Bad meetings are easy to recognize. They are unproductive, unfocused, and a waste of time, and leaders can spot them a mile away. Unless, of course, they are the ones who set the meeting.
When leaders refuse to see the problems with their own meetings, they perpetuate a cycle of frustration for everyone involved. Ultimately, they suffer a financial hit from the time and resources wasted on bad meetings.
It’s time to wake up, argues Steven Rogelberg, author of “The Surprising Science of Meetings: How You Can Lead Your Team to Peak Performance.” In a recent Harvard Business Review article, Rogelberg advises leaders to take a hard, objective look at their meeting strategy and seek external feedback on their strengths and weaknesses in this area. From there, he offers guidance on two critically important meeting factors: preparation and facilitation.
“Leading meetings might seem like a small part of a manager’s job. But positive change in this one arena can lead to real gains for companies and their employees,” he writes.
Read this article to better understand how to continually assess and evolve your meeting strategy, and see our related article, 4 contrarian tips to run better meetings, for more tips from Rogelberg.
