18 Ways to Better Meetings

How To Make Meetings Add Value …And Energy!

How much time do you spend in meeting rooms?

The energy invested in meetings is at least as important as the time and money. The human body and mind are simply not designed for sitting still for long periods of time. With the exception of meditation, it is good for neither body nor soul.

Getting people to sit in a room for a couple of hours and enjoy it usually requires the talent of a Hollywood movie director and a $100 million budget.

However, a meeting can also add energy, but only if we are interested, the meeting is short and it’s well run.

Our brains and bodies work in what are known as ultradian rhythms (see HBR article by Tony Schwarz and Catherine McCarthy). Research has shown that we have natural energy cycles of around ninety minutes. Each cycle takes us from an energy low to an energy high and back again.

So we can kick-start an ultradian cycle through movement, humour, caffeine, excitement, fresh air, (whatever works for you) and then we have about 90 minutes before the energy levels become depleted. We can still function, but not at our optimum.

Try the agile chairmanship checklist to get more out your meetings:

1. Break through ultradian rhythms & Keep meetings short.
2. Is the daily/weekly/monthly meeting really needed that often? Or can the frequency be bumped up by a unit of time?
3. Are minutes kept? If so why? For reasons of governance or because your auditors insist or…?
4. Do meetings result in actions? Is there a list kept and if so why?
5. Are all meetings held sitting down? Why not stand up or walk around? Go outside? Meet in the park?
6. Take breaks. Get up. Move. Stretch. Jump. Get active. Massage each other (ask permission before applying this one).
7. Time-box: Maximise meeting duration. Eg. the Scrum approach: a daily 15 minute stand-up.
8. Focus on the process as much as the content.
9. Is everybody contributing?
10. Is everybody needed?
11. Open up meetings and welcome anybody who’s got something to contribute.
12. Let people leave when they’ve had enough.
13. Do off-the-wall stuff.
14. Do on-the-wall stuff (like post-its & kanban boards).
15. Do anything to relieve boredom and stimulate creativity, innovation, imagination.
16. Be positive. Always. Applaud. Often.
17. Rotate the chair of regular meetings. Or get rid of the chair altogether.
18. And, of course, the usual stuff: Have an objective and an agenda, start on time, be courteous and spell peoples’ names correctly.

Need to get motivated to change your work pattern? Work out how many years of your life you spend in meetings.

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Chris Martlew’s latest book, Changing the Mind of the Organization — Building Agile Teams, is available at amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, bol.com and other good bookstores.

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