“Meetings? Really? You’ve got to be kidding.”
That’s the usual reaction I get when introducing Meeting Rhythm.
It comes at the end of an initial Rock & Sand Strategic Planning Session. After we get to setting Rocks for the next ninety days.
“Meetings Move the Rocks”
The push back comes because everyone is in too many meetings. Let me correct that, they are in too many really bad meetings. Poorly run meetings and meetings that they are required to sit in on when the topic is not related to their responsibilities.
The combination of the pandemic and zoom technology has made it worse. Zoom efficiency eliminates drive time and that has encouraged leaders to jam more meetings onto the calendar and invite more people to participate in them. It’s burning people out.
I get it. No one needs more bad meetings to sit in on. This is when I tell them:
“Establishing a good meeting rhythm will eliminate at least half of the meetings on your schedule.”
This catches their attention.
Here’s what makes up a good meeting rhythm.
Daily Stand-Up Huddles lasting no more than 10 minutes. Everyone in a daily huddle with the people they work with most.
Weekly Meetings. Half hour to an hour. Do the numbers, report on what was accomplished in the week that just ended. Share action plans for the coming week. Review progress on the Rocks.
Monthly Learning Meetings. An hour to half a day. Dig deeply into what is working with the Rocks and with the Sand. Make adjustments so the Rocks get moved and Sand gets pushed. Solve something
Quarterly Meetings. Update your Rock & Sand Strategic Plan, post mortem on the Rocks. Set new Rocks for the next ninety days.
They are most skeptical about the daily huddle. It drives collaboration by creating awareness of what each other is doing. And by getting together for this standing only 10 minute meeting, so many other meetings are eliminated.
They are still reluctant to try it. That’s when I make them practice it. I bet them I can conduct a daily huddle in less than five minutes and ask someone to time it (never gone over, even with 15+ in the demonstration). This is when they start getting it, although I still get some eye rolls. .
“Do it for 30 days in a row. If you still don’t like it, you don’t have to do it anymore.”
Around 20 days, I usually have a conversation with the team that starts this way. “We are so much more productive. How did we get anything done before we had daily huddles?”
Meetings move the Rocks because everyone is aware of the important things on each other’s plates. And even more important, the Rocks are no longer hiding behind the Sand or in back of someone’s mind. The Rocks are front and center. They get moved.
There’s more to it than this, of course. But this gives you a picture of the power of good meeting rhythm.
Want to work together to establish a good meeting rhythm in your organization?