HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter (HBR Guide Series)

by Harvard Business Review

Nowhere has this impact been more transformational —and more evident—than in the leadership coaching we do at Bregman Partners. For the past several years, all of our coaching is accomplished in 30-minute sessions. The advantages are obvious: Everyone saves time and money. But here’s what’s less obvious: The coaching isn’t simply as powerful as what we could do in a longer session, it’s vastly more so. When the coach and the client both know they have only 30 minutes, they move into high gear. People show up. Just as with my workouts, clients are far less likely to skip a 30-minute session than they are an hour-long one. Everyone is on time. Every minute counts in a 30-minute conversation, and people know it. The session gets started more quickly, because everyone’s aware that the relationship is built on doing good work, not on making small talk. People are much more likely to come prepared. There’s no time wasted on off-topic items and going-nowhere conversations. Clients know what they want to cover and have put some thought into it beforehand. The time pressure enhances focus and attention. People don’t focus on multiple issues; they tackle the single biggest opportunity or most persistent, intractable obstacle. And they move on it. Coaches are more willing to be courageous, and clients are more willing to be prodded. In a 30-minute session, coaches can’t waste time beating around the bush. They get to the point faster and earlier, interrupt more bravely, and ask more ...