Three Ways Meetings Can Go Wrong
Meetings: can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em. While meetings can be a pain point, there’s no denying that they provide valuable functions, including accountability, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, a sense of belonging, decision-making, a shared sense of purpose, the strengthening of team relationships, and more. From a broader perspective, meetings shape employees’ beliefs about what is valued as an organization as well as the culture of the organization. In short, meetings are really important! They’re so important that we should pause, reflect, and ask, “Is my meeting going wrong? If so, in what way(s)?” We met with Tricia Conyers, the author of The Evolution of Culture-shaping Meetings, to learn three ways that meetings can go wrong: lack of effectiveness, poor engagement, and problematic environment.
Lack of effectiveness
If a meeting lacks clarity or isn’t functioning well, there’s a good chance that it’s an ineffective meeting.
For a meeting to function well, it’s often necessary to use tools such as action logs, ground rules, parking lots, or decision logs. If the meeting lacks clarity, it’s likely that the meeting purpose hasn’t been succinctly defined.
Poor engagement
People haven’t mentally arrived in a meeting until they’ve been given the opportunity to engage (e.g., round-table check-in, sharing an update, or doing an activity)
You may be using the right tools in the meeting but if you aren’t promoting involvement or participation, people won’t engage. Meeting attendees need to be invited to participate and interact.
Problematic environment
If the culture of the meeting isn’t encouraging diversity of thinking or value for others, it might be a problematic environment.
Your meeting may have clarity and be effective, and people may be engaged, but if the meeting isn’t bringing out the best in people, the meeting leader should encourage the right behaviors by being a good role model.
See How Successful Leaders Run Meetings and 15 Tips to Lead Better Meetings to learn how to create meetings:
With clarity and purpose that function with the correct tools
That involve meeting participants to foster engagement
With a positive and productive environment
Meetings shape our beliefs about what’s valued by the organization and what employees believe about the culture of the organization. Meetings are important—so let this be your call-to-action to pause, take inventory of your meetings, and ask yourself “Is my meeting going wrong? If so, in what way(s)?” If it is, take action to get them back on track!
Contact ChangeStaffing to learn how to assess and stop your meetings from going wrong!
A very special thank you to Tricia Conyers, a seasoned Organizational Change Management Professional, Meeting Designer and Facilitator, for her thought leadership and for collaborating with us on this blog. Tricia offers a self-paced and cohort group-based online course that explores the details of transforming your meeting, Lead Meetings That Work. If you are interested in enrolling in this course, please reach out to Tricia at tricia.conyers@islandinspirations.co for a special discount.
Written by Kylette Harrison