Creating Commitment through Effective Meetings

There seems to be three primary culprits that get in the

way of good meetings, all of which can be rectified.
Culprit #1: Meetings are not engaging.
Patrick Lencioni, who wrote the book Death by Meeting,
explains that meetings are not engaging because they
lack drama or conflict. He uses the analogy of a good
movie to describe what is missing from most meetings.
We can all relate to great movies where we sit on the
edge of seats, fully engaged.
While it might be a stretch to make our meetings into
movie sets, we can make our meetings less boring, less
routine, less ramblingsimply by being provocative or
adding controversy to improve the !uality of problem solving and decision making " and
ultimately team performance.
Culprit #2: Meetings are notoriously too ambitious.
Whether the meeting is a staff meeting, a safety meeting or a pro#ect meeting, what
often happens is people gather together for $% minutes to & hours or more and have
moderately focused discussions on anything ranging from strategy to today's operating
priorities, to administration, to minutia, to information sharing, etc Lencioni fondly
refers to this as (eeting )tew.
We have a tendency to cram too much into our meetings without clarifying what the
ob#ective is of the meeting. *s a result, people don't come prepared with the right
information, important decisions don't get made, brainstorming discussions don't happen
etc. We also don't tend to finish our meetings in a way that confirms and clarifies
commitment and outcomes. *t your next meeting ask the !uestion+ ,*s a result of our
time together, what have we decided today-. /apture the data. 0ou will find that
people leave with a higher level of buy in and clarity of what to do next and why.
Culprit #3: Meetings dont leverage what people have to offer.
1n the absence of clear leadership and clear decision criteria, often the most vocal and
persuasive team members influence the ultimate outcome of the exercise. 2ailing to
surface all perspectives on the team can create resentment, waste time and erode trust
and engagement.
3ach person at the table should be clear on what value they add to the meeting " where
are the expected to contribute, and how- 4efine this in your agenda beforehand and
ensure you give each participant and opportunity to contribute.
3ffective (eetings $5$
6asic 7uidelines+
/reate controversy or provocation.
(ake the agenda compelling and
relevant to each person participating.
(ake the meeting interactive " two8
way, all the way through.
9eep the meeting focused " strategic
or operational