WEBVTT - Make Meetings Better 0:00:01.280 --> 0:00:04.240 Recently, we heard from a listener who has something about work. 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:09.520 She just hates Hi. There, this is Grace calling for work. 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:15.840 For me, I feel like meetings are something that just 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:20.200 creep into my life and calendar and before I know, 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:23.680 it's day is over and I haven't gotten anything done. 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:27.960 So I guess my question is, how do you find 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:33.440 the balance of meetings when you work at a company. Yeah, 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:36.440 I hear you, Grace. You're not the only one who 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:39.840 thinks that meetings are a hellish time suck. In fact, 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:44.440 it's a common theme on the ted Talk productivity Expert circuit. 0:00:45.040 --> 0:00:47.040 There's the moderator has no idea how to run the meeting. 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:49.720 There are the participants have no idea why they're there. 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:52.840 The whole thing kind of collapses into this collaborative train, 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:58.640 and meetings are just toxic, terrible, poisonous things. During the 0:00:58.720 --> 0:01:01.560 day of work, the man your calls the meeting so 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:04.039 the employees can all come together, and it's an incredibly 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:07.160 disruptive thing to do to people because meetings aren't work. 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:09.679 Meetings there are places to go talk about things you're 0:01:09.680 --> 0:01:12.200 supposed to be doing later. The average meeting, if you 0:01:12.240 --> 0:01:16.200 look at it um it goes too long. It's badly ran. 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:20.440 We spend about of our time collaborating with people, which 0:01:20.440 --> 0:01:22.680 makes it more and more difficult to get our work done. 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:25.560 So we're doing too much of it and most of 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:29.600 it has handled badly, but our meetings guaranteed to be terrible. 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:33.720 Is there something we can do besides canceling all meetings altogether? 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.200 I'm going to find out. This week on Works for Me, 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:51.920 I make over the weekly team meeting. Hi, I'm Becca 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.840 Greenfield and I'm Francesco Et. Every week on Works for Me, 0:01:56.000 --> 0:01:58.360 one of us focuses on a real life work problem 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.360 that she's having and try to solve it. That way, 0:02:01.400 --> 0:02:04.200 we can see if the solutions that productivity experts are 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:09.679 selling will work for you. And this week it's Francesca's turn. Francesca, 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.399 what productivity problem is preventing you from being your best 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:17.200 work self? I want to get better at meetings. I 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:20.120 go to a lot of meetings, I run a few meetings, 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.200 and I'm pretty sure I'm not doing it right. So 0:02:23.240 --> 0:02:26.440 what do you think you're doing wrong? I've set up 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:28.680 so many meetings where I feel like people kind of 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:32.000 shuffle in and they stare blankly while I talk and 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:34.200 they maybe don't even think they should be there, and 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:35.440 then I end up doing a lot of the talking 0:02:35.520 --> 0:02:38.400 just to Philly mp space. And I think if I 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:42.320 were better at something like preparing people for the meeting 0:02:42.560 --> 0:02:45.680 or saying the right things in the meeting, then people 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:47.639 would be interested and they would get a lot out 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:50.160 of it. So I want to learn the skills that 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:53.560 make a meeting like that, which is hard because everybody 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.639 hates meetings. Everyone's been on the other side where you're 0:02:56.680 --> 0:02:59.680 just like, why am I on this list of eleven 0:02:59.760 --> 0:03:03.800 DP people totally to talk about this abstract thing that 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:05.880 nobody has explained to me, And it's just a meeting 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:08.440 appointment that appeared on my calendar, and now I have 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:11.799 to sit in the room and listen to somebody blather on, 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:14.680 and I'm on my phone the whole time, like checking 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.880 my calendar and sending emails. Or there's the meeting where 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.400 it's almost the opposite, where everyone feels like they need 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:23.840 to participate to prove themselves, which again is useless in 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:28.040 a different way. I really just the performative very popular 0:03:28.080 --> 0:03:31.760 in the journalism world. It's a performer. So that's another 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.440 type of meeting that I think is bad. Are you 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:36.400 a meetings person? Like? Do you generally? Are you one 0:03:36.400 --> 0:03:38.360 of those people who hates meetings? I know the answer 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:40.200 to this one. You love meetings. I like a good 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:43.600 I like in person conversations, but I don't. I don't 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:47.640 like meetings that are pointless. Right, who does you say 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.280 you want to be better at meetings? So where are 