There will always be a stigma about work meetings. We have all sat in a meeting as an employee where we thought it would never end and catching yourself zoning out. You can even buy a mug that says, “Once again I survived a meeting that should have been an email.”
Clearly, we have a responsibility as leaders to honor the time of our people. Meeting flow relies on leaders to keep employees engaged, but an overly long meeting can happen for a myriad of reasons ruining the way the meeting runs. I often see well-intentioned employees who want to contribute but end up oversharing because they want to be heard. We can have empathy for that employee and sympathy for those who are struggling with oversharing.
Even a meeting of four people would drag on unnecessarily if everyone weighed in on each item. I think meetings can drag out because everyone wants at least one chance to be heard. To combat that, we can give some space and time at the beginning of meetings to allow everyone to speak and make themselves feel listened to. While this seems counterintuitive to shortening meetings, don’t worry, this is where my little trick comes in handy.
Of course, this would not work in all company meetings unless you broke out into groups, but one sure way to allow for everyone to have their moment is through something I call “One-Sentence Shares”. It takes a little practice but once the team gets it, you’ll laugh together and see the results.
You will give your team a prompt that they need to answer at the beginning of the meeting and in one sentence. I suggest sending out the prompt in the email reminder before the meeting. Of course, you’ll have moments where someone has more than one sentence or it devolves into a fun conversation based on a share.
Here are 8 examples for you to use:
The celebrity people say you resemble
A location that you never want to travel to
An irrational fear that you have
An odd gift that you have given or received
The best car you’ve ever owned
One useless fact you always remember
A weird food combo you like
The topic you would choose for your Ted Talk
By allowing everyone a quick moment to speak, you give the validation and voice that people need when they are part of a meeting. It also helps you connect as human beings with feelings and emotions and stories. This will all be for nothing if you aren’t sincere, and you don’t listen.
As a leader, this is your chance to learn about your people and keep workers engaged in the meeting. It does help to meet a goal of shorter meetings, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of relationships or teambuilding.