How To Get Rid of Bad Meetings

One of the chief complaints I hear from nonprofit leaders is this: 

Way. Too. Many. Meetings.

More specifically, too many unfocused, uninspired, and ineffective meetings that drain your team’s time and energy to do the real work.

Thankfully, there’s a simple solution to this pervasive problem.  

It’s called the Fabulous POP Model (endless thanks to its creators Leslie Sholl Jaffe & Randy Alford), and it’s guaranteed to eliminate (OK, significantly reduce) bad meetings in your organization.

You can follow this 3-step formula for any meeting - and I recommend that over time you do just that.

For today, let’s start with one meeting that’s not working for you and run it through the POP model, so you can get a feel for how it works.  

Maybe…

• That all-staff meeting that’s supposed to be engaging but inevitably turns into a round-robin update?

• Those team meetings where you try to keep things strategic but always end up in the weeds?

• Or perhaps, the 1-on-1s with your manager or direct reports that you know could be working harder for you?

You choose -- what’s one meeting that you’d love to improve?

Step 1: Purpose

We begin by clearly defining the “why” of the meeting - and everything else (the meeting goals, agenda, format, etc.) trickles down from there.  

When we zoom past this first, critical step, we can easily end-up with a meeting that tries to be everything to everyone, spends people’s time in the wrong ways, and possibly could have been replaced with an email.

So start here by asking yourself:

• What’s the important and meaningful reason for holding this meeting?

• Why is it worth people’s valuable time?

• What needs of your organization and/or team does this meeting address?

Once you’ve noodled on these questions, you want to land on a sharp and specific meeting purpose statement.

Here are some examples of solid meeting purpose statements:

• The purpose of our Executive Team meeting is to discuss, debate, and make decisions about strategic opportunities and challenges facing our organization

• The purpose of our weekly team meeting is to align on our priorities for the week ahead and hold space for relationship and community building

• The purpose of our 1-on-1s is to delegate and prioritize new work, problem solve any current challenges, and give and receive feedback on how things have been going

You’ll notice that none of these meetings have a purpose of information sharing, because that’s not the best and highest use of meeting time.  If your meeting has fallen into an update-style format - ask yourself - what are asynchronous ways you can give each other information, so you can use your meeting time on things that benefit most from the group’s interaction -- whether that be debate, problem solving, consensus building, or human connection.

Step 2: Outcomes

Once you have a clear and compelling purpose statement for your meeting, you can drill another level down and define the specific outcomes you hope your meeting will achieve.

Ask yourself (and each other): what are the specific results we want to accomplish at this meeting?  What do we want to walk away with?

Most meetings tend to both task and relationship, so consider outcomes that you want to advance for the sake of the work and the relational field of the group that’s gathering.

You’ll want to end-up with a short list of meeting outcomes.

Here are some examples:

• Specific and written next steps for the project, with responsibility and deadline for each

• A clearer understanding of the challenges we’re facing - and solutions to these challenges that are either developed at the meeting or circled back to in another way

• A deepening sense of trust and partnership on the team

Step 3: Process

OK, now that you're clear on the why and the what of the meeting, you can turn to the how.  How will you structure and facilitate your meeting to achieve your desired purpose and outcomes?

Some important questions to answer as it relates to your meeting process:

• How long and how often should you meet to achieve our desired purpose and outcomes?

• Is a meeting required?  Or would your purpose and outcomes be better achieved through a different asynchronous process?

• What agenda will help you achieve your desired purpose and outcomes?

• What kind of facilitation is needed to be successful?

• Who needs to be there (and who doesn’t)?

• (When relevant) - Will your purpose be best met through a virtual or in-person meeting? 

And there you have it!  In 3 simple steps, you now have a Fabulous POP for your meeting!    

And while you started this process independently here, I highly encourage you to work with the other meeting participants to discuss and align on your meeting's POP.  You’ll not only build a stronger purpose statement, you’ll also cultivate a more full-hearted commitment to fulfilling it at future meetings.

Reference:  The fabulous POP model