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:52.440 you going to start? There's one meeting I have that 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.839 I think has gone pretty far off the rails. As 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:57.560 you know, I'm the head of podcast here a Bloomberg, 0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.800 So I set up a regular check in where the 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:03.320 small group of producers on my team can come in 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:05.560 and share what they're working on, get updates from me, 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:11.280 and ask questions. It sounds useful to me. It should be, 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:14.040 but it's just kind of blah. I don't think anyone 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:17.240 really wants to be there. Sometimes, if somebody's out or 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:20.680 if I'm just busy, I'll cancel the meeting. And when 0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:22.039 we do have it, I feel like I have to 0:04:22.240 --> 0:04:25.280 drag the team from their desks to the conference room 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:30.040 and then it's this lackluster round table of updates. This 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.159 is a meeting we recorded recently, and here's the vibe 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:37.960 in the conference room when we all get together, all right, mangus, 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:45.160 why don't you start? Oh, does anyone happen in general announcements? Um? Right. 0:04:45.200 --> 0:04:48.720 The most exciting it gets is when we go way 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:51.640 off track to talk about our personal lives or movies 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:57.160 we like, which happens a lot. It's if you if 0:04:57.200 --> 0:04:59.240 you do end up liking someone, you either have to 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:02.400 be like, okay, hours up, or you have to really 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:04.839 contrive something to do, because trying to find something to 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.080 do in New York City at three o'clock in the 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:10.200 afternoon on a Saturday is kind of hard. Yeah, you're 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:14.039 definitely getting maximum engagement in the times that I don't 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:18.720 think are really work related. Yeah, the banter um like 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:20.520 what you just heard that that can go on for 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:22.200 a while, or meetings supposed to be a half hour 0:05:22.279 --> 0:05:23.840 and it can go forty five minutes or an hour 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.159 just with like that advanter. Yeah, I know I've been there. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:29.680 I've been in those meetings. Are you guys talking about 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:33.200 where to go on a date in the afternoon? Just 0:05:33.440 --> 0:05:36.280 wondering what I think. There was a conversation about like 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:40.440 what young people do on dates these days, and there 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:45.520 was a disagreement over weather coffee dates are okay or not. 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.120 I've been on some coffee dates. I think coffee dates 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:50.560 are fine. I'm not a fan. See if this were 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:52.960 my team meeting, we'd be talking about this for a 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.279 long time. This is why it happens because it's fun 0:05:55.320 --> 0:05:58.720 to talk about not work. Yeah, that's exactly the problem. 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.240 Like I'm I'm always down a chat and be social, 0:06:01.839 --> 0:06:04.200 But when nothing else meaningful happens in the meeting, I 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:07.119 feel like I'm doing a bad job because it's my meeting. 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.279 It makes me feel like a bad boss if I 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.360 don't get us to actually follow through on the real 0:06:12.360 --> 0:06:14.760 purpose of the meeting, which is to keep everybody in 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:23.400 foremants solve problems as they come up. So you want 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:28.720 to create this perfect, engaging, meaningful, useful meeting that proves 0:06:29.160 --> 0:06:31.320 that you are the good boss that you are. So 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:33.720 how are you going to do that? There are a 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:37.080 lot of solutions out there, So I'm going to talk 0:06:37.080 --> 0:06:40.400 to a bunch of meetings experts and enlist them to 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:43.719 help me revamp my sad little team meeting. But first 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.479 I need to diagnose the problem with this meeting. In particular. 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:49.760 To do that, I'm going to talk to my team. 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:52.240 My name is Magnus Henricson. My name is Toford for 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:56.280 my name is Liz Smith Magnus. We have a weekly 0:06:56.360 --> 0:07:00.440 team meeting every Monday in Theory. Yeah all did lie? 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:04.840 I uh, I like it when it happens we don't 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:08.960 have them enough, I guess I feel like we haven't 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:11.040 had a meeting. I know we haven't. I guess that's 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:15.040 kind of well, that's an issue with the meetings. They're inconsistent. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:19.320 I particularly love having a team meeting every week. We 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:23.040 all have different projects that we're working on, and it's 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:25.480 nice to come together and hear what other people are 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.920 working on. UM and then I think, just as a unit, 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:31.640 there are a lot of questions that we have, and 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:35.360 it gives us an opportunity to ask those questions and 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:39.640 sort of put our heads together to answer those questions. 