Meeting etiquette is dead. Long live meeting etiquette!
It sounds like a small, mundane detail, but the way we design and run our meetings defines how way we run our work day, and how much deep work time we have. Lots of us spend most of our waking life at work. Lots of us spend most of our work day in meetings. So meetings ARE life. Except I don’t want them to be! So here’s what I suggest:
1. Utilise asynchronous work tools
Good old email is best for this. I recently got a new accountant and the whole set-up was done over email with him telling me what to do and me doing it. No need for a meeting at all. I use Loom and messaging apps too.
2. ⚠️ Give it an agenda
If a meeting is required, create an agenda and hold people to that agenda during the session.
3. Give it an aim
The meeting name, and the agenda should reflect the aim eg: ‘onboarding: review and decide on flow.’ The aim should be repeated when the meeting begins, and when it ends.
4. There needs to be a facilitator / leader
A meeting needs a facilitator, and it works well if the facilitator is the person who called the meeting. Whatever you do, don’t put a meeting in the calendar and expect someone else to run it, without explicitly telling them that they’re running it.
5. Do away with a rolling calendar invite altogether
A stand up is always in the calendar as a rolling, regular meeting – that’s fine. I love a stand up, I orientate my day around it. But just a random rolling meeting, especially with no leader and no agenda, is a real time-sink for everyone.
6. Resist the urge to end a meeting with a meeting
You’ve had a meeting, but because there wasn’t a clear agenda you’ve left with more questions than answers, so you book another meeting. Absolutely not!
7. Do the prep work, and do the post-work
I see this a lot in larger organisations who have become completely consumed with meetings, especially among senior leadership. None of the actions agreed in a meeting happen, because people are on back-to-back calls all day. Decisions and pieces of work that could have been small become larger because meetings aren’t used efficiently. There needs to be a clearer distinction between what can be done individually and then reviewed, vs what actually needs to be discussed as a team synchronously.
8. Break the default time
Going back to the agenda point, make a realistic calculation of how long something will take. Not everything takes an hour. My favourite meeting length is 45 mins – short enough to keep people on their toes, long enough to get something done. Remember that a work day is 8 hours long, 2 1-hour meetings and a quarter of you and your colleagues day is completely gone.
9. Make it more human
Cameras on, and make sure people who don’t know each other are introduced. If you’re meeting with one other person, especially if you have a working relationship, you can make it a walking meeting.
I think this final human point is important because I actually don’t hate meetings. They’re a chance to connect and collaborate. When used in a mindful way, which is respectful of people’s time, they can build relationships which are absolutely essential to getting the work done, and feeling like you’re part of a team.
Everyone benefits from better meeting etiquette, and a chance to reclaim their day. In particular, people who have caring responsibilities, or access needs could do with more a-synchronous working.
If you take one thing away from this post, it’s that the workplace is personal, colleagues are human beings, and every meeting MUST have an agenda!