The lost art of meetings (part 1)

Send an agenda before the meetings you host.

Not a long document or a formal memo. Just a few clear lines about what we are there to do.

When there is no agenda, people arrive guessing. Is this a brainstorm or a decision? An update or a debate? Should they prepare data or just show up? The first ten minutes are spent calibrating.

An agenda changes the tone before the meeting even starts.

It signals that the time has shape and meaning, that you have thought carefully about the purpose, and it gives people the clarity to prepare properly or step out if they are not the right voice for the conversation, which quietly saves hours over the course of a month.

Try to keep it simple.

The outcome we are aiming for.

The two or three topics that matter.

Any pre reading. That is usually enough.

Doing this I find sharpens my own thinking. If I cannot write a clear agenda, the meeting probably is not ready to happen.

In a fast paced world, calendars becomre packed with meetings that have multiplied without intention.

Sending an agenda is a small act of stewardship. It respects other people’s time and it protects your own.

Small signals travel far.