Death by Meeting – notes

1. Meetings are what leaders do, and the solution to bad meetings is not the elimination of them, but rather the transformation of them into meaningful, engaging, and relevant activities.

2. The key to improving meetings has nothing to do with better preparation, agendas, or minutes.
a.Meetings need drama
b.Meetings need context and purpose

3. Leaders need to put the right issues on the table at the beginning of their meetings. (these are often the most controversial ones)

4. Leaders need to make it clear to team members why the meeting is taking place and what is expected of them.

5. Keep it simple; less is more- mentality.

6. Four distinct meetings on a regular basis:
a.The Daily Check-in- no more than 5-10 minutes. Keeps team members aligned and to provide a daily forum for activity updates and scheduling.
b.The Weekly Tactical- (like a staff meeting) about an hour long and should focus on the discussion and resolution of issues which effect near term objectives. Best with no pre-set agenda. Instead, the team reviews priorities and decide what to discuss. The key is having the discipline to identify and postpone the discussion of more strategic topics.
c. The Monthly Strategic- appropriate place for big topics, those that have long-term impact. Participants can brainstorm, debate, present ideas and wrestle with one another in pursuit of the optimal long-term solution. Each meeting should include no more than 1-2 topics with roughly 2 hours for each topic.
d.The Quarterly Off-Site Review- a reassessment of a variety of issues: the interpersonal performance of the team, the company’s strategy, the performance of the top-tier and bottom-tier employees, morale, competitive threats, and industry trends.