The topic for today's episode is how to run a great meeting.
If you've been with me over the past couple of months, you know that I'm going through a series each Monday on the Fundamentals of Management, and one of the core skills that every manager needs to develop is the ability to run a great meeting.
So, in preparation for this show, like I do every week, I spent some time researching and reviewing some of the advice that is out there on the topic of running a meeting.
What's funny is that almost every single article, video, blog post, and book, on this subject starts off the same way.
Like, exactly the same way.
Show Notes: http://yourbestmanager.com/67-how-to-run-a-great-meeting-reverse-engineered
It goes something like this, [clear throat]
We've all been there. Sitting around that boardroom table, wishing we were anywhere but in this unnecessary meeting, listening to the boss or some other person drone on about stuff we already know or don't really need to know. It's that this point that I am supposed to cut away from whatever vivid depiction of a complete waste of time I've drawn out and transition into a word of warning.
You know, you should probably listen to what I'm about to teach you, otherwise, the meetings you run could be just like this. Boring, useless, unproductive, and demoralizing to your team. What's sad though is that 90% (actually, since I'm making this stat up, let's go with 99%), 99% of the advice that follows begins with this foundational point:
The first step to running a great meeting is to ensure the meeting is necessary. Define the purpose of the meeting and if you are an overachiever, write it down and meditate on it. Now, I'm obviously poking fun at this advice for a reason, and it's not because that's bad advice.
In fact, I agree, there are many meetings that appear to be run without a clear purpose and at best are simply unnecessary uses of time and resources.
The problem is, and you know this if you've ever run a meeting before, you ran the meeting because you thought there was a good reason for it!
I mean, let's be honest, who has ever decided to run a meeting without an objective in mind? Who sat in their office and thought, I'm going to gather my team together for an hour and a half to intentionally waste their time.
No one!
So if everyone who runs a meeting runs a meeting with a purpose or objective in mind… why is this always the first piece of advice given? Why does every meeting expert start off by telling people, telling managers and leaders, to define a purpose for the meeting?
I don't know, actually. Maybe the advice always starts off this way because most meetings aren't run well, and it's a really easy first step.
But instead of regurgitating the common top 10 tips on running a great meeting, I'm going to reverse engineer how to run a great meeting, and hopefully, provide you with some actionable advice you can walk away from this conversation with.
You ready? Let's go.
How To Run a Great Meeting, Reverse Engineered (CONTINUE SHOW NOTES)
