Save your team from meeting overload

Together With

Good morning.   If you're anything like me, the first thing you think about each morning is the hours of reoccurring and prescheduled meetings you have over the next few days.

The truth is, we all hate meetings, especially the meeting that could have been accomplished in an email.  Or how about the meeting that could have wrapped up in half the time?  Or my all-time favorite, the meeting with no agenda or purpose.

How many unnecessary meetings are sucking your and your team's time each day?  Most leaders know this is happening but never fix the problem for several reasons.

• They don't know how to go about fixing it

• They have always done it this way

• They don't know how to execute effectively to achieve results

• They're following the cadence of their leader or organization

The harsh truth is we're the ones leading the charge in our communities and organizations.  We're the ones responsible for making sure our teams operate efficiently.  The blame falls on us.

Here is an exercise you can work through this week to get back on track.  After completing the exercise, you should expect to

• Reduce reoccurring meetings by at least 20%

• Reduce the length of your meetings by at least 40%

• Introduce a culture where your team can openly and respectfully discuss the relevance of meetings placed on their calendar.

Elevate your operation 

The benefits of this exercise are twofold.  Of course, as we mentioned, you will save time and your team's time by becoming more efficient.  The slightly hidden but potentially more significant benefit is the spike of engagement you will encounter with your team.  Why?  Because you're going to ask for their feedback and then listen to it.

Step 1

It all starts with maximizing your daily Stand-Up meeting.  This 10-20 minute meeting can replace a half dozen other meetings and drive powerful results if done well.  After all, that's why we named our newsletter after it.  For more details on transforming your Stand-Up meeting, check out this article we featured a few months ago.

Step 2

Eliminate meetings.  Now that you're using leading indicators and data to drive results in your Stand-Up meeting, you can identify other routine meetings that are no longer necessary OR may be needed on a less frequent basis.  Utilizing the case study I mentioned in the linked article above, we eliminated our weekly sales meeting (45-minute weekly meeting) by focusing on the leading indicators in our daily stand-up meeting.

Step 3

Now that your team sees real change happening, it's time to ask them to participate and share their thoughts.  Make a list of all reoccurring meetings and ask each attendee to pick the most relevant "code" for the meeting through a survey.  The codes I used are the following.

• Code Blue= The meeting is dead.  It's pointless, and we should stop it immediately.
• Code Orange= The meeting is relevant and valuable but could be shorter, more efficient, or less frequent.  Recreate the agenda, start using an agenda, put parameters in place, etc.
• Code Red= This meeting could easily be an email.
• Code Green= This meeting runs efficiently and is relevant.  We should continue.
• Code White= Other.  Please share your feedback.

Step 4

Lock your team in a room for an hour, throw the results up on a pie chart to represent the feedback for each meeting, and align what meetings will stop, remain, or become more efficient in one form or another.  Document your team agreements so you can refer to them as time goes on.

Enjoy getting hours back in your day!  As I mentioned, you should be able to eliminate at least 20% of your meetings and make another 40% shorter or more efficient.  Would your team be happy if you could put hours back in their day?

If you find this newsletter or our other editions helpful, we would be thrilled if you encouraged other leaders to subscribe.  Forward them this email and ask them to click the "subscribe" button at the top.

Partners We Love

Together With HealthDrive

HealthDrive has over 30 years of experience as the leading provider of on-site healthcare services in long-term care. With nearly 500 medical and dental professionals and one million patient encounters per year, HealthDrive is fulfilling its mission "to elevate health outcomes and improve the quality of life." HealthDrive offers a variety of Dental, Podiatry, Optometry, Audiology, and Mental Health services within their markets. Innovative technology, administrative and regulatory support, as well as reliability, are just a few of the things that drive HealthDrive's commitment and continued success.

Not only is HealthDrive a partner of NHA Stand-Up, but they're also a partner I have utilized in the communities I support for years. Their model, ability to execute consistently, and reliability are spectacular. If you're interested in learning more, visit their website here and reach out to Rachel Wells at rwells@healthdrive.com.

Grab your coffee and make it a great day.  We appreciate you and your dedication to your team and residents. -Thank you!