One Meeting Minute Thought for Your Week
Thinking about scheduling a recurring meeting series?
You definitely should!
Here are 5 reasons it’s a good idea.
5 Benefits of a Recurring Meeting Series
A recurring meeting series:
- Secures Calendar Space
- Provides Accountability
- Defines an End Point for Work
- Introduces Structure to Overwhelming Initiatives
- Removes the Pressure to Fit Everything into One Meeting
1. A Recurring Meeting Series – Secures Calendar Space
Collaborating with others in real time necessarily requires a group of people to be together – either in the same room or virtually.
And, if you can’t find open space on your teammates’ calendars, you’re in TROUBLE.
So, the next time you take on a project (big or small), schedule a recurring team meeting.
And, do it as soon as possible!
Lock in the time on your team’s calendars before they’re completely booked.
The longer you wait, the harder it will be to find time for your project team to work together.
2. A Recurring Meeting Series – Provides Accountability
Here’s one of my favorite phrases:
“Nothing stimulates action like a deadline.”
And an upcoming meeting is a deadline.
This is what I mean.
Productive, effective meetings have recorded action items.
And those action items have owners and deadlines.
I don’t know about you.
But, when I plan my week, I pay attention to the meetings on my calendar.
Especially when I’m going to be held accountable to complete my action items.
So, when I see a recurring meeting like that on my calendar, I get busy.
I take action.
And, in my experience, I’m not the only one.
You can help the people in your meetings hold themselves accountable to complete their action items.
Schedule a recurring meeting series and help them keep their commitments.
3. A Recurring Meeting Series – Defines an End Point for Work
A story from my senior year of high school illustrates this benefit.
I was putting on my pads for another grueling football practice.
And, asking myself this question:
“When will this ever end?”
Then it hit me.
I only had 12 full-contact football practices left.
IN MY LIFE!
I wasn’t going to play in college.
And, intramurals at Kansas State were flag. Not tackle.
When I realized the end was near, my attitude completely changed.
The exhausting practices seemed like a duty before.
But now I viewed them as a privilege.
From that moment on, I busted my butt to get on the practice field every day.
Instead of barely jogging and dreading every slow step.
So how does this apply to meetings?
Maybe the people in your meetings only go because they HAVE to.
To them attending is never-ending drudgery – like football practices were to me.
But, what if they could see the end like I did?
What if they knew the last date of the meeting series to complete the work.
Maybe. Just maybe. Their attitude might change like mine did.
If they knew they only had a handful of times to be together as a team, they might have new perspective.
Try scheduling a recurring meeting series.
And, set a clear end date for the series.
You might see that person who now shows up late bust their butt to be early.
It worked for me on the football field.
And, if might work for your coworkers in the meeting room.
4. A Recurring Meeting Series – Introduces Structure to Overwhelming Initiatives
Have you ever heard your coworkers say things like this?
- “There’s no way we can do this!”
- “I don’t have any idea where to start!”
- “How are we going to get all this done?”
These are common expressions of overwhelm and frustration.
Here’s how a recurring meeting series can help.
Most important endeavors seem overwhelming at first.
The key to getting started is to break the work down into manageable chunks.
You can’t bring a team together and do ALL the work in one long meeting.
That never works.
But, you can create a structure to support short, defined work sessions.
Which is also known as a recurring meeting series.
When you’re faced with an initiative that seems overwhelming to you and the team, do this:
Schedule a set of short meetings on a reasonable cadence.
Set a vision for the team.
Show them they will be successful.
By working together one session at a time.
As a team.
Soon they (and you) will be experiencing the confidence that comes from successfully completing an overwhelming project.
One meeting at a time.
5. A Recurring Meeting Series – Removes the Pressure to Fit Everything into One Meeting
The pressure to get everything done in one meeting can be massive.
So much to cover. So little time.
Schedule a recurring meeting series to reduce the stress.
Because we’ve all been in this situation.
You’re working your way through the meeting agenda.
And, it hits you.
There’s no way you can cover everything you had on the agenda.
If you haven’t established a series of meetings for the work you’re doing, panic hits.
And, panic is a feeling I try to avoid.
But, if you planned ahead and know you have another team meeting on the calendar, you can RELAX.
You can skip some less urgent topics and cover them next time.
Because you know you and your team will be back together soon.
The next meeting in the series is already on your calendars.
Recurring Meeting Series Are a Valuable Tool
A recurring meeting series is a tool you can use to lead your teams well and deliver the results your business needs.
They provide these 5 benefits and many more.
A recurring meeting series:
- Secures Calendar Space
- Provides Accountability
- Defines an End Point for Work
- Introduces Structure to Overwhelming Initiatives
- Removes the Pressure to Fit Everything into One Meeting
More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business
✅ Learn how to use structure to design and execute your meeting series in this blog post, “How To Use Structure To Effectively Lead Meetings“.
✅ Listen to this episode of the Connect Mobilize Deliver podcast to make every meeting of your series productive and effective: How To Create An Exceptional Meeting With 7 Steps (Click here to listen.)
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That’s All for this Issue
As you fill your career toolbox with techniques, tips, and strategies for leading productive, effective meetings, remember the recurring meeting series.
You can use them to keep the teams you lead engaged and successful.
The positive impact goes far beyond these 5 benefits of recurring meeting series.
I’d love to hear from you about other benefits you’ve experienced when using recurring meeting series.
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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