How Successful Leaders Run Meetings
Recent surveys and studies have shown that only 27% of employees believe that their meetings are led by effective meeting leaders. Meetings that are poorly led results in decreased productivity and increased employee disengagement which impacts the overall culture of organizations. Unfortunately, only one in four leaders has received training on how to effectively lead meetings. Leaders spend most of their time in meetings so it goes without saying that meetings are where leaders should be driving action, empowering change, and shaping the culture of their teams. But how can leaders do this without the sufficient skillset? Meetings don’t have to “just happen.” By following a few transformative steps, leaders have the opportunity to unleash new performance levels, shape the culture, provide opportunities for team members to shine, and effectively drive action, shares Tricia Conyers, the author of The Evolution of Culture-shaping Meetings. We sat down with Tricia to learn the steps that leaders should take to lead transformative meetings.
Most of us have attended seemingly pointless meetings. The kind where you ask yourself “do I really need to be here?” Or the kind of meeting where you’re frustrated by the happenings and behaviors occurring in the meeting. Maybe you’ve attended a meeting inherited by a new leader who maintains an energy-draining vibe because “it’s how we’ve always done it.” This usually happens because new meeting leaders pick up where the meeting left off and are perhaps insecure or unequipped to improve the meeting dynamic. Fortunately, new and existing leaders can take steps to transform “meetings that just happen” into meetings that shape the culture and drive new levels of performance:
Step 1: Create meetings with clarity
Get clear on your intent and allow this to guide all the decisions related to your meeting
Succinctly define the purpose of the meeting by asking yourself:
Can I articulate a compelling purpose statement for the meeting (hint: this is more than a meeting agenda)?
How does this affect who needs to be in the meeting, logistics, pre-work and overall design for the session?
Step 2: Create meetings that function
Determine which tools are needed for your meeting to be effective. Ask yourself which tools will help the meeting function best. These may include tools such as action logs, ground rules, parking lots, decision logs, or even relying on a timer to stay on task.
It’s also important to think through how to use the tools. For example, if the action items aren’t visible to the attendees during the meeting, it can lead to confusion if the person that’s capturing the action items misunderstands the action, owner, or due date. Consider using a flip chart or the Planner function in Microsoft Teams to keep your tools visible and meeting attendees aligned and focused.
While all tools may not be needed in every meeting, it’s important to know which tools you have in your “meeting effectiveness toolkit” so that they can seamlessly be pulled out as needed to achieve meetings that function.
Step 3: Create meetings that involve
It’s no surprise that people find themselves running from meeting to meeting. When they arrive, meeting attendees are often distracted by work still to be done, lingering conversations, and/or other personal happenings. People have not mentally arrived in a meeting until they’ve had the opportunity to engage. Engagement in a meeting could look like a round-table check-in, sharing an update, or doing an activity.
When participants are asked to contribute during a meeting, it helps them remove distractions, tune-in, and be present.
In addition to checking-in in meetings, consider having a check-out at the end of the meeting. This could look like people sharing an “ah-ha” that they made during the meeting, or it could be an opportunity to share an appreciation for someone or something. Sharing appreciation for others is a small practice that inspires big growth in teams.
Step 4: Create meetings that unleash possibility
When people have clarity on the meeting purpose, the meeting is functioning well, and people are involved in the meeting, behaviors begin to shift.
When people realize that they are heard and valued, they’re able to go to untapped edges of their own thoughts and ideas and not feel afraid of bringing that into the meeting. This environment unleashes new ideas and inspires new possibilities in the meeting room.
Step 5: Create meetings that empower change
The end goal of transforming meetings should be for team members to have and hold liberating beliefs such as “My opinion matters in meetings. I’m a valued team member.”
When people have experiences that reinforce these positive meeting beliefs, they take those beliefs not only into their meetings, but into the wider organization and this impacts how they interact with people every day. The overall culture can transform for the better.
Leaders can improve the trajectory of their team by leading meetings that have clarity, function, involve others, unleash possibility, and empower change. For those of you that may be asking, “How will I find the time to change the dynamic of my meetings?” Tricia’s advice is to start slowly. While there’s no shortcut to achieving effective and efficient meetings, by slowly putting the effort to improve meetings, it can shape the culture of the team and drive new levels of performance.
Contact ChangeStaffing to learn how to empower leaders to effectively and efficiently lead meetings.
A very special thank you to Tricia Conyers, a seasoned Organizational Change Management Professional, Meeting Designer and Facilitator, for her thought leadership and for collaborating with us on this blog. Tricia offers a self-paced and cohort group based online course that explores the details of transforming your meeting, entitled Lead Meetings That Work. If you are interested in enrolling in this course, please reach out to Tricia at tricia.conyers@islandinspirations.co for a special discount.
Written by Kylette Harrison