I’ve facilitated 1,000+ meetings. Here’s why most of yours are failing—and how to fix them

Turn your meetings from calendar clutter to critical time together.

[Source Photo: Gorodenkoff/Adobe Stock]

We’ve grown to despise meeting culture, and I understand why. Think about the last few meetings you’ve attended. How many of them felt clear, succinct, like a truly effective use of your time? 

I’ve sat through more meetings than I can count—many of them with half the participants multitasking, cameras on but minds elsewhere. As a certified facilitator who has designed everything from executive offsites to weekly team stand-ups, I’ve learned that most meetings fail not because people don’t care, but because leaders treat meetings as a necessary evil instead of the expensive, high-stakes collaboration moments they actually are. 

“But what can we do about it?” you might lament. “Bad meetings are a part of getting work done.”

While it’s true that meetings are a critical part of doing business, they don’t have to be bad. Here are five of the most common mistakes I see people make when it comes to meetings—and simple fixes you can implement today to start making the most of your meeting time.

Mistake 1: You don’t start with the end in mind

You may think you know what a meeting is for: the title of your meeting explains the purpose or your agenda lays out what you hope to cover. But really, the most important planning step is having a clear vision of the intended outcome of the meeting.

Think about what you want people to walk away from each meeting with. Are they coming away with information? Are they supposed to finish having made a decision? Is the goal to simply introduce a topic and tease out which smaller group should convene for more specific next steps? Are they supposed to have a deeper understanding of their peers’ priorities?

When people know where the conversation is supposed to lead, they can both prepare and participate more effectively. Plus, this makes it easy to close the loop with action items related to your objective (another element of successful meetings).

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