Instead of asking yourself HOW to stay curious, you may be wondering WHY you should stay curious during meetings.

So before I share what’s worked for me throughout my career, let me give you some motivation.

Why you should stay curious during meetings

There’s plenty of data showing the benefits of curiosity.

Emily Campbell listed these six based on her research:

1. Curiosity helps us survive.
2. Curious people are happier.
3. Curiosity boosts achievement.
4. Curiosity can expand our empathy.
5. Curiosity helps strengthen relationships.
6. Curiosity improves healthcare.

Those are highly important and meaningful for all aspects of life, but this quote from Dorothy Parker may be the most applicable benefit of curiosity when it comes to meetings.

Because boring meetings are the WORST!

The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.

Dorothy Parker

So, the next time you’re bored in a meeting, stay curious.

Here’s how.

4 proven tips to stay curious in meetings

1. Remember you don’t know everything
2. Pretend you’re in a different role
3. Think on a different level
4. Stay quiet

Stay curious by remembering you don’t know everything

I like the first definition of the word “curious” from Dictionary.com.

“eager to learn or know; inquisitive.”

Dictionary.com

This definition reminds me of this short clip that contains what may be the best line of the classic Movie, Rudy.

Father Cavanaugh says this: “Son, in 35 years of religious study, I have only come up with two hard incontrovertible facts: there is a God, and I’m not Him.”

Hopefully, I don’t have to convince you that you also are not God – which means you are already aware of the innate limitation you have as a human.

You don’t know everything.

That reality helps me stay humble when I’m tempted to listen to my dangerous ego and you probably feel the same way.

So, to stay curious in a meeting, start by reminding yourself that even when it feels like you know absolutely everything about the problem you’re trying to solve, you don’t.

The other People in the meeting have information you don’t have.

Your observations and interpretation of a scenario aren’t comprehensive.

You have more to learn.

And so do your coworkers.

Even with all the knowledge collected in the minds present, there are undiscovered aspects of the topic you’re dealing with.

Of course, you may not NEED to explore these nuances more deeply to accomplish the Purpose of the meeting.

But, to foster curiosity during a meeting, remember you could.

And if your curiosity causes you to realize you DO need to understand a topic better, try this next tip that works well for me.

Stay curious by pretending you’re in a different role

If the meeting you’re in was designed well, you know exactly why you were invited and the contribution the meeting owner is expecting you to deliver.

The roles of every person attending are clear.

You know how YOU will contribute to accomplishing the Purpose of the meeting.

But you’re not the only participant in the meeting.

Your coworkers have roles to play as well.

If you were asked to fill their role, could you do it?

Here’s an example.

Pretending you’re in the role of meeting note taker

For instance, let’s say your role in the meeting is the official note taker. (This is an EXTREMELY important role in every meeting by the way).

To stay curious, as you’re taking notes, pretend for a moment that your job in the meeting is not to take notes but to make the final decision on a critical challenge facing the business.

Do you have all the information you need to make an informed decision?

What knowledge gaps might be preventing you from acting in the best interest of the business and your fellow employees?

There’s a good chance you would need to close those knowledge gaps.

That awareness will spark your curiosity and cause you to expand your mind to consider other perspectives.

Being curious will also have an immediate positive impact to the meeting because it will cause you to be more effective as you’re taking notes.

Because you’ve applied this simple tip to stay curious, you’ll recognize an action item you’re recording needs more clarity.

Or you’ll politely interrupt during the meeting (click here to learn how being the note taker gives you that power) to help the actual decision maker have the information you anticipate them needing.

This is just one example of how to stay curious by pretending you’re in a different role in the meeting.

More examples of different perspectives

Here are some other ideas on other perspectives you can temporarily take on to stay curious:

• The person who asked a question. What’s their motivation for asking their question? What information are they seeking and how will it help them be more effective?
• The person answering the question. How is the person responding to the question feeling? Are they confident in their answer? Is their reply solid and trustworthy?
• The highest-ranking person in the room. If you were at this level in the organization, what would be on your mind?
• The newest member of the team. What does the person who just started with the company need to know to be successful in this meeting? What important blind spots might they be seeing that seasoned veterans are missing?

This exercise will help you think beyond yourself and your current role in the meeting or in your organization.

By taking the opportunity to pretend you’re in a different role, you’re preparing yourself to be more successful in future roles.

Because some day you may not be pretending you’re the highest-ranking person in the room, you may be the CEO!

And, if you do have plans to be leading a business or even a department, you’ll want to practice this next strategy.

Stay curious by thinking on a different level

During any given meeting, you’re working at a specific level.

Some meetings, like Quarterly Offsite Reviews, are focused on doing higher level, strategic work while others such as Daily Standup meetings are concerned about the specific, detailed tasks to be accomplished in the short term.

As I outline in this article, Patrick Lencioni also calls these levels as meeting “altitudes.”

You can apply the Six Types of Working Genius productivity tool to ensure you and your teammates stay focused on the right discussion topics too.

This practice will ensure you’re working at the right level to accomplish the Purpose of each meeting you’re in.

You can also use this concept of “levels” or “altitudes” to stay curious during meetings.

By intentionally shifting your mindset from one level to another, you will notice nuances of the work you might be missing.

For instance, when you’re in a tactical, low-altitude meeting where those with the Working Genius of Tenacity are in their element driving tasks to completion, you can pause and view the conversation differently for a moment.

To stay curious, you might ask yourself, especially if you have the Working Geniuses of Wonder and Discernment, questions like these:

• What’s missing from this picture so far?
• What is it we’re not seeing?
• What do we need more clarity about?

The Kansas Leadership Center (KLC) teaches a similar message through the imagery of a ballroom.

Ballroom levels

In this short video, the KLC team talks about moving from the dance floor to the balcony to gain a better perspective. “On the balcony” is the zoomed-out view that’s required at times to be an effective leader.

Being on the balcony provides these three benefits and more.

1. Visibility of the systems and patterns at play with the team and the organization. We can’t see these things on the dance floor. We’re too close.
2. Awareness of how we are personally involved in the situation. We can step outside ourselves and have a more objective view of our own behavior.
3. Reminder of the bigger, more valuable issues that need to be addressed. The work on the dance floor is important but not most important.

As Ed O’Malley stated in the video, an effective leader has to be able to “separate yourself, to give yourself space.”

So to stay curious during meetings, move off the dance floor to the balcony.

And, vice versa when you’re in a high-altitude meeting.

When those with the Working Geniuses of Wonder and Invention are busy brainstorming, take a moment to consider the perspective of a coworker with Enablement and Tenacity as their Working Geniuses.

By thinking at different levels during meetings you can stay curious and engaged.

Stay curious by staying quiet

Finally, the simplest (but often the most difficult) way to stay curious during a meeting is to stay quiet.

Talk less and listen more.

When we’re talking, we’re telling others what we already know. And that doesn’t promote curiosity.

But, when we’re listening to truly understand, we’ll stay curious and want to know more and more about our teammates’ perspective.

We’ll stay curious as we realize just how much we can learn from others.

More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business

Learn more about my experience with the Six Types of Working Genius model and the benefits it will bring you and your business in this article:

How to Recognize the Benefits of the 6 Types of Working Genius Model

I shared more about the idea of shifting your mindset between levels or altitudes in this article:

How to Serve Your Team by Zooming Out

Asking powerful questions will help you stay curious while also satisfying your curiosity. And this skill will make you a more effective leader.

If you’d like to know some of my favorite questions to ask during meetings, you can find them in this article:

How To Ask Powerful Questions – Getting Started

Giving credit where credit’s due, this article was inspired by a conversation between two of my favorite content creators, Dave Stachowiak – host of the Coaching for Leaders podcast and Michael Bungay Stanier.

Michael is the author of some of my favorite books including “The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More, & Change the Way You Lead Forever” and “The Advice Trap – Be Humble, Stay Curious & Change the Way You Lead Forever.”

You can listen to Michael and Dave discuss a section of the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie in this episode of Michael’s podcast, 2 Pages with MBS.

And Now a Word from Our Sponsors

I mentioned it above as a resource you might appreciate, but I’ll highlight it again here.

Michael Bungay Stanier’s book, “The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More, & Change the Way You Lead Forever” has helped me stay curious in my meetings and in my work as an Executive Business Coach.

I highly recommend getting a copy for yourself.

It’s an entertaining, quick read I’m confident you’ll enjoy and learn from.

And, The Coaching Habit is where I discovered the Dorothy Parker quote about curiosity!

That’s All for this Issue

Based on my experience, I can confidently tell you that staying curious during a meeting will make your time working with your colleagues more productive and effective.

These 5 tips work for me and I know they’ll work for you too.

5 proven tips to stay curious in meetings

1. Remember you don’t know everything

2. Pretend You’re In A Different Role

3. Think on a different level

4. Stay Quiet

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence!

Greg

Click here to learn more about me

Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:

1. Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
2. Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
3. Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don’t miss what I share in the next issue.

Want To Help Others?

If this issue helped you, it will probably help someone else. Please share it with your connections to fuel the global movement to Stop Bad Meetings!

The post How To Stay Curious In Meetings – 4 Proven Tips appeared first on Greg Harrod.

Why should we take steps to reduce loneliness in the workplace?

If you’ve ever been lonely, you already know one answer.

Loneliness hurts!

And, being a kind leader means helping our coworkers when they’re hurting.

If you aren’t convinced loneliness is a serious problem for the people in your business,  consider what research tells us.

Loneliness is a serious problem – including in the workplace

In a report released in May 2023 the United States Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy said this:

When I first took office as Surgeon General in 2014, I didn’t view loneliness as a public health concern.

But that was before I embarked on a cross-country listening tour, where I heard stories from my fellow Americans that surprised me.