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:41.800 It's a bit of a social event too. What do 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.720 you think would make the meeting better? I think that 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.960 making ourselves have it every week is step one. So 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:53.040 the more consistency the better. I do feel sometimes that 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.200 the question asked is so open ended, well, like what 0:07:56.240 --> 0:07:59.720 do you have coming up? That sometimes I feel I 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:02.840 don't It's hard to find a balance of what people 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:05.320 need to know or not. I like hearing, you know, 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:07.240 just going around the circles, seeing what everybody's up to 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:10.080 and what they have coming down the pipeline. And it's 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:14.560 a team obviously pretty important to literally work well together, 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:17.200 but to kind of get to know each other and 0:08:17.600 --> 0:08:20.840 have a good social rapport. All right, thanks Liz anytime, 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:26.400 Thanks so for yeah, thank you anything else? Great, great job, 0:08:26.640 --> 0:08:30.600 thank you, thank you for coming in today, magnus, thank you. 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:34.080 This a beautiful space. Have Yeah, I know. So my 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:37.120 team doesn't hate this meeting. In fact, they value it 0:08:37.240 --> 0:08:39.600 enough to feel annoyed when it falls through the cracks. 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:43.080 But they definitely have some complaints. There's a lack of structure, 0:08:43.440 --> 0:08:45.160 no one is sure how long it's going to go 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.959 and what they're expected to say. And honestly, the thing 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:50.959 that they seem to like best about the meeting is 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:52.880 that it's a time to goof often get to know 0:08:52.920 --> 0:08:55.360 each other and to your stories. Which might be a 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:59.240 fun meeting, but it isn't necessarily an effective or productive one. 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:03.640 And explain why you don't like the meeting, because I mean, 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:06.520 you like it probably having fun too, But you're the 0:09:06.559 --> 0:09:09.480 boss and the situation and probably wants something to come 0:09:09.480 --> 0:09:11.920 out of it. I can feel productive, right, I can 0:09:11.960 --> 0:09:14.920 see them enjoying the parts of it that aren't really relevant. 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:17.600 And then I'm wondering, like if I'm doing a good 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.240 job of manage it, and it's the point of the 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:24.280 social hour, And now that you've gotten everybody's input, what 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:27.920 is your next step. I'll spend a few weeks talking 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.160 to experts and trying to design a whole new kind 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:33.680 of meeting. The big payoff will be when I invite 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.079 everyone to an all new, vastly improved weekly team chat. 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.280 And what will your measure of success be for this 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:43.839 new and improved meeting. Basically, if my team says they 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.640 like it better, I'll believe them and I'll call it 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:54.760 a success. The first problem I tackled was the structure. 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:59.800 Thing the producers had mentioned that our meeting well had none. 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:03.479 I thought about one thing the meeting didn't have, and agenda. 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:08.280 Serious meetings have agendas. They have memos or power point 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:11.760 dex with a list of things to talk about. All 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:14.320 I had to do was write one of those and 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:19.079 voila structure. Right. What it comes down to is what's 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:23.720 on the agenda did you build this agenda by considering 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:28.360 various viewpoints and perspectives? Are the items on the agenda 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:33.080 truly strategic and items that couldn't be assessed, you know, 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.240 or examined through just an email? Um? Do you involve 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:40.320 others in the agenda? Meet Steve Rogelberg. I found Steve 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.360 after talking to a lot of experts about the modern meeting, 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.000 and he was the answer to my meeting prayers. He 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.880 wrote a book called The Surprising Science of Meetings. The 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:51.920 great thing about Steve's book is that it tackles a 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:56.000 lot of the conventional wisdom about meetings with data, and 0:10:56.080 --> 0:10:59.560 something his research found is that agendas are very often 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:04.600 in a active So when we think about an agenda, 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:08.920 so many leaders just think that if they've done an agenda, 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:13.480 they have succeeded. But when you actually analyze agendas that 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:17.920 people use, the crazy thing is that probably are close 0:11:17.960 --> 0:11:23.400 to the time, it's the same agenda weekend and week out. 0:11:24.120 --> 0:11:26.600 What Steve saying is