attending. 3. No chairs. Yep, stand-up meetings. Encourages brevity. Encourages sticking with the purpose of the meeting. 4. The leader clearly stated the purpose of the meeting at the outset, and kept the discussion on it. 5. The leader kept the communication greater than 50% one-to-one, and less than 50% one-to-many. When communication is one-to-many, it's irrelevant to a lot of "the many," and they check out. It's why so many one-to-many communications feature heavy doses of entertainment. 6. Everyone at the meeting left with a clearly-stated (In their words) action item to complete. 7. The meetings lasted 20 minutes or less. What can you add that makes a meeting "good"?

Problem: Crappy Meetings; One Solution: Cut the Low-Value Ones Meeting Problem: We meet far too often. So, when is a meeting the right answer? Here are a series of ideas to help you decide. A meeting is more often the right answer if: * You are willing and able to put the work in to plan and prepare for a meeting, including creating an agenda, ensuring all of the necessary people are invited/confirmed to attend, preparing all of the materials, gathering evidence, getting attendees all of the information and materials that they need, etc. * Is there conflict/controversy/disagreement/debate/emotion involved? * When there are decisions to be made. * It could not be settled creatively in an ad-hoc face-to-face conversation, over the phone, via e-mail, Slack, etc. * Multiple groups of stakeholders must be represented/included. In most instances, meetings should not be called to relay information.  There are other, much more effective, and unobtrusive methods for this type of communication (recorded video, email, etc.).  It is tedious to sit in a meeting for no other reason than to listen. Free yourself of crappy meetings! Just my opinion.  What do you think?  Let me know in the comments. If you find value in this article, please share it with others who may also find value. #Vistage #EffectiveMeetings #CrappyMeetings #BusinessMeetings