Episode 35: Why Meetings Fail with Oscar Santalo

Jimmy Pruitt

5 years ago

Importance of Meetings

•Establishes alignment: allows for discussion of complex issues and for the team to get on the same page.

Helps leaders make better decisions when gaining insight from the team •
Builds stronger relationships: free-flowing ideas and personal interaction which can increase work success and productivity.
Information exchange: Communicate company updates and process changes
Promotes inclusion: avenue to freely express thoughts and ideas
Facilitates innovation: allows team to showcase critical thinking and creativity
Opportunity to share feedback: a great way to learn more about your team and areas you can improve
Improve employee engagement: when team members feel that their input is considered or solicited, it helps them feel valued about the job equals more productivity

Regardless of meeting type, whether formal or informal, traditional or agile, face-to-face or electronically, they feel overwhelmed
No agenda means no purpose for the meeting.
No clear plan and goal of what you want to achieve.
No advanced communication can lead to people arriving unprepared or not showing up at all
No interaction as in talking at team members and not promoting opportunities for feedback
Executives spend an average of nearly 23 hours per week in meetings and that excludes impromptu meetings
Conflict can lead to a negative environment and distraction from the agenda
Not summarizing actions – next steps are unclear, no action plan
These issues lead to meeting failures which increase costs and decrease productivity, focus, and engagement

Only 17% reported that their meetings are generally productive uses of group and individual time

Time is zero-sum (time spent doing more of one thing means less of another)
Deep work meaning the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task
Having fewer meetings and running them poorly allows for more solo tasks and deep thinking, but weakens group productivity and collaboration
Dysfunctional meeting behaviors (including wandering off-topic, complaining, and criticizing) decrease decreases market share, innovation, and employment stability
Happiness: Job satisfaction correlates with the effectiveness of meetings.
Bad meetings can undermine communication and collaboration leading to less satisfaction.

Collect data: Survey should include questions about emotions felt about meetings, hours spent in meetings, the balance between group and individual work-time, the impact o work quality, and identifying best practices
Interpret data: By doing this together, you are generating widespread understanding and buy-in from your team as you try to make the systemic change
Goal: Meeting free periods allows time to feel like they have freedom and flexibility to get tasks done and free up time in the schedule.
Handoffs are good because they require less time and people and still an adequate exchange of information to keep everyone updated.
Use pulse checks to identify how employees feel about the way they spend their time and how they are doing working on a team •

Pharmacists are constantly in meetings
- The administrative role has a higher volume of meetings
Distractions during meetings can lead to misunderstandings and mistakes
- Improper “go-live” or medication safety issue
Meeting failures can decrease team satisfaction thus decrease productivity in pharmacy
- Promote high tension in an already stressful work environment
- The team feels a disconnect between themselves and the leader
- More push back on new initiatives