that agenda's only work if you 0:11:26.840 --> 0:11:29.680 thought deeply about whether each item on it really needs 0:11:29.720 --> 0:11:33.160 to be discussed at this particular meeting. And he's against 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:36.160 coming up with agendas in a vacuum. He gave me 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:38.520 the idea to ask other people in the meeting what 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:40.960 they wanted to talk about and assign them a time 0:11:41.000 --> 0:11:43.840 limit for each item. I knew all of that would 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.280 help with giving the meeting a structure, but a little 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:50.280 bit of structure isn't enough. I wanted structure on steroids 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:54.480 for that. Steve has another trick. Make meetings forty eight 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:58.400 minutes long exactly. I don't want leaders to see sixty 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:02.480 minutes of some magical time that they really can think 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:06.360 carefully about the time um that was needed to address 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:09.040 what they think they have on there. So decide how 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:11.480 much time you think it will take, but then take 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:15.280 five minutes off to kind of create some of that pressure. 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.959 And I think that when a meeting leader is playing 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:22.920 with the amounts of time, then it creates a curiosity. 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:27.320 It makes it seem like something unique and special is happening. 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.440 By slicing a small, highly specific amount of time off 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.959 of that predictable sixty minute block, Steve's research shows you 0:12:35.000 --> 0:12:37.720 can keep people from falling into a lull and also 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:39.960 force them to stay on schedule. And if a meeting 0:12:40.040 --> 0:12:43.200 start time is very specific, people are more likely to 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:45.480 assume there's a reason for it and to get their 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:49.480 own time. So I sent around a meeting invitation with 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:53.400 a start time of eleven twelve. Exactly what were people's 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:56.800 reactions when they got Did they notice where they like 0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.480 this as a type of um, what am I going 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.240 to do for twelve minutes between eleven and eleven twelve? 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:04.800 There was a lot of intrigue about the eleven twelve 0:13:04.880 --> 0:13:06.439 start time. I got a lot of comments about it 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:10.640 and email and chat. So mission accomplished, right, right, that's 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:13.400 what you want, an element of surprise them off. Okay, 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:16.120 so you're really focused on the structure of the meeting 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:20.080 as it's happening, keeping it on track. Were there are 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:23.600 other problems that the meeting experts helped you solve? Yeah? 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:27.760 There was one other main problem that came up after 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.000 I talked to the team and just from my own 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:34.000 observations of the meeting, which was getting everybody excited about it. 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:37.200 That meant getting people excited about the parts of the 0:13:37.240 --> 0:13:40.440 meeting that we're work related, not just laughing about like 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:44.200 tender dates or funny things our kids did. Steve says 0:13:44.240 --> 0:13:46.120 that the meeting leader should think of themselves as the 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:48.720 host of a party, someone making good use of other 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.319 people's time. You have to be happy to be there 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:56.600 to create an atmosphere of positivity. Thinking about meeting leadership 0:13:56.679 --> 0:14:02.000 differently is really the most important first step in solving 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:07.199 the meeting problem. The most effective leaders recognize that they 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:13.360 are a steward of others time. The tactics, approaches, and 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.240 processes that you choose are going to be different when 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:21.400 you truly embrace your stewardship role. If I wanted everyone 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:23.800 pumped and ready to talk about work, I needed to 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:27.120 prepare ahead of time. Remember how Steve said I should 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:29.600 involve everyone in the agenda. I was going to do 0:14:29.680 --> 0:14:33.080 it in a way that got them excited. Two days 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.760 before the meeting, I sent everyone an email that began 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:40.720 this way, Hi, hope everyone's looking forward to tomorrow's team 0:14:40.720 --> 0:14:44.120 meeting as much as I am. Please do two things 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:45.880 in advance of the meeting so that we can make 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.200 the most of our discussion and ensure everyone's time and 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:53.640 efforts are valued. I continued the email by asking everyone 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.520 to suggest an agenda item, warning them that they have 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:58.720 five to seven minutes of a lot of discussion time, 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:02.080 and then having them prepared to discuss highlight from the week, 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:04.880 a long term issue, and an update on their work 0:15:05.000 --> 0:15:10.400 that week. I finished with a lot of exclamation points. Wow, 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:13.120 I have never received an email like that about a meeting. 