The only 6 meetings you should have (cancel the rest)
Use this framework to decide if it should be a meeting
Morrrrning team,
On average, I speak to 50 managers directly every single day. Through coaching, DMs, emails, workshops Q&As, comments etc and collectively… We’ve got a huge problem.
DAILY, I hear:
‘I never have enough time to manage, whilst also doing my job’
And I ALWAYS follow up by saying…
“Tell me how many hours of your week you spend in meetings”
They all tend to respond with a sort of grimace, smiley, ‘eek’ kind of look.
Time is such a funny concept in management. It’s a finite resource. Yet we seem to give it away easier than money, trust and love (all of which are technically infinite).
And I know we have bosses to please and 1-on-1s to run.
I’m not saying all meetings are useless.
But what would happen if we got REALLY strict over our time?
If we started to realise that when we get a random, 1hr meeting invite for tomorrow afternoon, with no agenda, barely any explanation and it’s right in the middle of your deep focus work time… We say NO.
This is stealing your time. Someone with a lack of respect over their own time, who now wants to take yours away too.
Not on your watch.
About 3 years ago, I built a framework for my team to END toxic meeting culture.
It’s called ‘should this really be a meeting’. And will run you through all the dos and don’ts of sending and accepting meeting invites.
Including the 6 meeting types
You CAN become a master of your time. I promise your boss will respect you more in the long run for being protective over your time (even if it pisses them off a little bit at first).
The full framework below is behind a paywall as it is very valuable. Paid members keep scrolling to access. You can subscribe below for £10pm, you’ll get:
2 extra leadership frameworks like this every month
Free access to my paid workshops (usually £25, next one in july)
Forever discounts to all courses
Early access to all community events.
Cancel at least 50% of your meetings this week
I used to start my weeks by going through my calendar and cancelling at least half of my meetings. I’m deadly serious. And those I couldn’t cancel I would ask for a 1hr to be done in 20 mins.
This framework was one of my faves I’ve ever built - It actually got picked up by the team at Sage to start distributing around their employees too because it was so helpful.
So once you feel comfortable with the concepts yourself, I’d encourage you share it within your team to encourage a healthy meeting culture too.
Below you can see my meeting decision tree, along with the only 6 meeting types that are useful.
Download a high-quality version of the framework here.
Enjoy reading and digesting - This is a really old version I built, I’m going to get it re-branded up alongside the new brand next month, so when that happens I’ll make a much nicer graphic that you can put on your office walls (like we had) 🙌
If NOTHING else - Go through your calendar this week and cancel at least 2 of your meetings.
Peace,
H