Today’s topic is meetings. We all have them, and most of the time, meetings are boring and useless. But this doesn’t have to be the case.
A while back, I worked on a large enterprise systems modernization project. There were a few dozen teams involved and tens of millions of dollars at stake.
We had lots of meetings. Progress meetings. Planning meetings. Problem meetings.
One executive always showed up prepared and super focused.
When I asked him what his secret was, he said that he prepares for each meeting like a CEO.
If you want to be successful and deliver results like a CEO, you have to prepare like one.
Here’s how to prepare for meetings like a CEO.
Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance
Meetings, like anything we do, require preparation. The biggest problem is wasting everyone’s time.
Think about this scenario.
If you have ten people attend a 1-hour meeting and the average hourly cost is $50, that’s $500 down the drain if the meeting doesn’t achieve its objective. And most of the time meetings don’t even have objectives or agendas.
Think about how much money is being spent on useless meetings.
The answer is to spend a minimum of 5 minutes preparing for each meeting. It doesn’t matter if you are the one running the meeting or participating. Here is the simple framework:
- Objective
- Updates and Tasks
- Due Dates
Let’s break down each of these pillars.
The Meeting Objective
Each meeting should have a single objective. It keeps the meeting focused and short. And it helps everyone prepare for the meeting knowing what the objective is.
To prepare for the meeting outline:
- The issue that led to the meeting
- Possible consequences
- The objective
With the objective in mind, you can move on to the next step.
Updates and Tasks
Each meeting will have a certain amount of work that could be done before the meeting starts. Breaking down this work and doing it before the meeting will help you discuss the right issues. You will stop wasting time in meetings.
Before the meeting, send out the objective and list asynchronous tasks and updates that meeting participants need to do.
- Document reviews
- Status updates
- Research
Assign specific tasks and ask everyone to timebox each update. Finally, share these updates with everyone attending the meeting.
Due Dates
No meeting should end in ambiguity. Instead, you should end each meeting with action steps to move the issue forward and resolve it.
To help with this, you should set the due dates before the meeting begins. For example, here’s an example due date schedule for an investor presentation:
- Research Plan: Oct 26
- First Draft: Oct 30
- Final Draft: Nov 5
- Investor Presentation: Nov 8
Having due dates listed before the meeting creates a sense of urgency.
Helpful Tip: When setting due dates, keep the date firm but flexible on the scope of work.
Today’s Action Steps
Prepare for your next meeting like a CEO. Set the objective. Do and assign the prep work. Create a due dates schedule.
Today:
- Review your upcoming meetings
- Pick a quick meeting to start with (e.g. Status Update)
- Follow the framework to prepare for the meeting
Watch your productivity skyrocket.
Outro
There are many reasons to skip preparing for meetings. The meeting is quick. The meeting is not important. The meeting is just a time filler.
And for all of those, I think you should skip preparation because you should skip those meetings altogether.
For those meetings that are important, you should prepare. All it takes is 5 minutes, and you will be a thousand miles ahead of everyone else.
— And that’s all for this week. See you next Monday.
P.S. I’d love to hear what challenges you are facing in your business. What I can write about to help you personally?