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:18.160 What were people's reactions? Yeah, this is not my normal 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:23.440 email tone, so I expected a lot of like what 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:26.360 the hell, Francesca. Well, it's also asking a lot of 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.320 people to prepare for me, which usually you like a 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.640 remember of a meeting in five minutes and show up. 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:36.560 So nobody responded to the tone like nobody said Nobody 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:38.960 pointed out that I sounded kind of crazy and overly 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:42.680 happy and excited about the meeting or fake even um 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.720 and everybody did actually put together what I asked them 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:48.040 by the deadline that I gave them. I'm em passed. 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:52.440 People responded, good job, team. I mean, they could have 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:53.880 just ignored it, and then I would have really been 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.360 in a pickle because we would have had no collaborative 0:15:56.360 --> 0:16:00.320 agenda at all. So once I kind of like gathered 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.160 together everyone's responses and adapted them to the format I 0:16:03.200 --> 0:16:07.560 was thinking about, I had enough for my awesome, dynamic agenda, 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:13.200 but making the meeting exciting, productive, actionable that was going 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:15.000 to take more than just an agenda. I would have 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.720 to work to keep their attention and interest throughout the 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:21.240 course of the meeting itself. To spark joy and delight 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:23.960 in each moment, I'd have to be a great wedding 0:16:24.000 --> 0:16:47.080 DJ basically find out how that goes. After the break, 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:56.400 the day of the meeting had finally arrived. It was 0:16:56.440 --> 0:17:00.400 going to be structured and focused, fun and thought for poking. 0:17:01.040 --> 0:17:03.720 It was a Thursday, not our usual day for the meeting, 0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:06.399 so as to disrupt our normal routine and inject some 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:11.160 surprise into things, and it was nearing twelve minutes after eleven. 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:15.240 I put store bought donuts and several cups of fruit 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.359 salad from the drug store downstairs at the meeting table. 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:22.280 Food Steve's research has found is the number one way 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.320 to get people interested in a meeting. I had more 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:28.879 things placed strategically on the table, like a Rubik's cube 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:31.600 and several jars of toy slime that people could fidget with. 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.919 Steve had mentioned that the research supported using activities like 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:38.199 these to stimulate thought and keep people from playing with 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:41.280 their phones. Steve it also said that some leaders make 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:44.240 their meetings fun using music. So I blasted I of 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:49.560 the tiger as the three producers walked down. Hello, welcome 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:56.919 to the team meeting. Please help yourself to some fruit 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:00.080 or donta enjoy fiddling with some of these nine and 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:04.560 enhancing choys if you need something to do with your 0:18:04.600 --> 0:18:08.080 hands so as not to attempted to play with your phones. 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:12.560 The rooms keeps already solved. Though you sound like you're 0:18:12.600 --> 0:18:16.400 trying so hard. It was I truly was to be 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:22.200 like the MC of like a bought metzva that is 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:26.159 a meeting and the kids are just not having it. 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:31.000 I was my like amped up level was at around 0:18:31.040 --> 0:18:34.760 eleven and they came in a four. Yeah, but just reasonable, 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:39.199 fair meeting at eleven twelve on a Thursday. But I 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.040 was the party host, so I had to act like it. 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:44.560 So after everyone was settled and all this social engineering 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:48.600 was done, I got the meeting started. Great first bullet 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:53.000 on the agenda. For the rest of the meeting, I'm 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:57.560 going to give you a short, short presentation. Once we 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:00.840 started slogging through the agenda, the conver station slipped into 0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:03.240 the same rhythm we were used to, albeit a little 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.800 more organized and on topic. With one difference. Each agenda 0:19:06.840 --> 0:19:09.479 item was timed, so I had my eyes on the 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:12.520 clock constantly. After all, we had a lot to fit 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:16.240 in and only forty eight minutes exactly to do it in. 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:20.240 And then I'll just like once I had recorded, I'll 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:26.040 give you the low down. So many episodes, not like 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:30.440 when we have a new show, like having themes for show. 