In our next three posts, we're tackling one of the most powerful and abused venues of company interaction: meetings.

Why you might ask? Just simply ask yourself, how many hours a month do you think you spend in unproductive, frustrating, useless, boring meetings? And multiply that number by the number of employees in your company. Ouch! I know. And we're not just talking about the enormous waste of time, energy and financial resources, but also that of human contribution. Imagine what you could accomplish in that wasted time.

Now imagine what your team could accomplish.

So many meetings have the best of intentions. And yet the basic underpinnings of the culture can undermine ever effort to have an effective meeting. Before you have another meeting, have your entire team agree to participating in meetings based on these 11 commitments.

Worthwhile Meetings Part I:
11 Commitments to Create Cultural Context & Expectations for Meetings

• In respect to your co-workers - be on time.
• Read and digest all supporting documentation prior to the meeting.
• Be curious and fully present. Listen and contribute.
• Assume this meeting will uncover a better outcome/answer than the one you believe to be true.
• Say what is. Express your concerns and questions IN the meeting, not after.
• Commitment to kind, candid and constructive communication. Also be concise.
• Commitment to reaching an outcome that is best for the organization as a whole.
• Only commit to action items and timelines that that you will follow through on.
• Once the decision is made, support it.
• Don’t be political - “Politics is when people choose their words and actions based on how they want others to react rather than based on what they really think.” Patrick Lencioni
• Don’t dominate the conversation.

Next week we’ll talk about the 6 Critical Considerations BEFORE having a meeting.