Transforming Meetings: 5 Game-Changing Strategies Adopted by Teams to Improve Productivity

Should our days really be filled with meetings? Hmm, seems like a big fat nope! But, I’ve got some solutions to sprinkle a little productivity magic into those dreaded meeting-filled days.

But before we dive into the nitty-gritty, let’s talk about setting some ground rules. Asking everyone to agree on some basic guidelines can set the stage for more respectful and effective meetings. Plus, it’s a great way to let folks know you’re serious about making changes.

Here are a few examples:

👉 Two pizza rule: No meeting should have more than two pizzas could feed — outside of team building activities.

👉 Meeting-objective: All meetings should include the objective of the meeting. If the meeting doesn’t define the objective of the meeting people can choose to do something else with their time. Is that more work for you? Yes! That’s the point — We only have meetings if it is truly needed.

👉 ‘No Meetings [day] ‘ norm is designed to give people more control of their calendars and more time to work without interruptions.

👉 If it is your meeting to run, manage the conversation. Make it clear who is leading the meeting and whom it is to serve. Watch out for assertive ‘fast talkers’ and for ‘topic slips’ — and be careful not to lose personal responsibility via group decision-making.

👉 The person leading the meeting needs to ask at least 3 questions during the meeting that directly should help them achieve the objective of the meeting.

👉 Decisions and knowledge should be accessible and collective: All meeting decisions, as well as decisions made outside meetings during “private conversations,” need to be documented and accessible to all stakeholders of the project, client, etc. Define how and where this will be done; for example, if you are using Nova, ask your team to add all conclusions inside Nova.

👉 Once a month ask people during a meeting to rate your meeting.“Can you rate this meeting from one to five, with five being very productive and engaging?” Discuss the results with your team and have an open and honest conversation about improvements.

Okay, buckle up, because here come the goods!

I’ve got a handful of strategies to share, guaranteed to kick those unproductive meetings to the curb. From saying goodbye to pointless meetings with a simple framework to assessing just how productive your current meetings are, I’ve got you covered.

Oh, and did we mention we’ve got some tricks for making virtual meetings a breeze too? Yep! Let’s move some meetings async.

Alright — let’s discuss the following:

• How to say goodbye to unproductive meetings with a simple framework your team can remember?

• How to assess the productivity of your current meetings?

• How can you transition some of your meetings asynchronously?

• What conditions need to be met for this to succeed?

• What are the guidelines and principles you should have or consider during meetings?

1. How to say goodbye to unproductive meetings with a simple framework your team can remember?

See, a lot of folks have never been taught how to run effective meetings. Even if it seems like some people have a knack for it, leading a good meeting is actually a skill that can be learned.

That’s where my framework comes in. I’ve developed a simple yet powerful tool to make meetings more productive right away. It’s called the OFQ Framework, and it’s super easy to remember. Just think of it as OFQ: Objective, Feelings, Questions.

Here’s how it works: First, always start by clearly stating the objective of the meeting. What are you trying to achieve here?

Next, pay attention to how people are feeling during the discussion. Are they on board with the direction things are going, or are they feeling stressed or burnt out?

And finally, as the meeting leader, make sure to ask at least three questions to get everyone involved and share their ideas. Remember, the goal isn’t to be right — it’s to spark discussion and uncover any gaps or risks in your plans but to ideally tap into everyone knowledge!

If you want to dive deeper into this framework,Ie’ve got a video you can check out or share with your team.

If you want to learn more watch this video.

Meeting facilitation

2. How to assess the productivity of your current meetings?

All team members, including managers and directors, should show up with the same mindset and need for improvement.

To be more specific, if you and your team want to improve at leading meetings, start asking questions like: “Can you rate this meeting from one to five, with five being very productive and engaging?”

We call these meetings PI meetings, and in our team, we encourage our members to evaluate their meetings at least once a month.

In you are watching the video you can also encourage the team to use a collaborative space like Nova to lead those meetings, take notes and to encourage team members, clients and overall stakeholders to participate.

3. How can you transition some of your meetings asynchronously?

In 2019, the director of the pharmaceutical organization that created the COVID vaccine classified meetings into three categories:

1. Informative meetings: Meetings used to share information about a topic and update, etc. These meetings were fully canceled, and other methods had to be used to inform the team or stakeholders.

2. Opinion meetings: Meetings to discuss initial opinions, these are canceled or reduced to a minimum, and …

3. Decision meetings: These can be maintained. On the other hand, Shopify, at the beginning of 2023, decided to remove all their recurring meetings, that means over 12,000 meetings. After a few months, they evaluated if any had to be re-added to their calendar and after a deep evaluation, they were able to eliminate 30% of those recurring meetings.

3.1. Informative meetings.

Meetings that have the sole objective to inform a team or stakeholders about a new proposal, changes in the project or organization, updates, etc. Overall, one person tends to share the information while everyone is listening (actively or passively), and often there is no participation required from the participants in the meeting.

These meetings can be easily canceled and moved into other formats. You can consider the following.

