-----------------------------------------
Do you work for a business or corporate?
I'm expanding into new markets and I've got a free offer for you if:
- You're tired of teams and projects not performing.
- You lead lots of meetings/workshops/town halls/standups and you don't relish that task.
- You're in a corporate leadership/management role (not in the public or community sector).
I'm offering x3 free coaching opportunities where I shadow you as you facilitate a meeting, and then we debrief afterwards. I've outlined more about the offer here on LinkedIn. Check it out and flick me a message if you'd like to take one of the three spots.
-----------------------------------------
What's the worst meeting you've ever attended?
Ask people what they think about meetings and the typical words that come up are: - Boring
- Long
- Tedious
- Time-wasting.
The worst meeting I've attended was not the one where my manager screamed and called me a naive idiot. Nor the one where a Chief Executive broke down and cried. Or when there was such an angry crowd that a community meeting had to be called off. (Although those were pretty terrible in their own unique way. 😅)
No.
In fact, the worst meeting wasn't a single meeting.
It was a collection of meetings held over many months while I worked at the Ministry of Justice.
Team meetings.
Project meetings.
Unit meetings.
Weekly standups.
Advisor meetings.
Every day of the week, several times a day. I lost count of the times that we met. Sometimes we met to talk about how we were meeting. But rarely did the meetings improve or reduce.
(Now before you go ahead and declare that it's a classic public sector issue, let me assure you it ain't. The research on this confirms it's a common symptom for organisations of all types, sizes and industries. I've compiled some of that research here in my Master Your Meetings report.)
We meet because it feels like progress. But often it's the opposite. Our meetings are a smokescreen for progress.
We're drowning in meetings.
This is one of the reasons why facilitation is the key skill for leaders today. 80% of us say we spend too much time in meetings.
Meeting management is a critical part of leadership today. When we lead by facilitation, our meetings make a difference, and everything gets better.
Ngā mihi,
Paul | 