How We Run More Productive Meetings | Ep. 83 | Business Podcast
Summary
Meetings, meetings, meetings. Sometimes we hate them, but…
Meetings are a necessary element for any team running and growing a business.
I lay out a framework we use that makes meetings more productive and reduces everyone’s anxiety and frustration when they get that calendar invite.
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Hello, friends. Welcome to the show. Today. We’re talking about how to run more productive and efficient meetings. I’m going to share some lessons that we’ve learned in our company that you can apply to yours to make your meetings better. Welcome to build the business success secrets. The only podcast that provides straight talk for entrepreneurs.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, starting with an idea or growing your business, this show is for you. We’ll teach you how to build a strong mindset, powerful body and profitable business so you can achieve success. And here’s your host, Brandon. See White. I wanted to share some tips and tricks and lessons learned that we’ve learned in our business over the years and that we’ve implemented that has really increased the productivity of our meetings. It’s made people feel less anxiety, less stressed.
We all, I believe, have experienced the I hate all these meetings. Why are we meeting all the time and that can be eliminated? Believe it or not, and meetings aren’t all bad. Meetings are good. It’s when we talk to one another. It’s when we think it’s when we share ideas, we get ideas and we let other people know what we’re doing so that they can incorporate that into their plan as they build the business. Or we can incorporate what they’re doing or we can learn a lesson or they can learn a lesson.
So meetings aren’t all bad, however, Sometimes they don’t have structure, and there’s all different ways. If you’re an aficionado or a follower of how to be more productive, then you know about the Amazon meeting culture where they write a, I think three or four page paper before the meeting, the 1st 20 minutes of the meeting, everybody reads it there right there and then they talk about it and what this does.
And the philosophy is it makes people articulate and think about what they are trying to accomplish in the meeting, and it gives everyone else to read ahead ahead in the first part of the meeting, an idea of what’s being discussed, the facts, figures and what the end result should be. Now not everybody can do that. I thought about it for us, but I don’t think it fits our culture right now and the speed of which were going. But there are three things that you can ask in the beginning of the meeting, and I ask everybody in our meetings to identify this.
Is it a question? Is it a concern or is it a problem? So let me touch on each one of these. And in the beginning of the meeting, it’s identified what we’re doing. And just this one thing identifying just one of these three things sets the tone for the meeting. Also part some burden on the person who called the meeting to structure the meeting in a way that gets us to whatever we need out of one of those three things. So number one Is it a question? Meaning, Is there a question that needs to be answered with a decision that needs to be made?
So we just say that up front, We’ve got a question. I need a decision from you. Okay, walk me through what we’re doing. What would be your recommendation? Walk me how that works. Walk me through how that works and I’ll make that decision or it could be for somebody else. So that’s the question into a decision. Needs to be made. Number two. You may just be expressing a concern. You’re bringing something to the attention of whoever you called to the meeting. So the only outcome from it is I’m gonna bring this to your attention, get feedback, and then we’re gonna break. And this gives that structure sometimes bringing something to the attention of everybody.
Hey, we have a problem with our supplier. I just want to outline what’s going on for you. I want you to think about it. We’ll have a meeting in two days and let’s get some action items and make some decisions. Now there’s a plan to get to a decision that will lead to a plan being built and then us executing against that plan. And then number three. Do we have a problem? And if we do have a problem, what’s the problem? What’s the recommendation from the person who called the meeting? And does a decision need to be made today? Or do we need to study the problem and come back in X amount of time that needs to be defined and make a decision or address the problem?
Now, notice the one thing that I always want in our meetings, regardless of who calls them, whether I’m there or not is. I want the person who calls the meeting or is in charge of the meeting to make a recommendation, because that person who is calling the meeting probably knows more about what we are about to discuss than the other people and the other people can weigh in with all of their equities. All of the things that they represent, the people, the divisions, the responsibility, the P and l, whatever that is, and then contribute to that. But and it also makes the person who is going to call the meeting do their homework because they’ve got to make a recommendation.
I offer you this. Put this structure in its a start. Going to the Amazon extreme so to speak, is awesome. And if your culture can handle that, that’s great. If your speed or your company can handle it, that’s great. It seems to be work better in the bigger companies, as opposed, in my opinion, than the small to medium sized businesses. Just because in the SMB businesses we are more constrained for manpower and time, and it can be tough to do that. But it doesn’t mean it’s not important, and this structure of Is it a question? Is it a concern or a problem still puts that structure in place that a person has to think about that meeting, how it should be structured and what the outcome is. And here’s the thing.
There’s a lot less anxiety, because in the first five minutes we know what we’re doing. We know at the end of 50 minutes we either have identified something. We need to make a decision or we got to come up with a plan, and now we know what we’re going towards. If you don’t know where you’re going, you will not get there. That’s not just in a business plan. That’s not just in your financials. That goes all the way down to a meeting. You got to start where the things are happening and where the construction, so to speak, is happening where you’re building your business, it’s happening in the meetings.
A meeting needs to have a target, and then everybody gets in this habit like here’s what I gotta do. Here’s where we’re headed. Here’s what we need, and if afterwards, everybody still wants to shoot the stuff and talk, that’s okay, too. But at least Everyone knows what we’re working towards from the very first few minutes of that meeting. So give that a try, see what you think and improve the productivity of your meetings today. Thanks for being generous with your time and joining us for this episode of Build a Business success secrets.
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