Most team meetings are a waste of time.

7 dead-simple tips to make yours good:

Team meetings are a staple of work life.

At their best, they’re highly valuable.

At their worst, they:

• Lack focus
• Lack structure
• Waste your time

I’ve run many good ones (and bad ones).

Here are 7 tips to help make them better:

1. Rotate ownership

The leader doesn’t always need to lead.

Rotate who runs each team meeting.

The benefits:

• Keeps the meeting fresh
• Helps your team build skills
• Encourages new ideas + voices
• Drives engagement + ownership

My team meetings immediately improved.

2. Educate beforehand

Too much meeting time is spent educating.

That should be done in writing beforehand.

Require an email 24 hours prior that covers:

• Topic
• Context
• Why it’s being discussed
• Desired outcome of discussion

This alone can cut meeting times in half.

3. Focus on outcomes, not time

Meeting agendas often focus on time.

• Discuss marketing budget (15 mins)
• Review new product (30 mins)

Instead, focus them on outcomes.

• Decide marketing budget
• Make decision on feature

When outcomes are achieved, end the meeting.