Great ideas for improving meetings

Lencioni, P. (2004). Death by Meeting. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

When you stop to think of the resources an organization invests in meetings, you realize what a tremendous return is needed to justify them. Unfortunately, very little attention is paid to the conduct of a meeting and this valuable tool is largely wasted. Lencioni’s fictional leadership team wrestles with meetings that run too long and fail to address important matters. A new team member watches for awhile and offers observations that put the team on track for more efficient use of meeting time.

The solutions achieved by this fictional team provide excellent tactics from which a leader may pick and choose. There should be different kinds of meetings for different purposes, Lencioni argues. There are meetings in which short-term, tactical issues are handled, and there are meetings in which quality time is devoted to strategic issues. Participants are more engaged and the follow-through is more likely when meetings follow a routine familiar to the group.