People began to tell me they felt isolated, invisible, and insignificant. Even when they couldn’t put their finger on the word “lonely,” time and time again, people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds, from every corner of the country, would tell me, “I have to shoulder all of life’s burdens by myself,” or “if I disappear tomorrow, no one will even notice.”

It was a lightbulb moment for me: social disconnection was far more common than I had realized. In the scientific literature, I found confirmation of what I was hearing.

In recent years, about one-in-two adults in America reported experiencing loneliness. And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic cut off so many of us from friends, loved ones, and support systems, exacerbating loneliness and isolation.

Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health.

It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death.

The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity.

And the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.

The results of this report were sobering to me and I expect they are to you too.

Because I had the same thought as Dr. Robert Waldinger and Dr. Marc Schulz point out in their book, The Good Life.

“If we feel disconnected from others at work, that means we feel lonely for the majority of our waking hours.”

The Good Life – Lessons From The World’s Longest Scientific Study Of Happiness

Now that’s a serious problem!

But what can we do about it?

Let’s start making a positive impact to reduce loneliness in the workplace with what we talk about in M4 every week: our meetings!

3 ways meetings can reduce loneliness in the workplace

Because meetings necessarily involve people they give us the opportunity to fight the negative effects of loneliness.

We can do all sorts of things to strengthen our personal relationships through our meetings and I’m sure you’re already thinking of steps you can take in your next meeting.

To stimulate your creativity further, let me share 3 ways I believe meetings can reduce loneliness in the workplace.

1. Meetings provide connection with people

If you’ve never worked remotely for long periods, you may not realize how isolating the experience can be.

I’ve worked multiple times with my home office as my full-time location and it was never easy for me.

I appreciated being able to do my work without being interrupted by coworkers stopping by my desk. And, of course, I loved being able to walk my dogs over lunch!

But I missed interacting with my colleagues and I often felt disconnected and out of touch with my teammates.

Meetings, however, kept me connected.

Whether it was a one-on-one meeting or a larger group meeting, interacting with my coworkers and doing work together reduced my loneliness.

Because when I was working from home, I didn’t have the same level of “micro-connections” as I did when I was in the office.

Here’s what I mean by that statement.

When I went to get coffee in my kitchen, I didn’t get asked about my weekend by my coworker who was also taking a break away from their desk.

This happens all the time when I’m in an office setting but not when I’m working from home.

And when I finished a meeting, I couldn’t download with my teammate as we walked from the meeting conference room to our desks.

When I was at home, I just left the video call and talked to absolutely no one.

So, attending meetings became even more energizing for me when I was working remotely.

To be honest, the discussions during my meetings were often the only human interaction I had during my working hours.

People are designed for connection. We need to engage with other people to feel our best and be most productive long term.

So, remember that your meetings provide human interaction and connection for those you invite.

And that personal engagement you enable with your meetings will reduce loneliness in the workplace AND make your coworkers more productive.

Your meetings can also provide something even more important than human interaction for your teammates – Purpose.

2. Meetings give people purpose

When I say your meetings can reduce loneliness in the workplace by giving people purpose, I’m not only referring to the Purpose of a particular meeting.

The first P of the 3Ps for productive, effective meetings is critically important as I’ve written about many times:

Purpose – Why is this meeting being held?

People – Who needs to be in this meeting to accomplish the Purpose?

Preparation – What work needs to be done prior to the meeting to enable the People to accomplish the Purpose?

You can’t have a good meeting without being clear on the Purpose and the Purpose of the meeting does more than prevent a bad meeting.

It can help your coworkers feel less lonely.

When people are lonely, they often find it hard to identify their purpose in life and that includes their life at work.

Whether you’re working remotely or coming into an office, not knowing why you’re there increases the feeling of loneliness.

So, when you define a clear Purpose for your meetings and communicate to each person why you’ve invited them and how they are needed to accomplish the Purpose, you’ve helped them have a reason for being at work – for at least that portion of their day.

You may not have given them a purpose for all of their hours working in their job. And it’s unlikely your one meeting caused them to realize their big picture “Why” for existing.

But by defining a clear Purpose for your meeting and connecting them to it personally, you did what you could to reduce loneliness in the workplace.

You helped your coworkers who entrusted their time to you by attending your meeting to have a little more purpose and a little less loneliness.

You took the action you could in your sphere of influence – your meeting.

And that made a positive impact on someone’s life.

3. Meetings help people contribute

Lonely people tend to forget that they have something to add to the world. They feel unseen and unimportant.

Like the U.S. Surgeon General, I’ve had lonely people tell me they could simply disappear and no one would even notice.

That’s sad, isn’t it?

Thankfully, through your meetings, you can help people to not feel this way.

And, I suspect you’re already doing what you need to do to reduce loneliness in the workplace in this way.

What is it that you’re already doing?

You’re recording action items with owners and deadlines by asking the critically important question: “Who needs to do What by When?”

By applying this fundamental meeting skill, you’re helping your teammates recognize how they are uniquely contributing to your business.

Who is going to contribute to completing an action that needs to be done? – The person who is struggling with feeling unimportant and not needed.

Who is going to report back next week on the status of the action item they own? – The person who is tempted to think their disappearance would have no impact.

By setting a deadline, you’re reminding them that they’re important. They are seen and needed.

You’re letting them know that what they do IS important for the business. THEY are important and contributing to the success of your team and your company.

In other words, by reminding them of these truths through recording their action items in your meeting notes, you’re helping them fight feelings of loneliness.

More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business

To read more of my recommendations on how to build connections and reduce workplace loneliness, check out these articles:

Connect People with 2 Easy, 2-Minute Techniques (click here)

3 Things To Focus On To Lead A Successful Team (click here)

You can download the full report, Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation, from the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on the Healing Effects of Social Connection and Community by clicking here.

And Now a Word from Our Sponsors

The New York Times bestselling book, “The Good Life – Lessons From The World’s Longest Scientific Study Of Happiness” had a profound impact on my life and I highly recommend it.

Click here to get your copy and support M4.

The book’s description will give you an idea of what it’s all about and why I like it so much.

“What makes for a happy life, a fulfilling life? A good life? In their “captivating” (The Wall Street Journal) book, the directors of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest scientific study of happiness ever conducted, show that the answer to these questions may be closer than you realize.

What makes a life fulfilling and meaningful? The simple but surprising answer is: relationships. The stronger our relationships, the more likely we are to live happy, satisfying, and healthier lives.”

That’s All for this Issue

If you’d like to know more about the fascinating Harvard study, take about 12 minutes and watch this video.

I’m confident it will give you even more motivation to use your meetings to reduce loneliness in your workplace!

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence!

Greg

Click here to learn more about me

Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:

1. Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
2. Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
3. Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don’t miss what I share in the next issue.

Want To Help Others?

If this issue helped you, it will probably help someone else. Please share it with your connections to fuel the global movement to Stop Bad Meetings!

The post How To Reduce Loneliness In The Workplace With Meetings appeared first on Greg Harrod.

Now is the time to prepare for this year’s meetings. Because a new year is here and, just like last year, most of your working hours will be spent in meetings.

So make the most of them, starting with the meetings you own!

And I recommend you act now before any more of the new year slips away.

Here’s why.

Why now is the time to prepare for this year’s meetings

If you’re like me, it’s hard to believe a new year has already started but it’s true.

Last year is gone and for many of us the extended time we had away from the office during the holidays is over.

It’s back to the real world of work!

And, if you started your end-of-year vacation time without taking time to plan your meetings for the new year (again like me!), you might have missed some rare opportunities that could disappear quickly in January.

But it’s not too late because the month of January is still young!

Take these 5 simple steps to prepare for this year’s meetings (while you still can).

• 1. Grab open calendar time
• 2. Cancel and decline meetings
• 3. Scrub your invitee lists
• 4. Check meeting series end dates
• 5. Learn from last year’s meetings

Let’s take a deeper look at each of these.

5 simple steps to prepare for this year’s meetings

1. Grab open calendar time

This tip is first because it’s the most important.

Most people don’t do what you’re doing. They wait until later to schedule meetings even though they already know certain meetings must occur.

For instance, think about your one-one-one meetings with your direct reports, monthly project reviews, and other recurring meetings.

You know those are going to be on your calendar for the upcoming year. And, you also know the Purpose of the meetings and the People you need to invite.

But as others start to schedule their meetings with these same coworkers, their availability is going to be reduced.

That means you have a limited window to grab open time for the people you need to meet with regularly.

So don’t wait.

If you start scheduling your meetings later in January, you’ll be one of countless coworkers watching open calendars fill up and your chances to meet with critical partners disappear.

2. Cancel and decline meetings

You lead effective, productive meetings – meetings people actually WANT to attend.

And, in Step 1 you added a bunch of outstanding meetings to your coworkers’ calendars.

But, no one wants too many meetings. Even excellent meetings!

You need time to do individual deep work and your teammates do too.

The start of the new year provides the perfect opportunity to control what you can control.

You control the meetings you schedule and your RSVP to the meetings you’ve been invited to attend.

So take these two actions:

1. Cancel your meetings that no longer add value to your business.
2. Decline any meetings you’ve been asked to attend but aren’t a good investment of your time.

Exercise the power you have to prepare for this year’s meetings.

3. Scrub your invitee lists

Step 2 put you in the mindset to evaluate your own meeting participation. Now apply that thinking to those you’ve invited to participate in the meetings you own.

The second P of the 3Ps for productive, effective meetings is People (click here to get the free 3Ps worksheet).

Purpose – Why is this meeting being held?

People – Who needs to be in this meeting to accomplish the Purpose?

Preparation – What work needs to be done prior to the meeting to enable the People to accomplish the Purpose?

As you prepare for this year’s meetings, invest time evaluating who the right people are to participate in the meetings you’ve scheduled.

