Do Your Meetings Pass the 'So What' Test?

It seems with every passing week, the world in which we work and live accelerates. Customer demands are rising, competitive pressures are mounting, and the spin of the globe is accelerating. As such, it is imperative we evaluate all that we do to ensure whatever we do is adding value, matters – beginning with evaluating both the meetings we choose to initiate and the meetings we choose to attend.

How much time do you spend in meetings during the day? Is it 50% of your day? 60%? 80%? Have you ever asked yourself whether it is necessary to attend ALL meetings?

Have you ever asked yourself whether you spawn too many meetings? Are the meetings you are attending or spawning adding value? Do they all matter?

These are important questions, because in a fast-accelerating world we have less and less time for meetings and a greater need for “desk time” – time to actually think and get work done. Hence, in this post we discuss the ‘vital few’ meetings we should only consider initiating and/or attending including providing some critical success factors to ensure your meetings pass the ‘so what’ test; that is, each meeting is meaningful, effective, adding value (both for you and those you engage).

As it turns out, there are only four (4) meeting types that pass the ‘so what’ test. They are:

Meeting Type: Status Update Meeting (aka ‘Daily Huddle’) Meeting Intention: To bring everyone up to speed with need-to-know information in terms of progress made, key issues, and/or asks for help Meeting Critical Success Factors:

• 15 minutes MAX meeting length

• Limit participants to = 8 people

• Crisp communications; be brief

• Avoid problem solving and/or story telling (in the moment)

• Be prepared with your update(s)

• Be prompt; be ‘on-time’

Meeting Type: Decision Meeting

Meeting Intention: To reach ‘high agreement’; to make a decision about a plan, strategy, and/or approach towards something of high business value Meeting Critical Success Factors:

• State objectives at meeting start

• Limit participants to 5-7 people

• Invite only decision makers

• Summarize action items and key owners at meeting’s end

• Limit meeting to either 25 min or 50 min (allow margin time)

Meeting Type: Dialogue Meeting

Meeting Intention: To resolve a conflict OR to ideate/brainstorm on something OR to conduct a knowledge share to obtain feedback OR to problem solve (i.e., to innovate; bring forth the new) Meeting Critical Success Factors:

• No preset agenda and/or expectations

• Invite a wide diversity of people/perspectives on the topic(s)

• Suspend your mental models to consider others’ points of view

• Do not rush things; natural flow

• Actively listen without resistance

• Explore underlying assumptions, causes, rules

Meeting Type: Team Building Meeting

Meeting Intention: To strengthen relationships, trust, and communication between co-workers to better understand one another to work more effectively, comfortably with one another Meeting Critical Success Factors:

• Get out of the office

• Plan an activity to learn about each other better/more deeply

• Allocate 3-4 hours to the event

• Focus on being the genuine you; leave all ‘shop talk’ at the office

• Above all, have fun; enjoy the company of those around you Given the above, I would ask you to challenge your day/week/month. Ask yourself, how many meetings fall ‘outside’ these meeting types and is your attendance needed? Are you adding value? More importantly, is the meeting providing value for you? Further, ask yourself are the meetings your leading/facilitating reflective of the best practices stated above? If not, then you have some work to do to make your meetings more effective – for all involved. Meetings can and often do consume most of our day. In today’s fast-moving world, this is fatal. Therefore, choose today to lessen the amount of meetings you attend. Decide today to gift back more ‘desk time’ to YOU so you can be as productive as you can be. Be rigorous with your time. Be protective of your time. Above all, insist that all meetings you choose to attend or initiate pass the ‘so what’ test. You (and many others) will be glad you did.

Related Reading

• Strategic Listening: The Secret Sauce of Innovation

• Top 10 Ways to Minimize Task Switching Costs

• 5 Keys to Actively Listen to Others

Facing a complex change challenge in your organization? Book an OD consultation with Henosis Partners.