The importance of highly disciplined meetings

The importance of highly disciplined meetings 

A study referenced in Strategy+Business looked at mid-size companies and recorded the types of meetings they held, and the impact these meetings had on company performance over a period of two and a half years.

The researchers found that companies that ran well-structured, highly disciplined meetings every week achieved superior results, and this had a positive, flow-on effect years later.

Conversely, the companies which ran poorly disciplined, unstructured team meetings experienced more employee dissatisfaction, lower staff productivity, and lower overall performance.

Companies that run good meetings share these characteristics:

  • The manager or meeting facilitator has a strong personality; they stick to an agenda and keep people focused on what’s important.
  • They use their meetings to focus on performance e.g: Metric (KPI) performance standards being achieved. Projects and Tasks getting completed on time.
  • Team members are expected to be proactive and update their progress in advance of the meeting
  • Team members take accountability for results.

Companies that run poor meetings share these characteristics:

  • The manager or meeting facilitator does NOT hold people accountable to achieve Metric (KPI) standards, nor get Projects and Tasks completed on time.
  • The meetings are unstructured and waste a lot of time.
  • Complaining and criticizing behaviors are common.
  • Failing to take personal accountability for results is common.

Unfortunately, in my experience, many managers don’t know how to run effective meetings.

How effective are your weekly meetings?

Be honest.

  • Do your meetings inspire and motivate your team members?
  • Does the manager or meeting facilitator hold people accountable for getting Projects and Tasks done on time?
  • Does the manager or meeting facilitator hold people accountable for achieving the “green” level of performance on their Metrics (KPIs)?
  • Do people get praised and acknowledged for making progress and achieving the agreed standards?
  • Does everyone leave the meeting with clarity about what needs to happen next (“the one thing“)?

Here are some guidelines I have put together that clients have found useful:

How to run a daily huddle

How to run a 1 on 1 meeting

How to run an effective team meeting

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Until next time…
Stephen