4. Check meeting series end dates

Has this ever happened to you?

The new year has started and you’re looking forward to your weekly meeting with your project team.

You’ve met together every Thursday morning from 10:00 to 10:50 for months and you’re excited to keep the momentum going in January.

It’s Monday morning and you’re getting ready for your first Thursday morning meeting of the year.

Then you realize there is no Thursday morning meeting on your calendar this week. Or any week of the new year!

Your recurring meeting series ended on the last Thursday of last year.

So you hit your knees praying no one has applied Step 1 and taken your spot on your team members’ calendars.

If they have, your routine is shot and your momentum is gone.

Don’t let this happen to you (like it’s happened to me)!

Review your recurring meetings, including those on last year’s calendar, to make sure the end dates of the meeting series are set to what you want them to be.

5. Learn from last year’s meetings

The start of a new year is a good time to look back and assess your meetings from the previous year.

You’ve likely led and attended more meetings during the year than you can remember.

And the number of lessons to be learned exceeds the numbers of meetings you’ve been in. In other words, there’s a lot you can learn and apply to this year’s meetings.

But those lessons will slip away as vanishing, useless memories if you don’t take time to reflect and document how to improve.

Take time to do a simple Lessons Learned activity for your meetings from last year.

More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business

For a much deeper dive on how to make the most of the opportunities you have as December ends and January starts, check out my previous article:

How To Prepare For Next Year’s Meetings – 5 Simple Steps

I cover what’s worked for me when doing Lessons Learned Meetings and share a free Lessons Learned worksheet I created.

There’s also a list of 10 questions to use to capture meaningful information you can use to make this year’s meetings even better than those you led last year.

Click here to see if this resource will help you improve your meetings in the coming year.

This article from parabol.co has several helpful tips on facilitating a productive, effective Lessons Learned Meeting too:

Lessons Learned Meetings: An Easy 6-Step Process For Facilitators

And Now a Word from Our Sponsors

A new year provides the perfect opportunity to prepare not only for your meetings, but also for your career growth.

Listen to the Connect Mobilize Deliver podcast to accelerate your development by mastering fundamental career skills using wisdom from experts in a variety of industries.

That’s All for this Issue

Thank you so much for reading and wrapping up another year with me!

I’m excited about the many opportunities you and I have to transform our businesses and people’s lives in the new year by leading productive, effective meetings.

If you have ideas for topics you’d like me to cover in upcoming issues of M4 – the Monday Morning Meeting Minute, please send me an email with your recommendations!

In this and every year let’s lead our people and our meetings with kindness and confidence!

Greg

Click here to learn more about me

Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:

1. Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
2. Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
3. Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don’t miss what I share in the next issue.

Want To Help Others?

If this issue helped you, it will probably help someone else. Please share it with your connections to fuel the global movement to Stop Bad Meetings!

The post How To Prepare For This Year’s Meetings appeared first on Greg Harrod.

Imagine if you knew how to reduce unnecessary meetings in your business.

How big of an impact would that have on your team’s productivity?

Based on my experience it would be HUGE!

You don’t have to take my word for it though. Research proves it.

I’ll show you the data in a moment, but first let’s dive into helping you learn how to reduce meetings that simply aren’t needed.

These are 5 techniques that work for me.

5 techniques to reduce unnecessary meetings

1. Cancel them!
2. Send an email.
3. Record a video.
4. Have a conversation.
5. Transform it into a necessary meeting.

We’ll start with the easiest and simplest solution.

The easiest way to reduce unnecessary meetings: Cancel Them!

This may seem obvious, but the easiest technique to reduce meetings is to cancel ones that aren’t needed.

Too many people never take the time to review the meetings they’ve scheduled and intentionally decide whether to have their meeting or cancel it.

This behavior leads to everyone’s calendar being filled with useless meetings.

And it destroys morale in companies – as research proves. More on that later.

So, take these three simple steps to do your part to reduce unnecessary meetings in the workplace.

1. Review the Purposes and Agendas of the meetings you own.
2. Take a few minutes to decide if the meeting will help your team accomplish the Purpose.
3. If your answer is No, cancel the meeting.

This is the best and simplest solution to remember when you’re wondering how to reduce unnecessary meetings in your business.

 Use emails to avoid unnecessary meetings

This is one of the biggest pet peeves of my clients: “meetings that should have been emails.”

I know you’ve had the experience of leaving a meeting without interacting at all.

You just sat there and listened and everyone else did the same.

There was no discussion and no conversation.

The transfer of information was from one person to many people and in only one direction.

That type of communication is necessary in the workplace, but it’s best done through an email not a meeting.

So, when you start to schedule a meeting with the Purpose of conveying information to a group, consider if an email would be more efficient and effective.

Here are a few situations where you can reduce unnecessary meetings by sending an email instead:

• Send your direct reports a quick update.
• Make an announcement to a large group.
• Request input or feedback on an idea or a project.
• Give instructions you can clearly communicate in written form.

An added benefit of using an email instead of a meeting to request input on an idea is to give those who like to process their thoughts before they speak (like those “wishy washy people” who likely have the Working Geniuses of Wonder and Discernment) more time to think.

This will make your meeting more inclusive and effective.

Record a video to reduce your unnecessary meetings

My teammates and I use this technique a LOT.

We’re working on a global project with many team members in Asia.

And because the time difference between work locations is 12 to 14 hours, some of us are either getting up early or working late.

This isn’t a big deal when meetings are needed because we like our jobs and we’re committed to do our best for the project and the business.

But we do have families and personal lives so we do our best to avoid unnecessary meetings.

For many of our team members, time in a meeting is time away from our loved ones.

So this is what I like to do.

I schedule a Teams meeting with only myself – no one else is invited.

Then I start recording.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember to hit “Record!” I’ve had to start over more times than I’d like to admit. Sadly, I made that mistake in the early days of my podcast and should know better by now!)

I share my screen and present content (presentations, spreadsheets, etc.) walking through the information just like I would if my coworkers on the other side of the globe were on the call.

Then I send the link to the video of the recorded “meeting” to my teammates who are sleeping as I’m recording so they can watch it when they arrive at work.

The transcript also helps us communicate more effectively since we have different first languages.

It’s easier to translate a foreign language when the words are written and available to read at the pace that works best for you.

Try this technique for all your meetings

This technique works great to avoid an unnecessary meeting and it works well for meetings in general.

Recording video of any meeting in Teams or another software like Loom has many advantages.

Video recordings are:

• Available to be watched over and over to improve understanding and retention.
• Effective for showing someone how to do something.
• Quick to create compared to writing an email.
• Powerful for communicating feedback.
• Simple to share with others.

You can even use your phone to record a meeting and create a transcript.

I love to use my favorite podcasting recording software, SquadCast, to record meetings like my coaching calls.

SquadCast is now a part of Descript which happens to be my favorite audio and video editing software too and the integration is seamless!

Regardless of the tool you use to generate them, meeting transcripts can be fed into various AI tools to create meeting notes and summaries.

The technology we have available now is INCREDIBLE so why not make the most of it to reduce your unnecessary meetings?

Have a conversation to reduce unnecessary meetings

Ask any “old timer” (a category to which I now belong) how to cut down on meetings and they’ll probably give you one or both of these suggestions:

1. Pick up the phone and call me.
2. Stop by my desk.

I’ll be honest with you.

It’s easy for me to fall into the trap of sitting at my desk and scheduling a meeting with a bunch of people when I could just talk to them directly.

Do I really need to get everyone on a call or in a room at the same time to get the results I’m trying to achieve?

Sometimes I do but often I don’t.

In many situations, I could simply pick up the phone (which means put on my headset these days) and call my teammate.

Or I could just walk to their desk and talk to them in person. (Guys my age need to get my steps in anyway, right?)

This is a technique that worked in businesses long before even an old timer like me started my career!

Make an unnecessary meeting necessary

While you might choose to cancel an unnecessary meeting or avoid scheduling it using the previous four strategies, you have another option.

You can transform any unnecessary meeting to make it productive and effective. In other words, you can make it a meeting that’s necessary for your business to be successful.

Doing that is as simple as following the 3 Ps to make your meetings better.

• Purpose – Why is this meeting being held?
• People – Who needs to be in this meeting to accomplish the Purpose?
• Preparation – What work needs to be done prior to the meeting to enable the People to accomplish the Purpose?

I know I come back to this same message often, but it’s true.

Follow the fundamentals for leading productive, effective meetings and your teammates will never call your meetings unnecessary.

More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business

If you’re not sure where to start to replace an unnecessary meeting with an email, check out this article:

Top 5 Tips To Write A Professional Email

And get the free “How to Write a Professional Email” guide I created for you.

The 6 Types of Working Genius has many benefits to help you know how to reduce meetings and make the ones you do have more productivity. I explain more in this article:

How To Recognize The Benefits Of The 6 Types Of Working Genius Model

This article will help you strengthen your fundamental meeting skills and reduce the number of unnecessary meetings in your business when you share it with your coworkers.

How To Use Structure To Effectively Lead Meetings

And Now a Word from Our Sponsors

Otter.ai is software designed to make meetings better by creating automatic notes and they did the research on useless meetings I referenced earlier.

As they explain in this article Otter.ai found:

• Companies pay an average of $80K per professional employee to attend meetings each year and $25K (31%) is to attend meetings deemed “unnecessary.”

• Despite the profound amount of wasted time in meetings, companies and managers (78%) have never addressed declining meetings with employees, leaving employees feeling “annoyed” and “frustrated”.

• Optimizing meeting attendance, while sharing meeting notes with employees who need the information, would not only reduce strain on employees and increase productivity organizationally, it would also help companies drastically cut costs they invest in unnecessary meetings by millions – companies with 100+ employees, cutting unnecessary meetings could save over $2M each year and for companies with more than 5,000 employees that number climbs to over $100M.

