Better Meetings

I was volunteered to watch a client’s repeating meeting. Depressing. It was scheduled for an hour, people arrived late to protect themselves or
avoid discomfort, went for over 90 minutes.

What I learned:

Opinions don’t count. As satisfactory as airing an opinion is to the opinionator, it didn’t add value to the conversation. Higher status participants thinks
organizational status confers intellectual brilliance. What works is
relating an experience with a prospect or customer, something observed
outside the building.

I was once told, “Dick, you’re not creative. Your idea of creativity is to ask ten people what they think.” Now I see that when prospects and customers
tell you what they want, that is not your opinion, and it is the
information needed.

Stifle snap judgments. I saw three examples where the alphadog (manager, not worker) gave an explanation before understanding the situation. Needed a “do over” each time. Full stop, reboot, repeat previous conversation. There were a lot of people sitting around watching.

Set a consistent agenda. This meeting wandered wherever the leader wanted to go. At the end, I couldn’t tell if he was satisfied or tired. Everyone else was just
tired. You can either prototype the meeting format or get good
information. I can’t do both at the same time.

End on time. If you can’t get it done in 50 minutes, you probably can’t get it done. Over time people learn based on what happens to them.

My solution? What thank you for inquiring *grin*. Check out Sales Lab Status Meetings.