Great Leadership - stop doing this, be 3x more productive

You can't depend on your eyes ... 
when your imagination is out of focus
Mark Twain

The meeting was setup ... the agenda was set.  Yet, even before we were to begin, I knew we weren't going to be successful.

Happens all the Time

Many of our days seem to be filled with meetings.  Many attendees aren't even engaged in the conversation.   After these meetings, do you end up thinking, "what did we accomplish" or "that was a waste".

What Went Wrong?

"Lets Discuss..."

Though we always have great intent -- sometimes we're not focused on the right things.   Almost daily if not more often, I see as an agenda item (if there is one) that says, "Discuss <enter topic here>".

The challenge is that we're not focused on outcomes or results.  Why are you having the meeting?  What do you hope to accomplish? (and why).

A Simple Thing ... to Get Great Results

1. Ban the word "discuss" from all meeting agendas.
2. Each meeting must have an outcome. Your agenda must be focused on achieving that.  Place that at the top of your agenda, we will achieve <meeting goal / expected outcome> at the end of our meeting.
3. Each agenda item is an action focused on getting to the outcome.   For example, "Agree to our steps" or "identify risks"
4. Invite relevant attendees only.  Each attendee must be relevant to one of the actions on your agenda.

This simple tweak ensures you hit your outcomes every time (validate at the end that it does).  And that you always have engaging, impactful meetings.

Do this yourself, or us this to mentor your team members -- make an amazing impact to your business focused on results and outcomes.

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 If you LIKE this article, here are some others I've written:
     1) How to Be a Better Leader: 1 easy thing
     2) The #1 Thing That Makes You Stand Out
     3) Do This Well and Make Any Plan Succeed
     4) Read some of the other leadership articles I've written on LinkedIn.

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(and of course ... all of my writing is my own personal opinion)

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