You can download the complete report here.

That’s All for this Issue

I suspect you not only agree with the data Otter.ai gathered in their study but have experienced the negative impact of unnecessary meetings yourself.

You know from personal experience how painful useless meetings can be!

So do what I do and keep trying new ways to reduce meetings that aren’t needed in your business.

These are five of my favorite techniques and I’d love to learn what works for you.

1. Cancel them!
2. Send an email.
3. Record a video.
4. Have a conversation.
5. Transform it into a necessary meeting.

Please send me your best strategies on how to reduce unnecessary meetings and I’ll add them to my list!

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence!

Greg

Click here to learn more about me

Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:

1. Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
2. Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
3. Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don’t miss what I share in the next issue.

Want To Help Others?

If this issue helped you, it will probably help someone else. Please share it with your connections to fuel the global movement to Stop Bad Meetings!

A quick note about affiliates

Some of the pages on my website contain affiliate links to products, apps, and services. If you click through and purchase, I may receive a commission on the sale and you pay no more. My policy is to only affiliate with products and services that I believe will provide value to you. 

The post How To Reduce Unnecessary Meetings – 5 Ways appeared first on Greg Harrod.

To lead meetings well, you have to know how to manage disruptions during a meeting.

Because this is the hard truth from the real world of business: things aren’t always going to go like you think they will.

Your plan is going to get messed up.

And you’ll have to adjust.

The good news is you can adapt more easily by having your critical meeting essentials in place.

The meeting essentials to help you manage disruptions

If you want to successfully adapt and adjust when things don’t go as you anticipate during your meetings (and this WILL happen), you need to prepare in advance.

When you have these three meeting essentials in place before you start your meeting, you’ll be ready.

1. A Clear Purpose
2. The Right People
3. A Prepared Agenda

Here’s why.

How a clear Purpose helps you manage disruptions

When a distraction threatens to disrupt your meeting, you’ll know to avoid it.

But, you’ll only be able to protect yourself and the colleagues you’ve invited to your meeting if you know the specific Purpose of your meeting.

Without a clear Purpose, you’ll welcome the distraction as a valid topic.

And before you know it, you and all the other participants in your meeting will have wasted precious time.

Time you can never get back.

When you’re leader of a meeting, the people who attend entrust you with their most precious resource – their time.

Being the leader of a meeting is an important position with great power and responsibility. You have to think like a business owner.

So be crystal clear on the Purpose of your meeting and compare any potential distraction to this Purpose.

Be prepared so you can manage disruptions and be a trustworthy steward of your teammates’ time during your meetings.

And having only the right teammates in your meetings is important too.

Let me explain.

Manage disruptions by having only the right people in your meetings

Investing the time and energy to intentionally design your meeting participant list has many benefits.

But many people don’t realize how knowing who the right people are for a particular meeting help you manage disruptions.

This scenario explains it:

Imagine you’re about to start a meeting and some people haven’t arrived yet.

So you wait a few minutes and make small talk with those who arrived on time.

But your mind is racing trying to decide what to do.

Should you keep waiting – as the small talk conversation begins to drag?

Should you proceed?

Or should you cancel the entire meeting?

Your meeting plan has been disrupted and you have to adjust.

You have to make the best decision you can and make it quickly.

If you’ve clearly defined the Purpose of the meeting and decided in advance who needs to be in this meeting to accomplish the Purpose, you don’t need to panic.

If the right people are there, start.

If they aren’t, you have choices.

You can wait until the right people arrive or you can cancel the meeting.

Whatever choice you make, you’ve managed the disruption created when not everyone showed up for your meeting.

How do you know who the “right” people are for a particular meeting?

I mentioned the answer above, but let me highlight the question you need to ask as you create your meeting invitation:

Who needs to be in this meeting to accomplish the Purpose?

That’s exactly what you need to know before AND during your meeting.

This knowledge helps you in another way when you’re adjusting to manage disruptions during your meetings.

How a detailed agenda helps you manage disruptions to your meetings

Let’s go back to the previous scenario.

What do you do if most of the participants have arrived, but the main decision maker isn’t there yet?

If the primary Purpose of your meeting is to make a decision, you’ve likely put it first on your agenda.

You know you need to cover the most important topics first not last just in case you run out of time or your meeting is unexpectedly cut short.

But, you’ve also probably included other lower priority topics on your agenda too.

So, if the person you need to make the decision isn’t present, you can move to a different agenda item.

But, you can manage a meeting disruption like this ONLY IF you have a detailed agenda budgeting your meeting time.

An agenda prepared in advance will equip you to adjust quickly and make a good decision for the business.

This technique also works great when someone must step out of a meeting.

How to use this technique when someone must step out of a meeting

You and I both know this happens often in the business world.

When your boss calls, it’s usually a good idea to answer the phone – even if that means you need to leave the meeting.

This is especially true if your boss is the CEO (at least that was my policy when I was in this situation)!

So, when someone needs to step out of your meeting to take a call from “the boss” (or the school principal – because our personal lives and responsibilities don’t stop just because we’re at work), you’ll know if you can take a break and still accomplish your Purpose.

Your detailed agenda will save you!

You can simply say something like this to manage the disruption of someone leaving your meeting:

“Liz had to step out to take a call from her manager.

She told me before the meeting to be prepared for this since they’re finalizing a big customer contract.

We need her input to make this decision so we’re going to take our planned 10-minute break now instead of at 11:00.

We’ll reconvene at 10:45.”

But without the proper Preparation, you won’t be equipped to say something like that and manage your meeting and the natural disruptions that occur.

And the unplanned phone call from Liz’s supervisor will leave you guessing about the impact the delay will have.

And, speaking of meeting disruptions that occur, let me share some actual examples from my career.

Actual meeting disruptions from my career

About a year ago, I took the time to write down the meeting disruptions I experienced in a very short time period – just over a week.

During those few days, all of these things directly or indirectly disrupted my meetings:

• Discussions exceeding the budgeted time (for good reason)
• Important topics missed on the original agenda
• Jury duty (not just once but twice)
• Physical health issues
• Mental health issues
• Family emergencies
• Technical problems
• Canceled flights
• Delayed flights
• Resignations

And there were even more I didn’t record…

Things like this mess up my meeting plans just like they do yours.

So be prepared to manage disruptions to your meetings because you KNOW they’re going to happen.

You’re leading your business in the real world!

More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business

People are often the biggest disruptors of meetings and you need more than the tips I shared above to tactfully manage those situations.

Here are some resources to help you.

How to Deal with Disruptive People During Meetings (an insightful blog post from calendar.com)

These resources I’ve created also give more details on how to deal with interruptions in a meeting:

 How To Stop Someone From Rambling So They Can Be Heard (Blog post)

 How To Protect Your Meeting From A Rambler (Podcast)

 How To Politely Interrupt Someone In A Meeting (Blog post)

 How To Empathize With A Rambler In Your Meeting (Blog post)

And Now a Word from Our Sponsors

The 3Ps of Leading a Productive, Effective meeting will protect you from the disruptions that continually threaten your meetings.

1. Purpose – Why is this meeting being held?
2. People – Who needs to be in this meeting to accomplish the Purpose?
3. Preparation – What work needs to be done prior to the meeting to enable the People to accomplish the Purpose?

You can download the 3Ps Worksheet to improve your meetings by clicking here or on the image.

The pdf format makes it easy to print and use with your meetings.

And it’s FREE!

That’s All for this Issue

I do my best to write meeting tips that will help you in the real world of business.

Life is complex and people are too, so we need to be ready to adjust and adapt when unexpected events occur.

You won’t always be completely prepared but when you have these three meeting essentials in place, I’m confident you’ll manage the disruptions to your meetings without missing a beat!

1. A Clear Purpose
2. The Right People
3. A Prepared Agenda

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence!

Greg

Click here to learn more about me

Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:

1. Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
2. Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
3. Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don’t miss what I share in the next issue.

Want To Help Others?

If this issue helped you, it will probably help someone else. Please share it with your connections to fuel the global movement to Stop Bad Meetings!

A quick note about affiliates

Some of the pages on my website contain affiliate links to products, apps, and services. If you click through and purchase, I may receive a commission on the sale and you pay no more. My policy is to only affiliate with products and services that I believe will provide value to you. 

The post How To Manage Disruptions During A Meeting appeared first on Greg Harrod.

You may be surprised when you realize how much time an intentional one-on-one meeting subject line can save you and your coworkers.

But I suspect you are fully aware of the frustration you feel when you see a one-on-one meeting subject line created with little consideration of the impact it has on you, the person being invited to the meeting.

So let’s start our discussion with what NOT to do.

Then I’ll share the one simple step you can take to save your coworkers time and reduce their frustration.

Bad examples of one-on-one meeting subject lines

Before I share these examples with you, I need to clarify something.

I’ve used every one of these bad examples when scheduling one-on-one meetings with my coworkers over the years.

So, I’m not perfect and I’m not casting judgment from my meeting expert ivory tower.

These are all one-on-one meeting subject lines I used before I learned the step to make them better.

One-on-one meeting subject lines – bad examples

• 1×1
• Check In
• Catch Up
• One-on-One
• Budget Question
• Chewbaka Project Status
• CouchSurfer Production Issue

I bet your calendar is packed with meetings that have subject lines like those or something similar.

And maybe “bad examples” is too harsh.

They’re okay and people use them all the time. Sometimes I do too when I’m in a hurry.

So what’s the problem with these one-on-one meeting subject lines?

This calendar example shows it clearly.

When I open my calendar and see these one-on-one meeting subject lines, I have no idea who I’ve been invited to meet with unless I open each meeting invitation.

And opening each meeting takes a lot of my time.

