The 45 Minute Meeting

Great idea

Hi Mike and Mark I loved this cast. Such a simple idea to move meetings one step closer to being more effective (or perhaps more accurately - at least minimizing the damage). I only discovered MT 2 months ago when I was applying for a new role at a more senior level. Your First Time Manager advice even helped me before I got the job in the interview when asked what I would do in the first 60 days. I've since become an MT podcast junky and listen to 1 or 2 a day on my morning walk with the dog (he prefers your longer casts) and on my commute. I have one question (or perhaps suggestion for a cast topic) - do you have a suggested way for rationalizing standing meetings that exist when moving into a new role. I've managed to get rid of a few (of which I had become the new owner) just by asking my directs how useful they found them and stopping them if the answer was clear. I've replaced 3 separate ones with the weekly staff. But there are a number of other meetings I do not own that seem to overlap in terms of attendees and purpose (but not 100%). Most are owned by my boss or one of her peers. It does seem there is lack of clarity around decision making authority so there are excessive meetings to make sure anyone who might stake a claim in a decision is consulted. Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks again for your great work. Your helpful advice has given me an incredible jump start in how to be an effective manager. I would be struggling a lot more without you guys. Best wishes Stephanie

Great cast, one question and response to Stephanie

Another solid set of recommendations all built around making meetings more effective and becoming more conscious about the assumptions that we come into organizations believing but never really take the time to question (the one-hour meeting default).  I also really appreciated the discussion about the rise of knowledge workers as a primary reason for the increase in meeting frequency. 

One Question: I did have a question for anyone who'd like to chime in:  If I understood the recommendation correctly, the meeting facilitator should cut off discussion when time is up on an earlier agenda item (let's call it Item A), so as not to limit the time allotted for remaining items (B & C).   What if item A and its resolution has greater significance than Items B or C and the facilitator is confident that by spending a few more minutes beyond the time designated on the agenda, he will be able to get the necessary decision, and can shave off some time on B & C so as to still end the meeting on time.  Can anyone offer any thoughts or reactions to this approach?  

Response to Stephanie:  First of all, great to hear that you've recently discovered Manager Tools and are putting some of the recommendations in place to make more efficient and effective use of your time, as well as your teams.  Regarding the meetings that your boss owns that could be managed more effectively, there is reason to be careful here.  As Mark and Mike often say, never give feedback to your boss, and trying to approach her with this concern sounds like a form of feedback.  If you're not currently having one-on-ones with your boss, you could certainly propose weekly professional updates as a first step (there's a cast for that) and use those meetings to brief your boss on the steps you've taken to make your organization more efficient, expedite decision making and improve results.   All the while, you'll be improving the relationship and making your boss look better, putting you in a much stronger position to positively affect the situation when the time is right. I've had great success persuading my boss of the value of MT recommendations just by sharing with him what I've chosen to implement and how successful the results are.  As a result, he's adopted several himself.  Good luck.  

Thanks!

Thanks for the comments. I do have weekly o3s with my boss. All managers or supervisor do this in our organization (not sure how it started but has always been that way). The problem is almost too much of a good thing. There are individual o3s plus various other "catch up" meetings involving different combinations of roles/functions. There often isn't a clear purpose, never an agenda and the meetings usually last an hour - 70% of which is general discussion with no tangible action points or decisions.

It's a frustrating waste of time but, as you said, I don't want to give my boss feedback her meetings. Ideas for any other less direct ways to tackle this appreciated.

I have had one small success though. I suggested one meeting be moved to follow on directly from a short 15 minute meeting (run by someone else but at which a number of the same people attend). My boss liked the idea and now one of our usual hour long meetings just carries on from this one until the top of the hour making it ... 45 minutes! How about that Mike and Mark?! :)

A few more thoughts

Stephanie,

Given what you describe, I think there are a number of options you could pursue to affect the situation positively and cut down on unnecessary and ineffective meetings.  

1. It sounds like there is an opportunity to introduce the MT guidance around effective meetings, which call for agendas in advance and fixed responsibilities, among other things.   This is how I run my meetings and my boss does as well.   It can have the effect of reducing any wasteful time during the meeting or make it clear when a meeting just is not necessary in the first place.  

2. In our weekly staff meeting (which is technically owned by my boss), I serve as the facilitator (which means sending out the agenda, calling the meeting to order, making sure we stay on track, finishing on time, etc.), which allows him to spend more time and effort on how he can contribute most effectively during the meeting.   This works extremely well for us. 

3. The podcasts on Horstman's Law of Project Management might be worth listening to and considering the recommendations.   The basic idea (who does what by when) is pretty simple, and we've found this to be a tremendously effective way of making sure its clear for people leaving a meeting what the responsibilities, deliverables and deadlines are.

Thanks for the response and hope this is useful to you.