I was reading Tomasz Tunguz's post from yesterday about how meetings shouldn't be boring.
Tomasz has some good ideas of where meetings go wrong:
- Meeting basics - The meeting isn’t run well. No one has prepared an agenda, set a goal, picked the right length of time or prepared for the meeting. These meetings wander and are boring because no one knows what to do.
- Meeting topics - the meeting has nothing controversial or novel. Typically, these are status update meetings, training meetings, etc.
- Staffing problem - the key people aren’t invited to the meeting, so the right conversation can’t be had.
- Style problems - the meeting isn’t run well. The style is doesn’t encourage conversation or the speaker isn’t effective.
- Cultural problems - the culture of the firm/team dissuades criticism, stifling conversation.
I agree with his point:
Ultimately, running an effective meeting boils down to respect for the time of others.
Blaming boring meetings on others is a cop-out. Rely on your own internal locus of control & focus as a whole.
This First Round Review article about how Facebook’s VP of Product, Fidji Simo, finds focus and creates conditions for intentional work is pretty packed with tips & quips. (pro tip: search for the word meeting ; ))
Prioritized focus is all about creating checkpoints for yourself — ideally weekly meetings with yourself, your org and with your manager, so you get some reinforcement and help doubling down on actions that will help you reach your intentions.
TL;DR?
- know what you're trying to achieve in any meeting; personally and for the group.
- literally make a checklist of what you want to walk out with
- use this clarity on your own personal priorities to help ensure that your team’s actions and priorities stay aligned as well
as always, thank you for reading,
Jon
p.s. our 3 year party is this Friday!
❤️ this? pls tweet, share on LinkedIn or share on FB. Thanks! 🙏
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- Photo story
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Who else is thinking about signing up?