Nothing to talk about at your next meeting? Let’s change that.
“Meetings are a huge opportunity for improving team performance and collective intelligence. And a huge opportunity cost when they’re unplanned.”
We recently learned that our client Josh, a startup director, felt frustrated because his monthly leadership team meeting kept getting cancelled without a clear reason being given.
Josh had the impression that his leader was cancelling the leadership team meeting because they didn’t know what to use the time for.
Josh, however, craved the clarity and team alignment that could be gained through these meetings.
As busy leaders, there’s an understandable temptation to cancel the leadership meeting when everything's humming along and there are no fires to react to. We see an opportunity to get a beautiful, spacious hour back on our calendars to do our “real work” instead.
What we’re not seeing is how important the leadership meeting is for proactively leading our teams and preventing fires.
So don’t cancel your next leadership meeting just because you’re unsure of what the team would work on. Instead, proactively design a meeting that seizes this opportunity to lead your team by learning together, clarifying goals, and building trust.
I can help you get you started in planning your next meeting with proactive topics your leadership team can address together.
Proactive Topics for Your Next Leadership Team Meeting
Meetings are a huge opportunity for improving team performance and collective intelligence. And they're a huge opportunity cost when they're not well thought out ahead of time.
Use this positively framed, proactive list of team meeting topics below to get your gears turning and design a meeting that serves your team – who just might be craving your leadership.
1. Strategic Goal Alignment
Regular alignment ensures your leaders are moving forward in the same direction and keeps your organization focused on what matters most.
What are we focused on this year?
What progress have we made towards our goals?
Is anything getting in our way – external forces, internal team issues or even individual fears?
2. Shared Learning
Create space to bring forward recent learning experiences. When leaders from different areas share what they’ve learned, it helps ensure your team isn’t operating in a silo.
What are you seeing and hearing from clients?
What did you take away from a recent conference?
What feedback did you get at the cross-functional summit?
3. Ideas & Feedback
Regardless of your leadership style, there’s always room to listen to your leadership team’s challenges, interests, ideas and feedback. Creating a process for ideas and feedback surfaces risks early, strengthens trust, and taps into the collective intelligence of the leadership team.
What ideas or opportunities should we explore as a leadership team?
What challenges are you experiencing that the whole team should be aware of?
4. Strengthening Governance
Designing how the team can communicate better or how decisions are made gets your team into the higher performing zone.
How does your team currently operate?
Are there opportunities for operations and governance to be smoother?
As the leader, it’s your obligation to prepare and curate the important time your team has set aside for meetings.
Any meeting topic requires preparation to frame the conversation at the appropriate scale, design the conversation process, and assemble any pre-read documents so that the team starts at the same page.
The reward is a clear, productive and satisfying team meeting – one that the client Josh, whom I talked about earlier, was desperately seeking from his leader.
Canceling meetings is only the best option when the leader is unprepared and time will be wasted – not because there’s "nothing to react to.”
Summary: Leaders Can Be Proactive About Their Leadership Team Meetings
First, recognize the opportunity team meetings hold for proactive leadership – not just reactive needs and fires.
Then, translate your thoughts into clear, productive and meaningful team meetings.
Choose outcomes that drive toward your vision of success and design processes that achieve those outcomes.
Cancel the meeting if you’re not prepared so you don’t waste others’ time. Don’t cancel the meeting just because there’s nothing to react to.
Meeting design and proactive meeting topics are essential for your teams’ success. We’re here to help you build an effective meeting for your leadership team.
