The Act of Leadership

Chapter 10STOP WASTING PEOPLE'S TIME Running meetings that matter

This chapter in a nutshell

• you'll learn to only have a meeting at the right time with the right people
• you'll see how to run effective meetings where time and money aren't wasted
• you'll see the importance of a well-crafted agenda and well-established meeting norms

To meet or not to meet? That is the question

‘Honestly? I don't know.’

Jamie looked defeated. Her shoulders were slumped forward, her eyes were looking down and you could feel the energy draining from her. It was 10.30 am on a Monday. Not a great start to the week.

‘What don't you know?’ I asked after a moment or two of silence.

‘I don't know if we achieved anything in that meeting,’ she said.

I did know. They hadn't.

Except — of course — to waste everyone's time.

In the previous chapter we discussed the importance of managing your time. As a leader, it's equally, and perhaps even more, important to ensure we don't waste our colleagues' and team members' time.

In the same way in which we think of our individual time, we need to be mindful of how we prioritise our team's time.

If you're in a typical workplace, I expect that you attend or facilitate a lot of meetings through the course of a week, month or year. Are they all a worthwhile use of your time?

Do the attendees of each and every meeting leave invigorated and more engaged in their work than when they entered?

Yes? All of them? All of the time?

Fantastic. I'll see you in the ...