Navigating the Quagmire of Unproductive Meetings

Ugh, another meeting! Do you know the feeling? We sure do. We’ve sat through our share of bad meetings. But would you believe we actually love meetings now?

It’s true. We got so sick of lousy meetings that we decided to do something about it.

When we founded this company, we determined that meetings were going to be something more than a necessary evil. We wanted to make meetings productive and engaging, like they were meant to be.

So we created a meeting rhythm and cadence that ensures we have just the right number of meetings, that they all have a clear purpose, and that they don’t get bogged down or pulled off track.

And it works! Our meetings are enjoyable because we all know why we’re there, that the outcome is important, and it’ll be worth our time. We love meetings—and you can too!

In this episode, we show you how to structure your meetings for maximum engagement and results. We’ve also got two free tools that will make it much easier to structure your meetings. (See the links below.)

This episode of Lead to Win is brought to you by The Focused Leader 1-Day Intensive. To focus your leadership, claim your ticket to our September 5 intensive before June 15, when our earlybird pricing expires. Find out more at leadto.win/intensive.

Here’s a Peek Inside This Episode

• Learn what we consider the worst of all possible meetings. [2:22]
• How to structure one-on-one’s with your direct reports. [3:58]
• Why it’s not okay to cancel one-on-one meeting. [5:36]
• How to structure a one-on-one so it doesn’t ramble. [6:40]
• How to get direct reports to provide information you need in advance of meeting. [7:32]
• Why it’s important to ask for the “bottom line” up front in a meeting briefing [10:00]
• How to structure workgroup meetings and why they are essential. [11:51]
• Examples of workgroup meetings we hold at Michael Hyatt & Co. [12:50]
• Who drives agenda for workgroup meetings, and what’s the guiding principle? [15:28]
• The biggest mistakes you can make in a work group meeting. [16:45]
• Learn the 3 reasons to have all-hands meetings [19:36]
• See why all-team meetings are vital for maintaining engagement. [18:39]
• The kinds of training Michael Hyatt & Co. offers to team members. [19:35]
• How quarterly meetings drive goal achievement. [20:43]
• Which company meetings should include spouses, and why. [23:07]
• How to structure annual celebrations for celebration and morale building. [23:50]
• Why we particularly loves the annual team gathering. [24:41]
• Best practices for all-team meetings. [26:32]

We hope this episode will be a game-changer for the meeting culture of your company. We’re totally serious. Make the changes we suggest here, and you’ll start to look forward to meetings because they produce the outcomes that drive your business forward.

How About a Shout Out!

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Resources from This Episode

• No Fail Meetings by Michael Hyatt
• “5 Ways to Hold Shorter Meetings” by Michael Hyatt
• “How to Ensure You Never Have a Terrible Meeting” by Michael Hyatt
• Recommendation Briefing Form
• Effective Meeting Blueprint Free Resource!
• The Focused Leader One-Day Intensive

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