It’s also very frustrating as I’m sure you’ve experienced.

So what could each of these people have done differently to save my time and reduce my frustration?

More importantly, what can YOU do to save your coworkers’ time and reduce their frustration?

The answer is the one simple step I promised to share with you.

The one simple step to create a time-saving one-on-one meeting subject line

This step truly is simple and adds no time to your meeting scheduling process.

Include your name and your recipient’s names in the subject line.

So the bad examples of one-on-one meeting subject lines listed above would look something like this:

One-on-one meeting subject lines – good examples

• 1×1 (Edith / Greg)
• Check In (Dak / Greg)
• Catch Up (Sanjeev / Greg)
• One-on-One (Maewyn / Greg)
• Budget Question (Rahul / Greg)
• Chewbaka Project Status (Maewyn / Greg)
• CouchSurfer Production Issue (Greg / Zoey)

Notice the difference?

Here’s what these one-on-one meetings would look like on my calendar.

Do you see how the addition of the meeting participants’ names adds tremendous value?

When you follow this simple step when you schedule one-on-one meetings with your colleagues, you’ll be making their life better.

This format saves your teammates time because with just a glance at their calendar, they know these 3 things about each meeting:

• It’s a one-on-one meeting. This information tells them it’s critical for them to accept and attend or decline. This isn’t a large group meeting where their presence may or may not have an impact.
• Who they’re meeting with. – They’ll know how to prepare. A one-on-one meeting with your direct report takes a different level of preparation than a meeting with the Chief Financial Officer!
• The general purpose of the meeting. – With only a few words, a good subject line captures what the two of you are seeking to accomplish during your time together.

There’s one more detail I’d like you to notice in the list of one-on-one meeting subject lines above.

It’s subtle so you may not spot it at first.

Do you see the one meeting subject line in the set above that’s different than the others?

Here’s a clue:

Zoey forgot to apply the bonus tip for time-saving one-on-one meeting subject lines.

Bonus tip for a time-saving one-on-one meeting subject line

This is the pro tip Zoey missed:

Always put YOUR name first in the one-one-one meeting subject line.

That may seem backwards at first (maybe even self-centered) so let me explain.

When the meeting subject line is shortened in a particular calendar view or on a phone, the person you’ve invited will still see YOUR name.

They don’t need to see THEIR name because the meeting is on their calendar. They already know they’re invited!

This calendar views explains why this detail is important.

Notice how I can’t just glance at Zoey’s CouchSurfer Production Issue meeting and see it’s a one-on-one meeting with her.

I have to open the meeting to get this information or at least hover over it with my mouse.

In contrast, I can quickly see I’ll be meeting with Maewyn (and only her – not a group) during the Chewbaka Project Status meeting – even when the subject line is truncated.

Taking those extra steps doesn’t take a lot of time. Probably just a few seconds.

But seconds add up to minutes, minutes to hours, and hours to days.

And “time is money” in your business as the old saying goes.

So when you’re saving your coworkers time (even seconds) using this bonus tip to create a one-on-one meeting subject line, you’re contributing to the success of your business.

Your coworkers may not even recognize how you’ve made them more productive. But YOU’LL know.

And, who are Zoey and Maewyn?

Well, I’m glad you asked!

Zoey, Maewyn, and the family business

Zoey and Maewyn are Project Leaders for my fictional Harrod family business I created to use for illustrations in my very real business coaching business.

And, these two girls are my beloved dogs.

This slide from my Project Review Scorecard Toolkit presentation gives you the idea.

When you see this picture of Maewyn, it’s probably hard to believe she would be the one to remember to include the names in the right order in a meeting subject line!

She is a bit of a goofball!

More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business

Creating an effective one-on-one meeting subject line is like creating effective email subject line.

In both situations, the best leaders start with a mindset of service.

You’re focusing on how you can help your coworkers be more productive and successful.

I included the following tips for creating an effective email subject line in my free guide, “How to Write a Professional Email – Make a positive impact with every email you send.” (Click here to download your copy.)

How to create an effective email subject line:

• Summarize your purpose in about 9 words or 60 characters in the subject.
• Use parentheses or brackets to be clear for your readers.
• Keep each email focused on one topic and one purpose when possible. Use the subject line to communicate that singular purpose.

Example email subject lines you can use to create your own:

• (Action Requested) – Safety Report for 3/1 Ops Review
• [Requested Content by 2/19] – Renew Program Touchpoint
• (Information Only) – Rosa’s Out of Office Plan
• Please Approve by Nov 10: Pemly Purchase Order $495.21
• [Input Needed] Please comment – Dart sales proposal

Those are only a few of the tips I’ve included in the guide on how to write a professional email. Download your free guide to see them all!

And, if you’re interested in learning more on how to write a polite email in the professional world, check out this article:

3 Simple Tips for Polite And Effective Email (click here)

For more tips on productive, effective one-on-one meetings, check out this post:

7 Powerful One On One Meeting Questions (click here)

And Now a Word from Our Sponsors

If you want to learn how you can make your next Project Review meeting more productive and effective while also discovering more about me, Zoey, and Maewyn, check out the Project Review Scorecard Toolkit.

The Complete Package option includes the full training with 6 short videos where I walk you through how I use the scorecards in real life.

And, you’ll also get to see how Zoey and Maewyn use these resources to lead Project Review meetings to make our Sirius Fun Toys program successful.

That’s All for this Issue

This simple step to save your coworkers time and frustration may not be new to you.

But, based on my experience, only a small percentage of business leaders realize how much impact creating intentional one-on-one meeting subject lines can have on their colleagues and their business.

I’m excited that you are now in this elite group (if you weren’t already)!

I encourage you to share this article with others so your teammates can return the favor and save YOU time and frustration too!

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence!

Greg

Click here to learn more about me

Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:

1. Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
2. Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
3. Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don’t miss what I share in the next issue.

Want To Help Others?

If this issue helped you, it will probably help someone else. Please share it with your connections to fuel the global movement to Stop Bad Meetings!

A quick note about affiliates

Some of the pages on my website contain affiliate links to products, apps, and services. If you click through and purchase, I may receive a commission on the sale and you pay no more. My policy is to only affiliate with products and services that I believe will provide value to you. 

The post How To Create A Time-Saving One-On-One Meeting Subject Line appeared first on Greg Harrod.

You may not have thought much about the term “diversity of thought.”

Unfortunately, too many leaders don’t.

And, they and their businesses are missing out on the benefits of having diversity of thought in their teams and their meetings.

That doesn’t have to be the case for you!

But, before we get into how you can build diversity of thought in your meetings, let’s define the term.

What is diversity of thought?

It’s easy to get confused because diversity of thought is related to but not the same as DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion).

I like the definition from this article, “Why You Need Diversity of Thought on Your Team.”

Diversity of thought is the reality that there is more than one way to think about something. It’s understanding that the way each person interprets and interacts with the world is reflective of their unique identity, culture and personal experiences. The greater variation in approaches to problems and unique perspectives, the greater the diversity of thought produced.

capitalonecareers.com

This means diversity of thought encompasses much more than some leaders think of when they hear the term “diversity.”

I’ll use the description above for the foundation as I help you think about how you might build diversity of thought in the meetings in your business.

3 Steps to Build Diversity of Thought in Your Meetings

I recommend starting with these 3 steps for your meetings:

1. Value diversity of thought
2. Create a meeting environment that nurtures diversity of thought
3. Prepare for healthy conflict

Value diversity of thought

The first step to build diversity of thought in your meetings is to make sure it’s truly valuable to you.

If it’s not, there’s no need for you to proceed.

Because it’s easy for leaders to SAY diversity is important, but then have their actions reveal what they really believe.

For instance, here are some actions you may recognize in leaders who don’t sincerely value diversity of thought in their meetings.

• They only invite people who are like them to their meetings. – The similarities may be in their appearance, their cultural backgrounds, their professional experience, or their style. You look around the room during their meetings and it looks like they perfected a cloning machine!
• They don’t welcome challenges. – This becomes obvious when they shut down anyone who has a point of view that’s different than their own. They make it crystal clear that all comments should support their ideas (and their egos).
• They build teams with little to no diversity. – Their meetings lack diversity of thought because there are no diverse team members to invite!

This short (2:27) video from Capital One does a fantastic job of describing exactly the opposite of that last bullet point.

It’s clear Deb gets it!

I love how this introduction to the full article, “Why You Need Diversity of Thought on Your Team.” that includes this video makes the connection between diversity of thoughts and productive meetings.

Have you ever been in a meeting where ideas feel unchallenged and solutions feel stagnant? Your team feels like it’s been running in circles without a solution in sight. Maybe the key you need is diversity of thought. For Deb, a senior operations manager, cultivating a team culture with an emphasis on diversity of thought is her superpower.

capitalonecareers.com

When you’ve created a team comprised of people who think differently, you’ve demonstrated through your actions that you truly DO value diversity of thought.

And you’re equipped to bring your diverse team together in productive, effective meetings.

Create a meeting environment that nurtures diversity of thought

Bringing people who think differently together to do productive work in a meeting doesn’t happen without some planning.

As you prepare for your meetings, think about the ground rules you want to communicate to your participants to foster diversity of thought.

Here are some suggestions to spark your thinking:

Meeting Ground Rules to Nurture Diversity of Thought

• Be curious. No one in the meeting knows everything.
• No personal attacks. We’ll attack problems not people.
• Demonstrate humility. We’ll strive to watch out for our egos.
• Everyone’s voice should be heard. Each participant is invited for a reason.
• We won’t ignore challenging or uncomfortable topics. If you disagree, speak up.

The last point leads us to our final step to build diversity of thought in your meetings.