• Email: Send an email to team members and stakeholders to inform them.

• Loom or any other video recording platform: Send a video recording sharing the information. This lets you share information in a similar way you will share that information during a meeting. You can share your screen and speak during the video.

• Nova + video recording platform (Loom): Send an informative session and invite team members and stakeholders to join during a specific period; for example, you can schedule it that stakeholders watch it before Wednesday next week, and additionally, you can track who has watched it and even ask questions and add a space for comments. The PROS are that this method is ideal when you want to ensure people stay informed before a specific date or you want to know who is informed.

Async meeting with Nova

To learn more about this read this blog post.

3. 2. Opinion meeting.

These meetings can be categorized as those where you are gathering ideas, learning about different opinions and needs, discussing, and helping move gather information or input to get something done.

This can include meetings like the ones mentioned below:

• Brainstorming meetings: Meetings in which team members or stakeholders are sharing ideas. Often the ideas tend to be raw and need further evaluation and considerations.

• Discussion meetings: Meetings where you are discussing the “problem” to better define a solution, where you are discussing the plan, discussing or exploring multiple alternatives, etc.

• Feedback meetings: Meetings in which you have a proposal, idea, project, plan, design, etc., and you want to share it to gather input and feedback, to evaluate if there is anything missing, if you are moving in the right direction and even to reduce risks. Often also have the intention to get stakeholders involved to get their buy-in.

4. What conditions need to be met for this to succeed?

When you start thinking about how to implement this, whether you are just considering moving some meetings asynchronous or aiming to make meetings more productive, there are a few things that must be true.

These are essentially the conditions we consider necessary for success:

• Leaders or the leadership need to lead by example: When we aim to change things at the organizational level, leaders must be the first to learn and follow these practices. This doesn’t mean that individuals can’t follow these practices; as an individual, you can. In fact, a few team members will likely join you because you will be saving a lot of time.

• Goals, expectations, and responsibilities must be clear: Because we have become so reliant on meetings to deliver work, we have to change habits. To achieve this, we must be able to define deadlines, track participation, and clarify roles and responsibilities.

Wodtke, in her book, explains some practical tools and rituals to help teams set and track their objectives. I agree with her on a lot of these aspects and I love the way she created this:

Open

Image Credit: Christina Wodtke

• Forecast for the month: “What should your team know is coming up that they can help with, deliver, or prepare for?” Explore how each department or team can meet monthly to define their deliverables for the month and forecast their work.

• Monday commitments: Intentions for the week — what are the three or four most important things you must get done this week toward the Objective of this month? You can do this asynchronously. Create a group chat or Slack channel for this purpose.

• Friday wins or Kudos: In the Friday wins session, all teams demo whatever they can or share what they have achieved (e.g., Sales, Customer Support), all to encourage people to continuously seek (small) wins to share. This can also be done asynchronously. If you do it in a kudos format, you are also expressing gratitude to team members who helped that week.

• If you have a lot of meetings choose one day as the #meetingfree day

Among these mentioned items, the monthly meeting to discuss objectives and deliverables for the month is crucial.

If you are looking for a template, at Nova, we have a few. For example, check out this one where each team member will list their deliverables for the month — things they need to start this month but not necessarily finish — and also allow them to forecast what else is happening or on their mind and add it to the “on my radar” section.

Tip: Go to Minute 2:18

This template helps the team discuss priorities with the manager and document them.

5. What are the guidelines and principles you should have or consider during meetings?

Ground rules helps establish a tone of mutual respect. When establishing norms for your team, it’s beneficial to also define rules for meetings. Let’s review a few!

Here are the four guidelines I frequently utilize:

1. Be human first: Prioritize treating yourself and others with kindness and respect, valuing each person as an individual before considering their job titles.

2. Stay present: Keep distractions such as phones and laptops aside during the session, attending to them only in urgent situations.

3. Trust: Have faith in me as your facilitator, trusting that I’ve structured the workshop agenda to maximize our time together.

4. Be open: Embrace the diversity of perspectives and ideas present within the group, as the true magic happens when we remain receptive to each other’s contributions and you approach discussions with curiosity.

Additionally, for virtual sessions, I include the following:

1. Keep your camera on and mic unmuted (whenever feasible): This fosters a sense of togetherness and enables us to interpret each other’s non-verbal cues.

2. Turn off self-view: Encouraging a more natural interaction by removing distractions posed by our own mirrored images, allowing us to focus on others.

3. No multitasking: Acknowledge that our presence and time are valuable resources; splitting attention detracts from both personal and group engagement. (Note: While we can’t completely disconnect from technology as suggested in “stay present” above, as it’s necessary for virtual sessions, the emphasis remains on minimizing distractions.)

Please think about yours.

And hey, if you’re wondering what it takes to make all these changes stick, …Spoiler alert: it’s all about leading by example and keeping those goals crystal clear.

So, what are you waiting for?

Dive in, soak up the knowledge, and get ready to revolutionize your meetings!

Oh, and don’t forget to share this post with your team — because let’s face it, we could all use a little more productivity in our lives.