Leadership Tip of the Week: Purposeful Meetings

“Can you explain the purpose of this meeting?”

That is a simple question that should always be answered. If it can’t, you probably don’t need to have the meeting.

I recently had a great conversation about meetings. I like to ask successful leaders how they manage them, and two key things stuck out in this discussion..

First, as a leader, you better be able to clearly explain the purpose of the meeting. If you can’t, you will just waste everyone’s time —including your own. Communicating the purpose of the meeting allows everyone to come prepared, making the discussion more productive. It also allows leaders to gauge who should be there.

The second thing I took note of was being disciplined to adhere to the purpose of the meeting. Good ones usually identify other areas or items that require collaboration or further discussion. That is great, but those items should be held for another time. Keep your team focused on the topics that are directly related to the purpose of the meeting. That will help prevent long, drawn-out discussions that may distract your team from why the meeting was called.

Review your calendar; can you easily state the purpose of all of those meetings?

Now we want to hear from you. Share your favorite meeting horror story in the comments below.