Is your company’s meeting “game” on point?
Seni Sulyman and I spoke to dozens of African startup executives over the past few months, as we scouted for talent problems to help them solve. We decided to write about the themes we heard during these calls. We hope these articles would serve as refreshers or mini-guides that any manager or leader can share with a team member to help them get a high level understanding relatively quickly.
Who is this for?
Founders and CXOs looking to get their teams to consistently have productive meetings.
The meeting “headache”
There is no shortage of guides about how to have better meetings. However, most employees still spend 50%+ of the work day in meetings that often feel unnecessary, too long, or not on point.
How do high-performance teams “do” meetings?
The 4 things to get right for productive meetings
Meeting productivity in high-performance teams comes from a shared understanding of the answers to 4 questions:
There are no one-size fits all answers to these questions. The key is to have company-wide answers that make sense for employees and become part of a culture (see here how to make meeting culture stick).
When to have a meeting
Meetings require time to plan, require employees to change context and reduce time flexibility for other activities. Before calling for a meeting, it is therefore important to make sure the benefits outweigh the costs. Below is a guide a partner company uses.
What meeting type to have
If it makes sense to meet, the right type of meeting is the next decision and carries a set of expectations (e.g. duration as illustrated below)
How to ensure meetings are effective
Below are most common things high-performance teams get right:
- Clear articulation of expected outcomes (not just the agenda)
- The right participants for the meeting type (e.g. for a decision-making meeting, relevant decision-makers and representatives of affected parties)
- Pre-read to ensure alignment on meeting context, meeting methodology
- Proper governance: chairing/moderation, documenting of meeting notes and follow-up coordinator
How to run the meeting efficiently
Compiled below is a set of practices at various high-performance companies.
- No side conversations
- Structured contributions: key message first, supporting arguments next
- Succinct contributions: time your speaking time to be roughly equal to total meeting time for topic divided by the number of meeting participants
- No repeating points made by others (simply say “Nothing to add”)
In closing
Defining how your company “does” meetings is the first step on the journey to productive meetings. The next and most critical step is to be systematic about turning the norm into a culture. Read on here.
