{"id":16307,"date":"2021-01-15T10:00:41","date_gmt":"2021-01-15T10:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=16307"},"modified":"2021-04-15T09:42:50","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T08:42:50","slug":"whats-the-point-the-importance-of-well-thought-out-meetings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/whats-the-point-the-importance-of-well-thought-out-meetings\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the Point? The Importance of Well Thought Out Meetings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every leadership meeting at Amazon starts the same way: complete and utter silence for up to 30 minutes. Employees remain silent while reading an in-depth, six-page memo. Only when everyone is finished does the meeting truly begin. It\u2019s a strange approach to meetings, but it\u2019s hugely useful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For new employees, Amazon\u2019s meetings can seem utterly alien. But once they\u2019re over the initial shock, employees learn to love the format because it removes a lot of friction from meetings. Some business leaders took on this approach for their remote workforce even during the pandemic by sharing memos ahead of video meetings. Attendees are more engaged, informed, and less distracted\u2014something facilitators everywhere dream about. But these efficient meetings are somewhat of a rarity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Across the world, millions of meetings are derailed each day from the friction caused by poor structures, bad habits, and malfunctioning technology.\u00a0<\/span>As we saw with Amazon, good meetings don\u2019t happen by accident; they require careful forethought and planning. Organisers need to think critically about the challenges they face and take steps to mitigate them. This is especially true with virtual meetings as we continue to work remotely, where effective discussion relies on everything going right.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some of the things we learnt from influential companies about how to run better meetings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Control the number of attendees<\/b><\/h2>\n

Steve Jobs<\/a>, co-founder of Apple, was the master of meeting sizes. He was unrelenting when it came to enforcing the small-meeting rule. Ken Segall, Jobs\u2019 long-term advertising partner, recalled just how blunt Jobs could be. One morning, Jobs arrived at Segall\u2019s ad agency for his bi<\/a>-weekly update meeting. Jobs\u2019 eyes swept the room, taking note of those in attendance. Then he spotted someone new who he immediately questioned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If meetings were growing too large, Jobs wasn\u2019t afraid to ask people to leave\u2014and he was right to. Robert Sutton, professor of management science at Stanford University, analysed the effect of group size on decision making. He discovered the sweet spot was between five and eight meeting participants. Veer outside the limits and you\u2019d undermine the work.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t