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:34.600 Oh yeah, the meaning seems to be moving along. Are 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.640 are you stressed out because you have to keep your 0:19:37.640 --> 0:19:41.520 eye on the clock though? Yeah. Completely. At one point, 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:43.840 Liz wanted to talk about something that I had forgotten 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:45.800 to put on the agenda, and so we had to 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:48.199 go off script, and I was trying so hard to 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.680 engage with the words she was saying, while being totally 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:54.800 conscious that we were not strictly following the agenda. Oh 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:57.560 that's unstressful. I mean, you're keeping the meaning on track, 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:00.399 but it's at the expensive your own engagement. But with 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:03.520 all of this engagement and efficiency going on, I didn't 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:05.919 want to lose the one thing about these meetings that 0:20:06.040 --> 0:20:08.720 everyone involved had said they enjoyed the opportunity to be 0:20:08.760 --> 0:20:11.479 social with their colleagues. So I scheduled five minutes at 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.800 the end for a team bonding activity. It was around 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.840 the holiday, so we picked names for a Secret Santa exchange. 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:25.360 So we have up to four minutes for for fun times. Cool, 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:31.920 you guys, just pick. Don't think I got myself. Okay, 0:20:31.920 --> 0:20:42.320 everybody for back. Okay, everybody gets somebody else. Yeah, all right, 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:45.920 we have to eat this, I guess. So alright Secret 0:20:45.960 --> 0:20:49.080 Santa gifts to end it next week Friday. Friday, we 0:20:49.119 --> 0:20:55.720 have like pizza or we were finally done, really great, 0:20:55.920 --> 0:21:04.879 really great meeting, guys. All right, bye, okay, Well that 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:06.680 was that was that was the music for you to 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:09.720 walk out on. Okay, So it seems like the over 0:21:09.800 --> 0:21:14.160 the top music can be next because mostly people made 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:17.399 fun of it. Yeah, and I didn't really have like 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:20.399 the audio visual expertise to make sure that it was 0:21:20.480 --> 0:21:24.800 like fading in and out appropriately. I'm just I picturing 0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:29.080 a scene scenes from Arrested Development. Otherwise, the meeting sounded 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:31.200 good to me, I think more importantly, how did you 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:33.760 feel about it? In the moment, I felt like really 0:21:33.800 --> 0:21:36.760 nervous about executing it well, and all of the timing 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:39.520 stuff really threw me off, Like I didn't realize how 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:41.600 much how difficult it was going to be to actually 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:44.040 think about what people were saying when I'm keeping an 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:47.360 eye on the clock. But we did keep on schedule 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:50.520 and people did get to say what they had to say, 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:53.160 So I guess in that respect it worked. Yeah, you're 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:57.359 you're a master of ceremonies as well as a member 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:09.440 of the team. That's a lot to juggle. Yeah, well, 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:14.600 the big question did your experiment succeed? Was the new 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:19.679 and improved meeting any better than the old one? I 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:23.680 talked to the team a second time to find out. Overall, 0:22:23.720 --> 0:22:26.640 I thought that it was a nice change to have 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:30.600 some structure to our meeting. Um, so we have a 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:33.720 specific time to get something done, and so we know 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:35.639 when we start, we know we're going to finish. We're 0:22:35.680 --> 0:22:37.600 now we're going to hit all the things and not 0:22:37.760 --> 0:22:40.439 get too off the beaten path, though there still was 0:22:40.520 --> 0:22:42.119 some time left for that at the end. So I 0:22:42.160 --> 0:22:45.400 feel like it encompassed everything that we could possibly need 0:22:45.520 --> 0:22:47.560 or want from a meeting. I thought it was good. 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:54.560 It was obviously a kind of artificial atmosphere in parts 0:22:55.720 --> 0:22:59.320 the music and the toys. See, I found the toys 0:22:59.359 --> 0:23:03.280 to be distract acting because, for instance, like the Rubik's Cube, 0:23:03.680 --> 0:23:06.800 I would start playing with it and then look at 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:09.600 me like, oh no, wait, I just lost twenty seconds 0:23:09.640 --> 0:23:13.719 of the meeting um and then the slime. I think 0:23:14.080 --> 0:23:18.160 it made Magnus's hands smell for hours afterwards. I think 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:20.520 of it in terms of, like, because I don't dread 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:23.320 these meetings. I've been editorial meetings before. We're like, we 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:25.560 do it every week and no one wants to be there, 0:23:25.800 --> 0:23:28.480 and so I don't feel that way here. It already 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:31.199 feels like not like high stakes. To me, it's already 0:23:31.320 --> 0:23:35.840 enjoyable and back and so like the music, I think 0:23:35.880 --> 0:23:38.399 just compliments that it makes me feel more relaxed. I 0:23:38.400 --> 0:23:41.439 don't think I checked my phone while I was in 0:23:41.520 --> 0:23:44.879 that meeting. Ok, Okay, you've got some positive feedback. I 0:23:44.920 --> 0:23:48.800 feel like that's a win. But also people definitely notice 0:23:48.880 --> 0:23:52.280 that some of it was contrived, so I don't think 0:23:52.320 --> 0:23:55.520