Prepare for healthy conflict

I appreciate how Patrick Lencioni talks about conflict in his famous book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

Lencioni describes dysfunctional teams as having a fear of conflict. They avoid the productive, healthy conflict that’s required to grow and solve problems.

Here’s how he compares two approaches to conflict:

Teams that fear conflict…

• Have boring meetings.
• Create environments where back-channel politics and personal attacks thrive.
• Ignore controversial topics that are critical to team success.
• Fail to tap into all the opinions and perspectives of team members.
• Waste time and energy with posturing and interpersonal risk management.

Teams that engage in conflict…

• Have lively, interesting meetings.
• Extract and exploit the ideas of all team members.
• Solve real problems quickly.
• Put critical topics on the table for discussion.

Notice how the fear of conflict causes teams to miss out on the benefits of embracing diversity of thought.

Whereas, inviting and promoting healthy, productive conflict allows teams to be effective and productive in their meetings.

Preparing for and embracing conflict is critical to get the most from your teams!

Another Pat Lencioni resource I’ve found valuable for preparing teams for productive conflict during a meeting is The Six Types of Working Genius model.

The Six Types of Working Genius model and healthy conflict

This productivity tool helps people discover what type of tasks bring them joy, energy, and fulfillment using a quick Working Genius Assessment.

The model recognizes that any type of project or initiative moves through three phases:

• Ideation
• Activation
• Implementation

3 stages of work

And every project requires tasks aligned with the 6 Working Geniuses:

• Wonder
• Invention
• Discernment
• Galvanizing
• Enablement
• Tenacity

Six Working Geniuses

When project teams include people with the full range of Working Geniuses, they typically have high levels of diversity of thought. And they’re more successful than those with fewer Working Geniuses and less diversity.

When you’re striving for healthy conflict, the team member who has the Working Genius of Discernment adds tremendous value to a team.

Working Genius of Discernment

This person is your coworker in a meeting who loves to challenge potential solutions. They can list all the things that could go wrong with an idea along with identifying all the benefits.

And a person with the Working Genius of Invention who came up with the idea may perceive this critique as an attack.

They might feel like their precious solution is being torn to shreds!

And this can introduce unhealthy, unproductive conflict during your meeting.

But, if you’re using the Working Genius model regularly with your team and know the Working Geniuses and Frustrations of each person, you can avoid this negative situation.

To prevent unproductive conflict you can clarify in the Purpose of the meeting that the team will be “Discerning” the potential solution that’s been proposed.

When you clearly communicate this to the group, the person with the Working Genius of Discernment won’t hesitate to offer her insight because she’s afraid of hurting the feelings of the Invention coworker.

Instead, she’ll feel the freedom to do what she’s been designed to do: “assess the merit and workability of ideas or solutions.”

She’ll also feel valued because her coworkers are asking for input. They WANT her to do what she loves to do: Discern!

And the teammate with the Working Genius of Invention will recognize the critique is occurring intentionally – not because others think his idea is bad but because they see it as valuable.

They value the proposed solution so much they want to put it to the test so it can be successful.

The Discernment activity ensures the concept moves from the Ideation stage through Activation (led by a Galvanizer) and then into Implementation by coworkers with Enablement and Tenacity Working Geniuses.

Just like Lencioni’s Five Dysfunctions of a Team model, The Six Types of Working Genius way of doing work is built on a foundation that recognizes the importance of diversity of thought in teams and in meetings.

More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business

These posts also cover other benefits of diversity of thought for businesses and provide more tips on how to have healthy conflict:

3 Powerful Ways To Disagree When You Agree

Focus On These 2 Beliefs To Avoid Groupthink

How To Keep Your Team From Being Just Like You

To learn more about the Six Types of Working Genius Framework and Assessment check out these posts:

How To Recognize The Benefits Of The 6 Types Of Working Genius Model

What Is The Working Genius Assessment? – A Real Life Example

Spoiler Alert for that last bullet point: The real life Working Genius Assessment example is mine.

Take a look if you’re curious to know what my two Working Geniuses are.

And Now a Word from Our Sponsors

If you’re interested in reading what I consider to be Pat Lencioni’s best book ever and discovering more about The Six Types of Working Genius model, click here to get your copy!

That’s All for this Issue

Building diversity of thought in your meetings does take some thought and intentionality from you as the meeting leader. But the effort is worth it.

And these 3 steps are an easy place to start:

1. Value diversity of thought
2. Create a meeting environment that nurtures diversity of thought
3. Prepare for healthy conflict

If your experience is like mine, you’ll find your efforts will pay off in more productive meetings with more engaged team members.

And, most importantly, your meetings will deliver better results for your business!

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence!

Greg

Click here to learn more about me

Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:

1. Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
2. Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
3. Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don’t miss what I share in the next issue.

Want To Help Others?

If this issue helped you, it will probably help someone else. Please share it with your connections to fuel the global movement to Stop Bad Meetings!

A quick note about affiliates

Some of the pages on my website contain affiliate links to products, apps, and services. If you click through and purchase, I may receive a commission on the sale and you pay no more. My policy is to only affiliate with products and services that I believe will provide value to you. 

The post How To Build Diversity Of Thought In Your Meetings – 3 Steps appeared first on Greg Harrod.

You’ll never regret doing things to help your coworkers shine.

At least that’s what I’ve decided based on what I’ve experienced in my 30+ year career.

And meetings are a perfect place to help your teammates showcase their abilities.

I was reminded of this recently by an experience I had with one of my coworkers.

I’ll tell you that story in a moment, but first let me share 5 questions you can use as you prepare for your meetings so you can help your coworkers shine.

5 questions to help your coworkers shine in meetings

To clarify, these questions aren’t ones you’ll ask DURING the meeting.

You can ask yourself these questions now as you prepare for the meetings you’ll be in this week.

(And, I know you’re Preparing for your meetings, right? Don’t forget the 3Ps for productive, effective meetings!)

Here’s what you can ask yourself:

1. Which quiet teammate would share their wisdom with the right prompting?
2. What question can I ask to set the stage for a peer to show their expertise?
3. What top performer would appreciate being praised in front of a group?
4. How can I adjust my agenda to give a newer employee more visibility?
5. Whose recent success story can I share during my staff meeting?

Let’s take a quick look at each of these questions.

1. Which quiet teammate would share their wisdom with the right prompting?

To answer this question, you’ll need to take a couple of steps.

First, you’ll have to notice the teammates who often go unnoticed.

This is the person who slips in quietly to meetings, listens intently, takes notes, then quietly leaves.

They don’t draw attention to themselves before, during, or after the meeting.

But they’re in the meeting for a reason.

And they have valuable insight and wisdom.

You’re not going to know that by only interacting with them during meetings.

So you’ll need to talk with them at other times to understand what they’re an expert on.

That’s step number 2.

Once you have that information you’ll know when their expertise can add value to a meeting.

But asking them to share their input with a group may not help them shine at all.

Instead, it may make them feel awkward and totally stress them out causing them to be unable to share their knowledge with the group.

Some quiet people are like that.

But other coworkers who are perceived as shy actually WANT to share their wisdom.

They’re just waiting to be prompted.

As you’re getting to know a quiet coworker, you can simply ask them something like this when they’re providing insight to you in a personal, one-on-one conversation.

“The insight you have into this problem we’ve been trying to solve has really helped me understand the challenges we have to address as a team.

Would you be willing to explain what you just told me to the group during our next project team meeting?

If you are, I’ll add this topic to the agenda and ask you to talk us through it.

Would you be comfortable doing that?”

You’ll be amazed at how much a person who is typically quiet will open up when they’re prompted in the right way at the right time.

By asking yourself this question you’ll help a coworker like this get positively recognized in meetings instead of constantly being overlooked.

You can do the same for all your coworkers – not just the quiet ones.

2. What question can I ask to set the stage for a peer to show their expertise?

Asking powerful questions is something the best leaders do.

And investing the time to think of questions to help your coworkers shine during meetings will help you be an even better leader.

As you’re preparing for your meetings, take a few moments to think about who the experts are on certain subjects that will be covered.

Then make a quick list of questions you might ask to give them the opportunity to explain what they know.

Here are a few examples to get you started:

“Kathie, I know you’ve been through this on other projects. What insight do you have based on your previous experience?”

“This sounds like what we were discussing yesterday, Joban. Could you tell the group what you told me please? Your explanation gave me a better perspective.”

“Skip, Discernment is your Working Genius and you’re great at critiquing ideas. What are we missing in our analysis of this possible solution?”

By preparing your questions in advance, you won’t stumble over your words during the meeting and miss the opportunity to draw out the best from your colleagues.

3. What top performer would appreciate being praised in front of a group?

You might think everyone who performs well will appreciate being praised in front of everyone in a meeting.

Who wouldn’t want to be asked to stand up and listen while you sing their praises?

The answer is many people.

Some people on your team would prefer words of affirmation be delivered by you in private not in public.

Others, however, are filled with energy and motivation when you praise them in front of others.

So as you’re considering how and when to show appreciation to those who’ve contributed at the highest levels for your business, pause and think about who each of them are as individuals.

The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace assessment is an excellent tool to help you know your team members better.

I’m an Appreciation at Work Certified Facilitator and use these resources with my teams and my clients regularly.

The results from the assessments will equip you to help your coworkers shine in meetings and feel honored (not embarrassed!) when you recognize their contributions.

You can learn more about the Appreciation at Work resources and tools on their website.

4. How can I adjust my agenda to give a newer employee more visibility?

It’s hard when you’re new to an organization.

You may have done incredible things at your last company and everyone there knew how much you’d contributed.

You might be an expert in multiple areas and can add value in many different roles throughout your new company.

But not everyone has read your LinkedIn profile or reviewed your resume that helped you land your new position.

It’s frustrating to see how you can contribute but don’t want to go around telling everyone about your experience because it might seem like you’re boasting.

