Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of performance through strong human relations, team building, and goalagiving. This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host Paul Fellavledo.
Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast. It's episode four sixty six. Today we're going to talk about one of the most dreaded, time consuming, and often mismanaged parts of leadership meetings. I'm basing this episode on Steven Rogelberg's book, The Surprising Science of Meetings. It's an eye opening look at what really makes meetings work and more importantly, what makes them a complete waste of time. If you're a leader, you already know the truth. Meetings
are the single most visible expression of your leadership. People may forget the details of your last email, but they will absolutely remember whether your meetings are productive, respectful, and worth their time, or whether they drain the life out of everyone in the room. So Rogelberg's research revealed some staggering statistics. For example, employees believe that around fifty percent
of the time they spend in meetings is wasted. That means, if you're running meetings badly, you're not just wasting minutes you're wasting morale, energy, and productivity. So what's the fix. The book lays out several strategies that I think every leader should know and apply. So let's break down some of the most powerful ones. First, not every meeting needs to happen. One of the biggest takeaways from this book is that leaders often use meetings as a default solution.
Something comes up and the instinct is to call a meeting instead. Leaders should ask is this issue better solved with a quick phone call, in email or a one on one conversation. Canceling unnecessary meetings is not a sign of week leadership, it's a sign of respect for your team's time. Second, if you do need a meeting, shorten it. The science shows that the length of the meeting often has little to do with its effectiveness. In fact, shorter
meetings often produce better engagement. A fifteen minute stand up meeting can sometimes accomplish more than a one hour roundtable, and Parkinson's law tells us that work expands to fill the time available. So if you give yourself sixty minutes, the discussion will stretch. If you give yourself twenty, you'll get right to the point. Third clarity beats complexity. Rogelberg emphasizes the importance of a clear agenda, but not the
old school agenda where you list topics. Instead, create an agenda that focuses on questions to be answered or decisions to be made. For example, instead of writing budget discussion, right, what decision do we need to make today about next quarter's budget allocations? That little shift in wording creates energy and urgency. Fourth, invite Wisely, one of the reasons meeting
spiral is because too many people are invited. Leaders sometimes think inclusivity means putting everyone in the room, but what ends up happening is you've got people sitting there who don't need to be there, and they know it. Rogelberg argues that fewer people equals better discussion. If you're not essential to the decision, you don't need to be in the room. Fifth, engagement is a leader's responsibility. If you're
running a meeting, you own the energy. Rogelberg points out that many people check out because they don't feel included. Leaders can fix this by intention only drawing in quiet voices, rotating who speaks first, or even switching up formats. Remember the loudest voice in the room doesn't always have the best idea. In sixth, don't let meetings drift. Every meeting needs a clear ending, summarize the decisions made, sign responsibilities, and outline next steps. One of the most damaging ship
mistakes is letting meetings end in a fog. People walk out thinking different things, which creates confusion, frustration, and rework. Your job is the leader is to make sure there's alignment before anyone leaves. Now here's the big leadership takeaway. The way you run meetings is the way your people will interpret your leadership. If your meetings are long, disorganized,
and pointless, your leadership looks the same. But if your meetings are sharp, purposeful, and respectful of time, your leadership looks disciplined, for paired, and decisive. So Steve Rogelberg's book doesn't just point out the flaws, it gives you a playbook. Here's three practical steps you can take right now. Number one, audit your meetings for the next month. Ask yourself which of these could be cut in half or cut altogether.
Number two, rewrite your next agenda into questions instead of topics. And number three, at the end of each meeting, clearly state here's what we decided, here's who owns it, and here's what's next. So this is a fantastic book and I encourage you to consider reading it. Meetings are necessary, but not all meetings need to look the same and run the same. This is the surprising science of meetings.
Meetings don't have to be hated. They can be powerful, inspiring and efficient, but it requires you to read, think how you run them, and remember your team will never complain that you respected their time too much. This has been the seven Minute Leadership podcast and I thank you for listening.
For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.