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Transcript
Sometimes meetings can be seen as a bane of our existence at work. We want to be productive, but then we have to go to these meetings. They’re seen as a drudgery.
But really they shouldn’t be because if they are run well, that’s where decisions are made. That’s where people come together and share ideas. That’s where problems are solved and so on. The problem is, again, they’re not run well or there are too many of them.
How do you know if your meetings are good? Well, here are 15 signs that you have bad meetings.
1. You meetings are seen as a drudgery
Number one: your meetings are seen as a drudgery. And this applies to you as the one leading the meetings or for your employees or team that’s there.
If you see it as a drudgery, that’s a big sign it’s not good. But if your employees do, that’s also not a good sign. It means your meetings aren’t being effective.
2. Your team is disengaged
Second: your team is disengaged or checked out.
If whenever you have meetings, a lot of people just kind of disconnect from the meeting, they’re on their phones, they never say anything, they’re not really part of there, they’re just there, that’s a good sign that your meetings aren’t effective, because in good meetings everyone’s engaged and is involved in what’s going on.
3. You have too many people in your meeting
Number three: you have too many people in your meeting.
Sometimes we invite people or people want to come just because people want to feel important. They feel like if I’m at the meeting, then I’m important because I’m at the meeting.
But the problem is, the more people you have in the meeting, the less effective it can become. And you’re also wasting a lot of people’s times who don’t need to be there when they could be doing something more productive.
You want to make sure the people at the meeting are the people who need to be at the meeting. Otherwise, it makes it hard for collaboration to happen because there are so many people, and the trust and those other aspects that can be important for meetings will be harder to maintain because of the amount of people.
4. You are constantly off task
Number four: you are constantly chasing rabbits, or you’re off task during your meetings.
You’ve probably been there where you’re talking about something like a report, or you’re talking about a new project that’s in another country. Before you know it, someone’s talking about the bad oysters they had at their last vacation in the Bahamas.
Or maybe it’s off topic related to the business somehow, but it has nothing to do with the topic you’re trying to talk about.
It’s normal that people sometimes try to take it off topic, but it’s not healthy if you’re staying off topic and never bring it back to the topic that it needs to be on.
5. You do most of the talking
Number five: you do most of the talking.
As a leader, you really should be doing more listening than talking. You want the input of those people around you. You want them to be involved and hear their ideas because as a leader, you don’t know everything.
Too often, the leader speaks most of the meeting and the rest of the people are disengaged and there’s not really much ownership in it. As a leader, you want to speak less and listen more.
Be the last to speak, not the first.
6. A lot of lateness happens
Number six: people are frequently late, and you start late.
Here’s the thing about people being late. As long as you wait for them, they’re always going to be late. And when you wait for those people who are late, you’re being disrespectful to those people who are on time.
And sometimes they can get kind of upset because they’re wasting their time sitting there waiting for people who aren’t, and that can make your meeting start poorly.
Don’t wait for people. You start on time if you say it’s that time. If people are late, then they see they are late and more than likely they’ll make sure they’re on time the next time. If not, that’s a conversation you need to have with them. But you don’t wait for people who are late because that just affects everything poorly.
7. Only a few people talk
Number seven: only a few people talk.
Just like if you do all the talking, that’s an issue. If only a few people who are the most verbose are the ones who talk, that’s also an issue. You want to get input from everyone, not just a few people who like to talk.
8. There’s a me vs. you mentality
Number eight: there’s a me versus you mentality.
The thing is, this mentality is incredibly dangerous for teams, because as a team, you’re supposed to be coming together, working together for a solution. You’re united together toward a purpose, toward a mission.
When it’s you versus me, you’re destroying all of that, and that’s incredibly unhealthy. If you have that mentality with your team where people are against each other, competing against each other, whatever it may be, you want to get that fixed and fixed fast.
9. People aren’t about the best idea, but their idea
Number 9: everyone’s focused on defending their ideas versus finding the best idea.
Now, this is dangerous for anybody, but it’s especially dangerous for the leader when they have that mentality. Sometimes people have an idea, and they attach themselves to the idea. And then when someone attacks the idea or gives a reason why it might not work, they feel that’s an attack on them.
