Ninja "Meeting" Principles and Tactics
As time goes by, I hope to be able to spell out more of the Ninja Marketing Philosophy that informs these particular views, but didn’t want to miss the opportunity to “memorialize” these thoughts in the meantime…
Ninja "Meeting" Principles and Tactics
FOR CONSIDERATION: Having taught countless classes/seminars all over the world on time management and effective leadership skills, here are a few of my personal rules of thumb regarding meetings:
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Never have more than one meeting a day. COROLLARY: Never spend more time in internal meetings on any given day than you are willing to spend the next day doing nothing but talking to real CUSTOMERS (not just “users”– but that’s a DIFFERENT comment
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Schedule no more than 45 minutes for ANY meeting. Allow (and expect) people to excuse themselves as they see fit after that time.
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Remove chairs from the conference room. Don’t let people get too comfortable, and for Pete’s sake don’t encourage them by bringing DOUGHNUTS!
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Recognize that there are 3 different types of meetings: a) Informational, b)Celebratory and c) Decision-Making. Confuse this context and ensure confusion and frustration.
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Have a very SPECIFIC objective for each and every meeting and never have more than 3 things on the agenda for any specific meeting. Never give anyone more than 3 action items coming out of a single meeting.
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If you need a PowerPoint to get your point across, just send the PowerPoint. Most of us can read.
If an issue is too complex for just use a PowerPoint, write it up as a document. Better for one person to spend twice the time to develop a well-articulated proposal (remember what your English teacher said? “If you can’t
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If it’s 2-3 people, it’s a “discussion”– have plenty of those. Organizational theory teaches that any group of over 5 is almost unmanageable because of the multiple permutations and combinations of the vested interests of all involved.
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Understand RID roles for every attendee:
R=RESPONSIBLE- party “responsible” for the specific activity tied to the objective/outcome of the meeting.
I=INVOLVED- not just “INTERESTED,” but those who are directly affected and/or need to provide specific input.
D=DECISION-MAKING- those who will ultimately have to make a specific decision based on the meeting.
Everyone who does not play one of these roles can “stay home”…
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Don’t insist or expect EVERYONE in attendance to actively participate. Don’t create a culture where people feel that they MUST comment continually just to prove they are “smart,” or “engaged” or “part of the team.”
Those of us who thrive in decentralized work environments (I've "officed" in 26 locations in virtually every time zone) have learned that most seemingly “necessary” meetings truly are not. Use technology to monitor and collaborate, foster trust and individual accountability and focus on smaller, manageable discrete tasks to cut down on time wasted in meetings.
