You’ve tried it all — standing, walking, roundtable discussions, brainstorming marathons, even meetings with snacks (because snacks fix everything, right?). And yet, most of your meetings are still just a chaos of unproductive, time-sucking gatherings. What’s going on?
Let me save you some time and disappoint you: There’s no magic meeting format that’s going to swoop in and save the day. You’re not going to stumble upon some top-secret structure that transforms your meetings and, by extension, your life. If you think you just haven’t found the right format, you’re missing the point entirely.
The hard truth is, if you’ve tried five, six, or even ten different meeting formats and nothing works, it’s not the format that’s the problem — it’s your leadership. Meetings don’t fail because you’re not sitting on yoga mats in a circle with scented candles (although if that’s your thing, more power to you). Meetings fail because there’s a fundamental lack of clarity, purpose, and preparation.
Most meetings are a mess because there’s no real thought given to why the meeting is happening, who needs to be there, and what you’re trying to achieve. If you’re just throwing people in a room (or a Zoom) to “talk things out,” you’re setting yourself up for failure.
So, to fix the energy-draining, morale-decreasing bad meeting problem, you have to inject it with structure. Every meeting should have a clear purpose. Is it to brainstorm ideas? Make decisions? Share updates? If you don’t know the answer, cancel the meeting immediately. There’s no point in gathering people just for the sake of it. Meetings should move things forward. If they’re not, you’re wasting everyone’s time — and that time is expensive.
“Oh, how expensive could it possibly be?” you ask. There are actually several apps — and a Chrome extension — designed to calculate the cost of your meetings. They let you plug in everyone’s salaries, the number of attendees, and the length of the meeting, and spit out the dollar amount you’re burning. Spoiler: It’s probably a lot. Is having a room full of six-figure earners sitting around without a clear purpose an efficient use of your finances?
Not everyone needs to be in every meeting. In fact, most people shouldn’t be in most meetings. If someone isn’t directly contributing to the discussion or decision-making process, they don’t need to be there. Inviting people “just to keep them in the loop” is a terrible, inefficient idea. Meetings should involve only the people needed to achieve the meeting’s objective — nothing more, nothing less. Everyone else can read the takeaways in their email inbox.
Lastly, stop figuring out the agenda during the meeting. The agenda should always be clear and shared in advance. Why? Because people need time to prepare. There’s nothing worse than showing up to a meeting and hearing, “Oh, I didn’t know I needed to do that.” That’s not just unproductive; it’s disrespectful to everyone’s time.
Back in the day, I made it a rule: no agenda, no meeting. If we were discussing metrics, those metrics had to be provided at least 24 hours in advance. If we were making decisions, the necessary context had to be sent beforehand. If someone failed to provide the required prep materials, the meeting didn’t happen. Harsh? Maybe. But you know what’s harsher? Wasting hours of your team’s time because nobody was ready.
Adding all these points up, and there’s your recipe for an efficient and useful meeting. You already have the necessary ingredients: discipline, clarity, and respect for everyone’s time. Before you schedule and go through with a meeting make sure you:
- Define the purpose. If you don’t know why you’re meeting, don’t meet.
- Invite the right people. Only those who are directly involved.
- Set a clear agenda. Share it at least 24 hours in advance.
- Hold people accountable. Everyone shows up prepared, or the meeting doesn’t happen.
Every meeting is as good as the leadership overseeing it. Fix that, and you’ll find that your meetings suddenly become a lot more productive and a lot less painful.