That’s not healthy. That’s not the way you want to be. Ideas are ideas. Your goal should never be for you as the leader or your team for it to be about your idea. It’s about the best idea.
You’re throwing out ideas. Other people are throwing out ideas. And the goal is to find which is the best one, not to defend and push your idea forward. If you or others are like that or push that, that’s a dangerous sign.
10. There’s unhealthy conflict and behaviors
Number 10: there’s unhealthy conflict and behaviors.
Now, conflict in itself isn’t bad. In fact, it’s normal. And conflict can be good because it’s how ideas are vetted and how you see if something could be working or not working and how you find different ideas, because of conflict, disagreement. That can be good if handled well.
The right kind of conflict is when you’re debating ideas. The wrong kind of conflict is when you’re attacking people. When people are more about attacking each other versus discussing and debating ideas, that’s not a good sign.
But there can also be unhealthy behaviors related to that. Again, attacking other people, name calling, shaming, judging, whatever it may be, if you have those behaviors, that’s unhealthy and you want to deal with those pronto. Those should never be a norm or allowed.
11. Meetings last longer than they should
Number 11: meetings take a lot longer than they should.
Now, sometimes when you’re discussing idea, a lot of time can be taken because you really want to deal with whatever the issue may be. However, sometimes it’s because, like we’ve talked about, you get off topic or you start focusing on issues or topics that aren’t really important.
If you find that you keep going over what you expect to go but you’re really not accomplishing much, that’s a good sign the meeting’s not running well.
12. You never get to all the topics you set to discuss
Similarly, number 12: you never get to some of the topics that you want to discuss.
Now this can happen sometimes because you have certain things you need to discuss, and they take longer because they’re that important. But if you’re constantly not getting to things because you’re spending so much time on the first items. that could be a sign that you need to make some changes.
It’s important first that you prioritize what’s important and talk about that first, but also to make sure that you’re on topic. and that if something’s going to take longer. that you set aside the time you need for each of the issues that need to be discussed.
13. Nobody disagrees
Number 13: nobody disagrees with you or each other.
Sometimes people want to think that when people are all agreeing, that’s a good sign, but generally it’s not. When nobody’s disagreeing, that really shows that people don’t feel safe speaking up and disagreeing.
When they’re not willing to tell you that your idea is bad or to offer other viewpoints or disagree with someone, they fear speaking up because they fear being judged, or they fear your reaction or other people’s reactions, or they fear it may hurt their career if they do speak up.
You don’t want that kind of mentality. You want a safe culture where people feel psychologically safe to speak up.
If people aren’t willing to, that’s a bad sign, not a good one.
14. Consensus is your goal
Number 14: consensus is your goal.
Sometimes people think, as mentioned before, consensus is the ideal way to have it. That everyone disagrees, nobody argues against one another, and everything just moves comfortably forward.
Again, that’s not healthy. You don’t want that. You want people to disagree. Disagreement about ideas is healthy.
You also want to be careful about consensus where decisions are made by consensus all the time. It’s not that you can never make decisions by consensus, but you want to be very careful about that. Because here’s the thing, sometimes people think you need consensus, because if people don’t agree, then they’re not going to act on it. But the thing is, you don’t need agreement of mind, you need agreement of action. That’s why being able to discuss and debate is important.
You want people to feel free to share their ideas and disagreement and everyone to discuss. And then when the decision is made, everybody’s given their input, but then they agree by action. They agree to follow along with the decision, even if it wasn’t their first choice.
When you always try to get consensus, you end up taking a lot of time, first of all, but also you often end up watering it down so that it fits everyone’s criteria, so that they will agree.
But what you end up with is something that no one really likes or really isn’t that effective. Also, when you hold out for people who disagree, you give them more power than they should have in that decision.
15. People return to the meeting with nothing done
Number 15: Your people come to the next meeting without anything done.
If you talk about something in the meeting and everyone comes to the next meeting and nothing is really done, that’s definitely a sign your meeting is being ineffective.
Because you want to end every meeting very clearly of who’s in charge of what and who’s doing what and by when. And if nobody’s doing anything, that’s a good sign you’re not doing that well.
Now, those are signs that your meetings may not be effective.
