Transform a boring meeting!

From Fast Company:

You know your regular Update Meetings?

Let me guess – they have some useful bits. But they can be too long, repetitive, irrelevant and dull. And not much happens as a result of them.

Here are two techniques that change all that. Such that you enjoy them, and get lots from them. Here’s the first…

Replace “update” with “Best. Worst. Next.”

In other words, each attendee has 30 seconds max to share their:

  • Best thing since the last meeting – biggest success etc
  • Worst thing – their biggest challenge, and how they’re planning to overcome it
  • Next thing – their main focus for next week

This means that, after just a few minutes, you know the most important things everyone’s been doing. You then use the rest of the meeting to:

  • Learn from/copy each other’s best bits
  • Help people overcome challenges
  • Align activities for next week

This Next Tip works for those infrequent, big updates to your boss – like a Quarterly Business Review (QBR).

It’s MUCH better than the usual 100s of slides, and hours of prep.

Start with two slides...

The first is titled “Highlights – LAST three months” and has a 4-column table:

  1. Priority – list your boss’s top priorities – one in each row
  2. Our actions – the 3-5 main things you’ve done since the last QBR, to address each priority
  3. Outcomes – the results of each of these actions
  4. Page ref – the page(s) where they can read more detail on each action/outcome. (So, you’ll then have many of your usual slides at the back. These page refs mean they jump to the ones they’re most interested in

The second slide is identical, except it focuses on the NEXT three months. So:

  • Title is “Highlights – NEXT three months”
  • Four columns show the business’s priorities, which you’re planning to do, the outcomes you’re hoping for, and the page refs for more detail

These slides are easier, quicker, more relevant, more interesting, and cause a two-way chat – not a one-way rant