Good Meeting, Bad Meeting

Inspired by: Good Product Manager, Bad Product Manager

Why write this document?

Sadly, most meetings are bad (and expensive). It's common that the meeting objective is unclear and the meeting just runs until there is no scheduled time left. There are tons of recurring meetings that are no longer useful. Many people in corporate life spend their time shifting from meeting to meeting endlessly, accomplishing little and getting lost in the whirlwind. 

This dynamic isn’t limited to internal meetings, it applies to external ones. I sat in a meeting with a prospective partner for 5 minutes with a meandering conversation. The Managing Director interrupted and said “What are we doing here? What is the purpose of this meeting?” 

Good meetings are amazing. They are the total opposite - they are where great collaboration happens, where big decisions are made, and where we learn some of the most important lessons that we will carry for the rest of our career. 

Hopefully, this document helps people have more good meetings and fewer bad meetings. 

Summary

Qualities of a good meeting:

• Only happens if it is truly needed
• Has a clear objective
• Ends when the objective is met
• Has as few attendees as possible
• Has clear next steps

Bonus points:

• Plan for the meeting is distributed in advance
• Meeting recap is distributed afterwards
• Attendees leave feeling motivated

Special considerations for sales meetings:

• Share context beforehand
• Define the roles
• Keep the ratio < 2 to 1
• Always send a recap w/ next steps

Qualities of a Good Meeting

Only happens if it is truly needed: We have all heard the term “this meeting could have been an email.” But few people act on it. Start acting on it. Every quarter, re-evaluate the effectiveness of every recurring meeting you attend and force yourself to build a case to continue going to that meeting. Default to canceling the meeting (or not attending if you’re not the organizer). It is easy to add back meetings. It is hard to recover lost time. 

Has a clear objective: This is probably the hardest skill to master when trying to run good meetings. Because it is easy to set a vague objective which isn’t helpful. 

Examples of good meeting objectives: 

• Make a decision: These can be the best types of meetings because you make a decision and can start executing differently. They also require the most preparation. Everyone needs to arrive at the meeting with an informed opinion on the topic. So sending a pre-read is usually important. You also need to make it clear how the decision will be made. For example, one person can be the decision maker and others advise them. Or the group can vote and majority rules. 
• Have a brainstorm: A group brainstorm can be a great way to generate new ideas and encourage creativity. The issue is that some people want to have a brainstorm but don’t make it clear. So you have an awkward “in between” meeting where some people are brainstorming and others want to stay focused. If you want to brainstorm, make the objective clear and run the session with brainstorming tools (e.g., whiteboard, sticky notes).  
• Solve a problem: Sometimes you are stuck on a problem and can’t figure out how to solve it. You want to pull in other people to work through it together. That is great and can work well. It’s important to make that objective clear, give people enough context before the meeting so they can start thinking, and keep the group small (3-5 people). You can’t do collaborative problem solving in a large group. 
• Share context: Be careful with this meeting objective. Many meetings to “inform” could be an email. However, there are moments when you want to discuss a topic live to emphasize its importance, to see reactions live, and to engage the audience live. People need context to be able to contribute to problem solving.  
• Build trust: This may sound corny, but the primary purpose of a lot of team building events and unstructured time is to engage on a deeper level. This allows you to build more trust, which enables more efficient and enjoyable work. You shouldn’t fill your calendar with events to build trust, but they are important.  

Examples of bad meeting objectives:

• Align on…
• Check-in on…
• Discuss…
• Huddle on…
• Sync on…

Ends when the objective is met: Almost all meetings end when time runs out. If you’re clear about your meeting objective, you should be pushing hard to get to that outcome and then ending the meeting so people get some time back. If you don’t do this, you are way more likely to end meetings without achieving the objective. 

Has as few attendees as possible: Meetings are expensive. A good rule of thumb is that an hour of someone’s time is worth $100. This assumes $200k/yr fully loaded cost and 2,000 work hours a year. If you have a 30 person meeting, that costs $3,000. You wouldn’t casually spend $3,000 on something new for the office, so don’t do the same with meetings. 

For external meetings (with customers and/or partners), you also want as few attendees as possible so you can have a more meaningful exchange. When people are from different organizations, they tend to be more guarded. You want to build trust as quickly as possible and get to candid, open communication. 

Has clear next steps: If you’ve met the meeting objective, the next steps should be clear and you can easily explain them to a group. If you made a decision, someone has to start executing. If you solved a problem, someone needs to roll out that solution. If you had a brainstorm, someone needs to send around the results and the best ideas identified. The only common exception are meetings to share context, which we mentioned above are risky.  

Bonus Points for Good Meetings

Plan for the meeting is distributed in advance: The best practice is to send out the meeting agenda and any pre-read materials at least one business day before the meeting. This will give people time to prepare so they can contribute as soon as the meeting starts. You may think you don’t have time to do this. But then how do you have time for a meeting? 

Meeting recap is distributed afterwards: Almost no one does this so don’t overthink it. A quick note with Key Takeaways + Next Steps can be very effective to make sure everyone has a shared understanding and will take action based on the meeting. 

Attendees leave feeling motivated: Try to run the meeting in a way that engages all participants and gets candid communication flowing. If you’re driving towards the meeting objective and reach it, you can declare “We did it! Let’s give everyone back X minutes.” It’s an easy way for the group to feel productive and motivated walking out. 

Special Considerations for Sales Meetings

Share context beforehand: The more important the sales meeting, the more context you need to share w/ the group beforehand. It is really important to understand the problem the customer is trying to solve, what other motivations the people attending have (e.g., getting promoted), and how they work together (e.g., who reports to who). Always include the planned attendees, their LinkedIn, and a quick explanation of their role in the company. 

Define the roles: Make it clear what you want each person to do in the meeting. These roles should be designed to maximize the chance of getting to a good outcome. It is fine for people attending to mostly listen, although you should consider whether they really need to attend. 

Keep the ratio < 2 to 1: You always want the customer to feel comfortable. If you bring way more people to the meeting than they do, they will often feel overwhelmed. At a minimum, they will be less open in their communication. If they are bringing 3 people to the meeting, it is totally ok to just have 1 person on our side. Or we can match them at 3 to 3. If there are good reasons, you can go higher, but never more than 2:1. The right maximum is probably 1.5 to 1 in some cases. This may sound silly, but it happens frequently when there is only 1 customer and 3 people from the selling company. 

Always send a recap with next steps: For internal meetings, sending a follow-up email with next steps is bonus points. For sales meetings, it is a critical part of the process. In a good sales process, the next step is always clear and tangible. Tangible means that it will meaningfully advance the process towards a solution for the customer. “Sending over materials” for them to review is not enough. “Meeting again next Wednesday at 1pm after you’ve had time to review the materials” is good. 

Basic Meeting Plan Outline

A basic meeting plan document will answer the following questions:

• What is the objective of the meeting?
• Who is attending?
• Is there a pre-read? Or materials (doc or slides) that will be presented?
• For sales meetings, what are the internal attendee roles? (e.g., presenter)
• For sales meetings, what is the customer / partner context? What problem are they trying to solve? Any key dynamics in their organization?