The highest leverage point for effective meetings is mature individuals.
By mature, I mean people who can self-manage.
By self-manage, I mean people who ask themselves key questions before they open their mouth in a meeting.
Questions like:
Who is this serving? (Am I trying to look smart or impress somebody? Does this serve only me or does it serve the group?)
What need of mine am I meeting by speaking up or asking this question?
Am I just wanting to be heard? (Perfectly OK. Just be clear within yourself and with the group.)
Do I have a request besides just being heard?
How can I make my request actionable, in the moment, so that I get the information I’m wanting from the group in a way that honors my own and everybody else’s time?
Do I have an objective, besides a present request, and is this the right forum to address that? (If it’s not the right forum — meaning that you are not with the people who can do something about your issue — maybe you’re just wanting to be heard, which, again, is fine — just be clear.)
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What I find throws many meetings off course are the tangents that people go on.
And I’m stunned at the lack of self-reflection before the question is asked or the comment is made.
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Before you open your mouth in a meeting, be clear on your present need and request.
If everybody did this, we’d save ourselves tons of frustration from unproductive meeting time.