One Meeting Minute Thought for Your Week
As a leader you may not know how to say No to make your meetings better.
If fact, if you’re like many leaders, you have troubling say No most of the time.
You want to say Yes and contribute all you can to make your teams and your business more successful.
But, knowing what to say No to is critical for leaders. This skill distinguishes great leaders from those who are only good.
In the same way, you can take your meetings from good to great simply by learning to say No.
Use these two techniques to say No to make your meetings better.
1. Say No to Meeting Topics
Specify clearly what you WON’T be doing in your meeting.
People have a natural tendency to introduce distractions.
They bring up topics that cause the team to lose focus.
So, say No to what you anticipate participants may want to add.
It’s best to include this in the meeting invitation.
Or in an email you send to the participants prior to the meeting.
Phrases like this work well.
“We have 3 proposals to select from in today’s meeting. We will not be discussing any other options at this time.”
Or
“The purpose of this meeting is for stakeholders to approve the test plan.
If you have specific questions on the plan, please contact me prior to the meeting.
We will not have time to discuss details during our meeting.”
Communicating the topics you will not be including in your meeting in advance is important but it’s not enough.
Your meeting participants will need a reminder.
When you begin your meeting, repeat the topics you will be covering (using your detailed agenda that includes the topics of course!) and reinforce your position that any other topic is out of scope and will NOT be discussed.
This clarity and explicit, intentional communication will demonstrate your confidence and competence as an effective meeting leader.
2. Say No to Meeting Participants
Productive, effective meetings include only the People who are needed to accomplish the Purpose.
Bad meetings often have too many participants. They’re attended by people who don’t know why they are there or how they can add value.
This makes the meeting a miserable experience for them wasting their valuable time and the company’s money.
You can prevent this lose-lose situation with your meetings.
The second way to say No to make your meetings better is to say No to including meeting participants who aren’t needed.
If you’re considering inviting a coworker to your meeting but can’t clearly explain to yourself and to them why this is a good use of their time, say No!
Don’t invite them!
And, if you’ve already invited them, remove them.
Be sure to contact them to tell them why you took them off the invitee list.
This extra step of direct communication will prevent misunderstandings and hurt feelings.
Instead of feeling unwanted and undervalued they’ll know you’re actually serving them by not wasting their time.
In addition to not inviting participants who won’t add value to your meeting, don’t allow others to do this either.
When someone forwards your meeting invitation, have a courageous conversation with that person.
Confirm how this additional participant will contribute to accomplishing the Purpose of the meeting.
If they won’t, say No to including this extra person in your meeting.
Say No to Make Your Meetings Better
Intentionally decide and clearly communicate the topics and the people you will NOT include in your meeting.
Use these two techniques to say No to make your meetings better.
Your meetings will be more productive and effective, and you’ll demonstrate you’re a leader who has mastered the critical skill of saying No.
More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business
✅ If you don’t want your meetings forwarded to participants who won’t add value, use the Prevent Forwarding feature in Outlook. Click here for instructions on how to turn on this option.
✅ Use the 3Ps worksheet to clarify your Purpose and People so you can say No to make your meetings better. (click here to download it for free).
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?
✅ Learn more about the 3 Ps for creating exceptional meetings in this episode of the Connect Mobilize Deliver podcast.
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That’s All for this Issue
Saying No isn’t easy, especially for leaders.
But when you use these two techniques to say No to make your meetings better, you’ll see the positive results.
Give them a try and let me know how they work for you.
And, if they make your meetings better like they have mine, share this issue of the Monday Morning Meeting Minute with others so they can improve their meetings too!
Let’s lead with kindness and confidence!
Greg
Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:
- Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
- Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
- Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)
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