Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and goalagiving. This
Speaker 1: is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellavledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode four sixty six. Today we're going to talk
Speaker 2: about one of the most dreaded, time consuming, and often
Speaker 2: mismanaged parts of leadership meetings. I'm basing this episode on
Speaker 2: Steven Rogelberg's book, The Surprising Science of Meetings. It's an
Speaker 2: eye opening look at what really makes meetings work and
Speaker 2: more importantly, what makes them a complete waste of time.
Speaker 2: If you're a leader, you already know the truth. Meetings
Speaker 2: are the single most visible expression of your leadership. People
Speaker 2: may forget the details of your last email, but they
Speaker 2: will absolutely remember whether your meetings are productive, respectful, and
Speaker 2: worth their time, or whether they drain the life out
Speaker 2: of everyone in the room. So Rogelberg's research revealed some
Speaker 2: staggering statistics. For example, employees believe that around fifty percent
Speaker 2: of the time they spend in meetings is wasted. That means,
Speaker 2: if you're running meetings badly, you're not just wasting minutes
Speaker 2: you're wasting morale, energy, and productivity. So what's the fix.
Speaker 2: The book lays out several strategies that I think every
Speaker 2: leader should know and apply. So let's break down some
Speaker 2: of the most powerful ones. First, not every meeting needs
Speaker 2: to happen. One of the biggest takeaways from this book
Speaker 2: is that leaders often use meetings as a default solution.
Speaker 2: Something comes up and the instinct is to call a
Speaker 2: meeting instead. Leaders should ask is this issue better solved
Speaker 2: with a quick phone call, in email or a one
Speaker 2: on one conversation. Canceling unnecessary meetings is not a sign
Speaker 2: of week leadership, it's a sign of respect for your
Speaker 2: team's time. Second, if you do need a meeting, shorten it.
Speaker 2: The science shows that the length of the meeting often
Speaker 2: has little to do with its effectiveness. In fact, shorter
Speaker 2: meetings often produce better engagement. A fifteen minute stand up
Speaker 2: meeting can sometimes accomplish more than a one hour roundtable,
Speaker 2: and Parkinson's law tells us that work expands to fill
Speaker 2: the time available. So if you give yourself sixty minutes,
Speaker 2: the discussion will stretch. If you give yourself twenty, you'll
Speaker 2: get right to the point. Third clarity beats complexity. Rogelberg
Speaker 2: emphasizes the importance of a clear agenda, but not the
Speaker 2: old school agenda where you list topics. Instead, create an
Speaker 2: agenda that focuses on questions to be answered or decisions
Speaker 2: to be made. For example, instead of writing budget discussion, right,
Speaker 2: what decision do we need to make today about next
Speaker 2: quarter's budget allocations? That little shift in wording creates energy
Speaker 2: and urgency. Fourth, invite Wisely, one of the reasons meeting
Speaker 2: spiral is because too many people are invited. Leaders sometimes
Speaker 2: think inclusivity means putting everyone in the room, but what
Speaker 2: ends up happening is you've got people sitting there who
Speaker 2: don't need to be there, and they know it. Rogelberg
Speaker 2: argues that fewer people equals better discussion. If you're not
Speaker 2: essential to the decision, you don't need to be in
Speaker 2: the room. Fifth, engagement is a leader's responsibility. If you're
Speaker 2: running a meeting, you own the energy. Rogelberg points out
Speaker 2: that many people check out because they don't feel included.
Speaker 2: Leaders can fix this by intention only drawing in quiet voices,
Speaker 2: rotating who speaks first, or even switching up formats. Remember
Speaker 2: the loudest voice in the room doesn't always have the
Speaker 2: best idea. In sixth, don't let meetings drift. Every meeting
Speaker 2: needs a clear ending, summarize the decisions made, sign responsibilities,
Speaker 2: and outline next steps. One of the most damaging ship
Speaker 2: mistakes is letting meetings end in a fog. People walk
Speaker 2: out thinking different things, which creates confusion, frustration, and rework.
Speaker 2: Your job is the leader is to make sure there's
Speaker 2: alignment before anyone leaves. Now here's the big leadership takeaway.
Speaker 2: The way you run meetings is the way your people
Speaker 2: will interpret your leadership. If your meetings are long, disorganized,
Speaker 2: and pointless, your leadership looks the same. But if your
Speaker 2: meetings are sharp, purposeful, and respectful of time, your leadership
Speaker 2: looks disciplined, for paired, and decisive. So Steve Rogelberg's book
Speaker 2: doesn't just point out the flaws, it gives you a playbook.
Speaker 2: Here's three practical steps you can take right now. Number one,
Speaker 2: audit your meetings for the next month. Ask yourself which
Speaker 2: of these could be cut in half or cut altogether.
Speaker 2: Number two, rewrite your next agenda into questions instead of topics.
Speaker 2: And number three, at the end of each meeting, clearly
Speaker 2: state here's what we decided, here's who owns it, and
Speaker 2: here's what's next. So this is a fantastic book and
Speaker 2: I encourage you to consider reading it. Meetings are necessary,
Speaker 2: but not all meetings need to look the same and
Speaker 2: run the same. This is the surprising science of meetings.
Speaker 2: Meetings don't have to be hated. They can be powerful,
Speaker 2: inspiring and efficient, but it requires you to read, think
Speaker 2: how you run them, and remember your team will never
Speaker 2: complain that you respected their time too much. This has
Speaker 2: been the seven Minute Leadership podcast and I thank you
Speaker 2: for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.