Avoiding Deathly Meetings

Seth talks about running different types of meetings if you seek different levels of results. I've been implementing many of the same concepts in companies like Dell and VOXCOM over the past couple of years, largely influenced by the book Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni.

It seems if there is a common issue that faces a business manager or executive, Patrick Lencioni has written a fable about it. Meetings are no exception and he lays out some good tips and tricks around how to keep from drowing in meetings throughout the week.

A couple extra tips I've learned implementing meeting strategies in large organizations:

Only book meetings for the time necessary: Organizers such as Outlook and BlackBerries are causing grief all over the globe because they book meetings in half-hour segments. Don't be afraid to build a culture where 15 minute meetings are booked and observed, or 10 minutes or 40 minutes. Outlook will do that for you too without much extra work.

Book meetings often: It may seem contrary to trying to staying away from drowning in meetings, but combined with the first tip above, you can spend less time in meetings and be more effective and prompt in making decisions to grow and move forward. Don't rely on a 'weekly meeting' when you need something more often than that.

Book the next meeting today: The last thing you need to do at the end of the meeting is agree to the next meeting time and date. Based on the next steps of the issue being discussed you should have an idea of when it the optimum time to hold the next get-together.

I encourage you to read Death by Meeting, you can order it from my Squidoo LENS if you wish, as it makes for some enjoyable airplane reading.