You may remember feeling like this. So you can empathize with the new person who’s attending your meetings.

When you’re the leader of a meeting and have a new employee attending, you have the opportunity to help them, your coworkers, and your business.

You can put them on the agenda to share what they know.

Talk with your new coworker to learn more about them and discover what skills they have.

Then schedule time for them to present on a relevant topic during your next meeting.

This step to help your coworker shine will obviously benefit them. But it does more than that.

You’re also making your colleagues aware of a valuable resource within the company and sparking conversations about how your new team member can maximize their contribution to the overall business.

5. Whose recent success story can I share during my staff meeting?

This question is probably an easy one for you to answer because I expect you’ve built an outstanding team of individuals who are doing great things for your business.

In fact, when you ask yourself this question as you’re preparing for your next staff meeting you’ll probably generate more success stories than you have time to share.

That’s a great problem to have.

Just take a few minutes to reflect on the past week when you’re putting together the agenda for your next team meeting.

Think about all your team has accomplished.

Which of the many success stories do you want to share to help your coworkers (your direct reports in this case) shine the brightest?

Personally, doing this is one of the most enjoyable parts of my job as a supervisor!

Which brings me to the story I promised you in the introduction.

A story of how I got to help a coworker shine

Not too long ago, I was working with a member of my team who’s just a few years into his career.

He’s a talented young man with an abundance of talent, energy, and enthusiasm.

For those who are familiar with the 6 Types of Working Genius model, his Working Geniuses are Tenacity and Enablement.

That means he can be described as a “Loyal Finisher” who gets energy from completing tasks and responding to the needs of others in the pursuit of getting things done.

And that’s exactly what he’d been doing on the project we were working on together.

Preparing for the meeting

It was time for our monthly project review meeting with senior leadership and we had just finished the slide deck.

I had already created the Project Review Scorecard and included it as a single slide – a “one pager”.

It looked something like this (with different content obviously!)

Project Review Scorecard Example

We’d worked together to build the Executive Summary and the rest of the slides based on the topics on the agenda with most of the content focused on the project schedule details.

We confirmed we were ready to distribute the presentation for pre-read by the senior leaders then I asked my teammate this question:

“Which of these slides would you like to present and which would you prefer I cover?”

I had my opinion, but I wanted to give him the opportunity to take the lead.

He thought for a moment as he scratched his tightly trimmed goatee then told me he’d like me to cover the Project Review Scorecard slide and he would do the rest.

Keep in mind that he would be presenting to senior leaders several levels above him in the reporting structure – and one of their titles started with the letter “C!”

In other words, there was some risk involved. He could mess this meeting up and negatively impact his career.

But his recommendation matched perfectly with mine.

In fact, I knew he could do the entire presentation if he needed to.

We agreed on the plan and talked through how he would cover the slides then invite me to add my comments as beneficial to make the meeting most effective.

Meeting time!

When the early morning meeting time arrived (we had participants around the globe in different time zones), we were ready.

The participants had reviewed the presentation he distributed in advance, and he started exactly on time.

This young professional walked us through the presentation covering every topic on the agenda.

The leaders were engaged and the conversation was productive. We uncovered risks that needed to be mitigated and recorded actions items (with owners and deadlines of course) in the meeting notes he sent out after the meeting.

My teammate nailed it just like I knew he would!

And it was a joy to be a part of helping a coworker shine during a meeting.

I get so many blessings from my day job and my work with clients in my side business.

This story is just one example of more than I can count.

Why I shared this story with you.

So why did I share this story with you?

The answer is simple.

I want you to know what it can feel like to help your coworkers shine during meetings.

By taking some simple steps like I outlined in this article, you too can feel the thrill I felt when I got watch to someone on my team show others what they can do.

It was super encouraging for me, and I hope you get to experience moments like this in your job too.

More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business

The process I described my team member and I following included many of the elements I outlined in this article:

How To Use Structure To Effectively Lead Meetings (click here)

And if you’re interested in learning more about asking powerful questions, this post will help.

How To Ask Powerful Questions – Getting Started (click here)

And Now a Word from Our Sponsors

The Project Review Scorecard like the example above is something I’ve used for years.

It’s saved me hundreds of hours by helping me prepare for project review meetings quickly then communicating clearly and concisely with project stakeholders during the meeting.

It works for me and it will work for you.

Click here to see how you can get the exact Project Review Scorecard templates I use.

If you decide to buy these templates and for some reason, they turn out to not be a good fit for you, don’t worry.

I’ll give a full refund with absolutely no hassle.

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

That’s All for this Issue

You work with talented, hard-working people.

They deserve to be recognized and praised for their contributions to your business.

And, here’s a nice bonus for helping your coworkers shine and showcase their talents and abilities.

When you take steps like these, you’ll get personal satisfaction like I described in my story AND you’ll shine brightly as a leader yourself!

You won’t be seeking the spotlight, but others will inevitably turn it on you and give you praise.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence!

Greg

Click here to learn more about me

Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:

1. Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
2. Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
3. Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don’t miss what I share in the next issue.

Want To Help Others?

If this issue helped you, it will probably help someone else. Please share it with your connections to fuel the global movement to Stop Bad Meetings!

The post How To Help Your Coworkers Shine In Meetings appeared first on Greg Harrod.

Being less judgmental in meetings isn’t easy but it’s an important skill for leaders to develop.

Because we’re all human and judging others based on what we THINK we know about them comes naturally.

The problem with following our natural tendencies is we’re often wrong.

And our inaccurate assessments can make meetings less productive and damage relationships.

Here are 3 tips to be less judgmental in your meetings:

1. Realize you don’t know everything.
2. Remember the fundamental attribution error.
3. Get to know your coworkers better.

Be less judgmental by realizing you don’t know everything

In addition to working in the corporate world for over 30 years, I’ve been active in my church community for about the same amount of time and served in various leadership roles.

Early on these simple yet incredibly wise words shared with me by my pastor hit me hard.

What Pastor Don told me applies to all of us in every situation involving other people.

He told me this:

“There’s more going on than you realize.”

Pastors know things other people don’t.

People often share their deepest, darkest secrets with their spiritual leaders.

As a result, they know better than others the struggles and pains influencing how people behave.

So when I started sounding judgmental to my pastor, he recognized that he knew things I didn’t – things that would have changed my perspective and made me less judgmental.

Of course he would never disclose information shared with him in confidence so he couldn’t tell me what I didn’t know.

But he made it very clear that I did NOT have all the facts and I should be careful to not make inaccurate assumptions about other people.

His guidance is something I’ve remembered for decades and I’ve tried my best to apply it whenever I’m tempted to judge others.

So when I’m in a meeting and someone is acting grumpy or has a bad attitude, I remind myself that I don’t know what they might be struggling with.

Their dad may be on hospice care. Their son may be making decisions that could negatively impact his life forever. Or, their boss may have yelled at them right before your meeting.

I don’t have all the information.

So, I do my best to extend grace and help them contribute to accomplishing the Purpose of the meeting.

Because I know on another day in another meeting it will be my turn to have a less than stellar attitude.

And, I’ll be thankful for someone else being less judgmental and remembering they don’t have all the information about my life either.

Be less judgmental by remembering the fundamental attribution error

Let’s start with a quick explanation of the fundamental attribution error for those who may not have heard of it.

The fundamental attribution error is our tendency to attribute someone else’s actions to their character or personality while we attribute our own behaviors to external factors – things outside our control.

The reality is we can all do this at times.

And, when we’re aware of the fundamental attribution error and remember it, we can be less judgmental of others.

Here’s how we can apply this to meetings.

And I intentionally chose the word “we” because I know I need to work on this myself!

Imagine someone shows up late to your meeting.

(I realize that is probably not hard to envision because most people haven’t realized the value of scheduling gaps between meetings. If that describes your coworkers, try sharing this article with them.)

Now back to the scenario I was describing.

When that person walks in late, what thoughts enter your mind?

You may be tempted to make judgmental statements in your mind like this:

• They’re lazy.
• They don’t care.
• They’re inconsiderate.
• They can’t manage their time.

But when YOU enter a meeting after the official starting time, you might have these thoughts:

• My last meeting ran long.
• I needed to talk to my boss.
• A restroom break was a requirement!

In other words, it wasn’t MY fault I was late to the meeting. I had valid reasons for not being on time.

Please don’t get down on yourself if this happens to you.

All humans, you and me included, are subject to the fundamental attribution error.

So when we remember it, we can be less judgmental.

Avoiding the fundamental attribution error starts with better understanding our coworkers as human beings.

Be less judgmental by getting to know your coworkers

The more we know who people REALLY are, the less we’ll be tempted to judge them.

The 6 Types of Working Genius model has helped me improve in this area.

I’ve been amazed to discover what type of tasks bring people joy, energy, and fulfillment and what types of work frustrate them.

Reviewing the Working Genius assessments of my coworkers and clients revealed things about them I was completely unaware of before.

This is true even for people I’d worked with for years!

This deeper knowledge of how they’re wired allowed me to support them better instead of judging them and causing them to feel misunderstood and even rejected.

For example, let’s go back to the previous example of a person who shows up late to a meeting.

It’s possible the reason they don’t arrive on time or even early is the work that’s going to be done in this meeting is what sucks all the energy out of them – their Working Frustration in other words.

They may dread going to do an brainstorming and ideation session because Wonder and Invention are not their Working Geniuses.

Participating in a “high-altitude” meeting like this is torture for them.

No wonder they arrive late!

Having a conversation around their Working Genius assessment will help you get to know them better and equip you to invite them to the meetings where they’ll add the most value and be most productive.

Check out this previous M4 article for a deeper dive into using the Working Genius model to make different types of meetings and the people in them more productive.

