Dos and Don’ts of Different Meeting Types

How many times a week do you complain about meetings? Too many, too long, too boring. Not worth it, not set up for success, not the right people? Wrong agenda, wrong participants, wrong tone? Unfortunately, there’s no Goldilocks answer to the perfect meeting because each meeting should be fit for purpose. Instead, here are a few common meeting types and the do’s and don’ts that will make them “just right.”

How to Make Your Meetings More Valuable

Start with a clear purpose and then match the duration, number of agenda items, format, tone, and pace to that desired outcome. Considering these different types of meetings, you realize they shouldn’t all be shoehorned into the same two-hour Tuesday timeslot.

Do’s and Don’ts of an Operations Meeting

This is the regular meeting to ensure everyone knows what they need to know to be productive. The goal is to get in, share the info, and get out without any muss or fuss.

Sample Topics: activities, project launches, customer issues, coming events

Value to Add: advise, synchronize, reprioritize, coordinate, inform, triage

Duration: you don’t want an operations meeting to run longer than 90 minutes because that’s about how long you’ll be able to sustain the attention and quick cadence you’re looking for. If you need much more than that, you’re better off splitting it into two weekly meetings, which will also help you keep the information timely.

In an Operations Meeting, Do:

Raise issues that are relevant to most people in the roomKeep a quick cadence to move through lots of topicsTable in-depth discussions to a more suitable forumStop with 10% of time remaining to stick the landing

In an Operations Meeting, Don’t:

Share things just to sound interesting or importantContinue a conversation that needs more evidenceTable an issue and expect deep thought in the momentTalk a good game and then not follow up

A fantastic operations meeting should feel like a huddle. You’re calling the plays so everyone knows who’s going where and how you will move the ball forward. You shouldn’t need much (or any) preparation, and the actions on the log should mostly be things you will address in short order. (More on running Ops meetings here.) Anything more complex or with a longer time horizon belongs in a Business Builder meeting.

Do’s and Don’ts of a Business Builder

There isn’t a standard name for a more in-depth meeting about longer-term issues, so I call it a Business Builder. The goal is to consider the changes that will increase your team’s capability, capacity, resilience, or agility. In contrast to the Operations meeting, where you’re working in the business, in a Business Builder, you’re working on the business.

Sample Topics: strategic project review, talent planning, stakeholder management

Value to Add: prioritize, commission, cultivate, assess

Duration: you want enough time in a Business Builder meeting to go on a few tangents and to have a productive conflict with lots of time for listening and adapting. Ideally, this is a half-day meeting with a good long break if virtual and up to a full day if it’s in person.

In a Business Builder, Do:

Have fewer, more in-depth topicsHave a sponsor for every agenda itemUse a primer document to get people up to speed and focus their thinkingCommit to productive tension to promote diverse thinking on each topic

In a Business Builder, Don’t:

Allow anything onto the agenda that hasn’t been prepared forShy away from contributing because you’re not the subject matter expertLeave the room without the meeting closeKeep looking in the rear-view mirror

A great Business Builder should feel like a workshop with a few excellent questions and lots of back-and-forth. You won’t always leave a Business Builder with the correct answers or plan, but you want to leave with a plan to get to the plan. (More on running Business Builders here and here.)

Do’s and Don’ts of a Strategic Meeting

Every once in a while, you stop focusing on the business as it is today and consider what it needs to be in the future; that’s a strategic meeting. The goal is to achieve or maintain relevance and competitive advantage as the world evolves.

Sample Topics: macro trends, competitive environment, scenario planning

Value to Add: anticipate, envision, strategize, commission, transform

Duration: when you have to think beyond the status quo, you need both the time and space to distance yourselves from the day-to-day. Strategic meetings benefit from having more than one day, particularly when the increased duration allows time to eat together and to have some downtime.  

In a Strategy Meeting, Do:

Include external perspectivesHave a sponsor for every agenda itemUse a primer document to get people up to speed and focus their thinkingUse the Tarp and promote diverse thinking on each topic

In a Strategy Meeting, Don’t:

Make decisionsLet anything on the agenda that hasn’t been prepared forGet stuck in the present—consider the art of the possible!

A great strategic meeting should feel like you’re at a retreat, taking in new information and changing your thoughts. You won’t leave with a plan (or even a plan for the plan), but you’ll walk away with many new questions you need to answer. (More on running strategic meetings here and here.)

Do’s and Don’ts of a Monthly Business Review

All of the meetings we’ve discussed so far are future-focused and that’s how it should be. That said, many teams benefit from having one opportunity each month to look backward to see what they can learn from where they’ve been.

Sample Topics: results, lessons learned, course corrections, achievements

Value to Add: reflect, evaluate, celebrate

Duration: Monthly business reviews often get bloated with too much content. They get too heavy when they try to cover both the lessons learned and the plan for the future. Instead, keep these monthly meetings under two hours, focus on reflecting and gaining insight, and wait to apply that insight in a Business Builder.

In a Monthly Business Review, Do:

Use a dashboard to focus on the most important metricsLook at both outputs (in your control) and outcomes (out of your control)Identify assumptions that didn’t come truePivot to what needs to be different next time

In a Monthly Business Review, Don’t:

Blame or make it feel unsafe to take accountabilityGet in the weeds and try to solve an issue in the roomTurn it into a Business Builder…save the major course corrects for another forum

A great Monthly Business Review should feel like a post-mortem: what happened, what went right and wrong, what can we learn, and what do we need to do differently next time? Stay curious when it comes to others, and be willing to be vulnerable and accountable when it comes to your own contributions.

When you’re in an Operations meeting, it should almost feel like you’re a different person and part of a different team than in a Strategic meeting. If you can, use a different room to emphasize the distinction. If not, use other cues to remind people of the purpose, tone, and pace you’re striving for. When you get each meeting type into muscle memory, you’ll find that your meetings have more energy and impact.

Additional Resources

From HBR: A Step-by-Step Guide to Structuring Better Meetings

8 Techniques to Make Your Meetings More Effective (Part I)

8 Techniques to Make Meetings More Effective (Part II)

 

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