TAILOR MAKE YOUR MEETINGS TO FIT THEIR PURPOSE

I'm thinking that we have all become blind to new ways to meet and connect with various people and groups and even with ourselves. We need new types of connections to do our work well.

It's like a crazy template for meetings got embedded in our DNA and we can't change them. 

A few thoughts:

--Design your calendar.  Don't just schedule events and meetings.  If you are the CEO or top executive your calendar should feel like a tailor made suit--perfectly made to fit just you.  This is one area where I stand for the rest of 
the company adjusting to you and your needs.

--Think of meetings as connections that move things forward. What needs to move forward?  Who needs to be in the room to do that?  

--Have purpose driven meetings with different configurations for different purposes.

--What about a few uncomfortable meetings.  Who needs to meet with you at the same time to ensure understanding and collaboration especially people who don't like each other or are super competitive with one another.  Meet with just them together--with a purpose they both share.

--Standing only meetings that are short and sweet for reports on results that are weekly.  Do follow up only with problem results.

--Think about which meetings should not automatically be chunked up into meeting say 6 times every two weeks for two hours.  How about doing the same work in two straight uninterrupted days?

--Most meetings feel like something that is happening to the participants (even the person who called the meeting) rather than with one another. There is a deadly dullness that creeps in. The regular weekly or bi-weekly meetings are almost a resting place for stressed-out exhausted executives--a little 
island of respite from the fray.  Tell your reports to keep open a regular time to meet.  Then decide whether you want to use it to move something forward.  If not, give them the real respite time.

--Choose a day periodically to have "office hours".  Sign up anyone in the organization that has a gripe or idea or wants to talk to you.  Keep each discussion  to fifteen minutes. Your admin will ring them in and out.  

You get the point.  Loosen up your ideas about meetings.  Design your connections to tailor fit your needs and the needs of the business.  Kill most regularly scheduled meeting for one period and see what happens. Who cares that you did?  What didn't get done?  Or better yet, what did get done?

Play with this idea. It works whether connections are virtual or face-to-face
Would love to hear any new ideas on how you connect to run your business.
The bolder the better!