More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business

If you’d like to get know your teammates better but don’t know where to start, this post I wrote will help:

How To Know Your Teammates Better With Easy Top 3 Lists (click here)

And I’m curious about something.

Did this question cross your mind as you were reading this post?

Is it “judgemental” or “judgmental?”

I admit I struggled with that question longer than I should have when I started writing this post.

If you can relate, you might also find this article interesting:

Sitting In Judgment Of The Proper Spelling: “Judgement” Or “Judgment”?

As you might imagine, it’s a British vs American thing. The British kept the extra “e” while we Americans dropped it.

But as the article explains, that isn’t the end of the story.

I found this quite interesting and you may too.

And Now a Word from Our Sponsors

Trusting others plays a large role in being less judgmental.

Dr. Henry Cloud’s latest book on trust is a resource I HIGHLY recommend.

I’ve suggested it for several clients and colleagues and they agree with my perspective. This book is life-changing – for your work and personal life.

It’s called Trust: Knowing When to Give It, When to Withhold It, How to Earn It, and How to Fix It When It Gets Broken.

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org where your purchases support local bookstores. I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

That’s All for this Issue

There are many, many more ways to manage our natural tendencies to judge others, but hopefully these 3 tips to be less judgmental in your meetings will give you a good start:

1. Realize you don’t know everything.
2. Remember the fundamental attribution error.
3. Get to know your coworkers better.

I’ll admit this is an ongoing area of development for me.

I find myself doing great in one meeting only to have a judgmental attitude return in another.

So, if that describes you too, I know how you feel.

And I appreciate your struggle and your commitment to persevere as a leader who recognizes your own humanness.

We’re on this journey together, my friend.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence!

Greg

Click here to learn more about me

Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:

1. Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
2. Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
3. Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don’t miss what I share in the next issue.

Want To Help Others?

If this issue helped you, it will probably help someone else. Please share it with your connections to fuel the global movement to Stop Bad Meetings!

The post How To Be Less Judgmental In Meetings – 3 Tips appeared first on Greg Harrod.

There are many different meeting types in business.

So as a leader, you always need to know the type of meeting you’re leading or attending.

And you need to know the kind of work that needs to be done in each meeting type so you invite the right People and keep them focused on accomplishing the Purpose.

If you don’t have this information, the meetings you’re leading will inevitably be unproductive and ineffective. And, they’ll be frustrating for you and the participants.

Those are obviously meeting traits you want to avoid!

So here are some tips to help you and your teams be successful in four common types of meetings in business.

Four typical meeting types in business

I like the model Patrick Lencioni uses to describe the meeting types based on his experience working with C-Suite leaders in a variety of industries.

He outlines this model in his books Death by Meeting and The Advantage.

And, his 6 Types of Working Genius framework equips leaders to make these meetings more productive and effective.

Which means, of course, that the PEOPLE in these meetings are more productive and effective while also experiencing more joy, energy, and fulfillment in their work.

These tips are based on Lencioni’s four meeting types:

• Brainstorm (Quarterly Offsite Review)
• Solutions Oriented (Adhoc Strategic)
• Rally and Tactical Meeting (Weekly Staff)
• Task Oriented (Daily Standup)

Let’s look at each of these types of meetings and how you and the people you invite might tend to behave in each of them.

The “Altitude” of each meeting type

We can think about the kind of work needed in each type of meeting as an elevation or “altitude”.

Any type of work goes through 3 phases from start to finish.

You begin with Ideation, move through Activation of a team, and finish with Implementation.

The start is “up in the clouds” and you finish at ground level by “landing the plane.”

The 4 types of meetings align with the stages of work and the corresponding altitudes.

So how can you and your colleagues be most successful in each type of meeting in your business?

The first step is knowing the meeting type and the elevation of the work to be done in the meeting.

The graphic above helps with that.

I’ve found an important second step is knowing the Working Geniuses of each person in the meeting.

If you don’t have that information, it’s easy to get using the 6 Types of Working Genius Assessment.

The assessment only takes about 10 minutes to complete.

And as soon as you finish it, you’ll have an instant understanding of yourself. (A link to the Working Genius website where you can take the assessment is below if you’re interested.)

If your coworkers have taken the assessment too, they’ll know their Working Geniuses and can share them with you.

(I recommend creating a Working Genius Team Map like I use with my team and help my clients build, but it’s not required.)

This will equip you and them to be most productive in the four types of meetings because the 6 Types of Working Geniuses also align with the stages of work and the altitudes.

Working Geniuses for the 4 types of meetings in business

This image brings it all together.

Let’s start up in the clouds then gradually descend to the landing strip.

Meeting Type: Brainstorm (Quarterly Offsite Review)

Brainstorm type of meetings have an elevation of 25,000 to 30,000 feet. They’re high altitude meetings.

To have a productive, effective meeting at this level, you’ll want to do the following:

• Step back and look at big picture. This may mean looking at the market or the competitive environment for your business.
• This meeting should stay in the Ideation stage and avoid getting into tactics and details. A coworker with the Working Geniuses of Enablement and Tenacity will tend to drive the conversation down to this level so be prepared.
• This is a Wonder and Invention meeting so be sure to invite your teammates who have these Working Geniuses. Call on them often for their input.
• A team member with Invention should probably lead this meeting to help move toward solutions.

These questions will help keep your conversations focused and at the right altitude:

How might we serve our clients better?”

“Are we solving the right problems?

Are we living up to our potential?

What might we be missing?

Meeting Type: Solutions Oriented (Adhoc Strategic)

You may maintain your altitude or drop slightly for a Solutions Oriented meeting.

The elevation is 20,000 to 30,000 feet.

These tips will help you and your team be successful in this type of meeting:

• Define the Purpose as something like this: “Develop a strategy to address [Insert specific problem that has been identified.]
• Keep the meeting focused on inventing a solution to address a specific issue and refining or tweaking it. This work may require multiple meetings.
• Because this is an Invention and Discernment type meeting, put those who are energized by this work on the participant list. There will be some Wonder needed too so include colleagues with this Working Genius also.
• The main influencer in this meeting should be an Invention person. Follow their lead if you’re facilitating this type of meeting.

Questions like this will be helpful:

“What is our strategic focus?

How can we tweak the solution we just came up with?

This seems likes a good solution. How can we refine it?

What would have to be true for us to call this problem solved?”

Meeting Type: Rally and Tactical Meeting (Weekly Staff)

You’re dropping out of the clouds and you can start seeing the ground so it’s time to make sure the team is Activated as you begin executing the work.

You and your team are flying between 10,000 and 15,000 feet.

Keep these tips in mind:

• Because you’ve already identified your strategic focus in the earlier meetings, now’s the time to inspire and push people to execute.
• This is the type of work a Galvanizer LOVES – so encourage them to do their thing!
• This meeting type is all about Galvanizing, Enablement, and Tenacity. Resist the urge to go back to the Ideation stage of work. Those who are hard wired with Invention or Discernment will want to apply their Working Geniuses so watch out for this pull in the wrong direction. You want to keep the project moving toward the runway to get it done.
• Because the Purpose of this type of meeting is to rally people to get work done, a Galvanizer will probably be the best person to drive how this meeting goes.

You’ll likely hear a Galvanizer asking questions like this during a Tactical meeting:

“Are we moving the ball forward?

How are we doing against our goals?

What do we need to get done so our results next week are even better?”

Meeting Type: Task Oriented (Daily Standup)

Your project plane is about to land so you and your team need to stay connected.

With an elevation from 5,000 feet to zero, you’ll soon be on the ground.

Meeting daily for only 10 to 15 minutes will help you drive your work to DONE.

These tips will help you finish well:

• The pace of this meeting will be fast with a tone of urgency.
• Each person will briefly update the team on what they’re working on. Communicating clearly and concisely is critical!
• If you have the Working Genius of Tenacity, you’ll be in your element. You’ll show up early and leave excited knowing you get to go tie up all the loose ends that could keep the project from finishing on time.
• The best Working Genius to lead this meeting is Discernment. They’ll need to prioritize and allocate resources carefully during the final stage of the project.

Questions for this type of meeting include:

“What will we get done today?

Who’s going to do what by when?”

What’s completed and ready to be checked off the list?

What are you working on, [insert team member name]?”

More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business

This overview of the 6 Types of Working Geniuses will give you more insight into how different people tend to show up in the four meeting types.

You can take the Working Genius Assessment at the Working Genius website (click here).

You can also contact me if you’d like some support. I use the 6 Types of Working Genius framework every day and I’m a Working Genius Certified Facilitator so I can help.

I also found this article exploring 16 different types of business meetings and how teams can use them interesting (click here).

And this article describing the 6 most common types of meetings had some solid meeting tips too (click here).

And Now a Word from Our Sponsors

The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni is an excellent book with valuable content that goes far beyond the four meeting types in business.

The subtitle explains why it’s own of my favorites: “Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business”!

Click here to get your copy of The Advantage and support M4 – the Monday Morning Meeting Minute!

Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org where your purchases support local bookstores. I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

That’s All for this Issue

As you and your teams come together and do work, think about the type of meeting you’re having and how to make it the most productive it can be.

I find Patrick Lencioni’s four types of meetings helpful:

• Brainstorm (Quarterly Offsite Review)
• Solutions Oriented (Adhoc Strategic)
• Rally and Tactical Meeting (Weekly Staff)
• Task Oriented (Daily Standup)

When this model is paired with the 6 Types of Working Genius framework, great things happen.

You and your coworkers have more joy, energy, and fulfillment and your business is more productive.

Try out these tips and let me know what works for you.

Let’s lead with kindness and confidence!

Greg

Click here to learn more about me

Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:

1. Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
2. Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
3. Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)

New To This Newsletter?

Subscribe here so you don’t miss what I share in the next issue.

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