In 2019 we had too many meetings - Today we conduct three times more

Yesterday, I talked with a friend about the fact that we tripled the amount of meetings since we enjoyed more freedom of working at home - compared to 2019 where we already complained about too many meetings. The main point we contemplated is that now, we even need to schedule a random chat with our friends. Something went wrong.

Let's face it; most meetings are inefficient and lack purpose and results. Yes, it is great to connect with our peers; at the same time it creates a lot of stress and pressure. When is the last time you had five meetings back-to-back? I guess your answer is 'yesterday'. How can we get out of this vicious cycle?

Since a while I am sharing these simple principles for effective meetings. At the core is the shift away from one-way communication meetings. Who is a culprit to conduct information briefing sessions? Yes, we fall into this trap. Here my core principles for all participant to create a good and fruitful conversation during your meetings:

1. Prepare and share your status update prior to the meeting and all participants read it and note down questions; and yes, this is a journey, takes patience and persistence to reach a good stage. This preparation is the foundation for the next two principles
2. Think about 1-3 key messages that bring value for the other participants; this can be great achievements we are proud of; this can be experiments which delivered unexpected results and we learned great insight.
3. Prepare 1-3 topics you want to ask for support from others; this can be a bottleneck you want to overcome, or a new business opportunities you want to gather ideas for.

In my experience, these principles create interaction, attention and transform dull meetings into valuable events. This can be your weekly planning meeting, your daily stand-up, or your monthly performance review.

The other day, I came across this article by Steven Rogelberg: What the Science Says about Meeting Agendas May Surprise You. Here what I take out of it to enhance the above principles:

• Agenda topics should primarily come from the participants
• The topics add value to the majority of the participants
• Each agenda point has an owner
• And in my eyes the best: formulate your agenda points as questions

And let's not forget one thing: let's enjoy these meetings, let's laugh and smile, let's focus on the connection between people. And that might also mean to schedule less meetings.

Which point do you want to try out in your next meeting?