Leadership Horizons

Transforming Meetings

• Lois Burton • Episode 6

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Does your calendar resemble a game of Tetris, packed with back-to-back meetings that leave you exhausted and wondering when you'll actually complete your real work? You're far from alone. 

Drawing on 24+ years of executive coaching experience across sectors ranging from healthcare to financial services, I'm sharing proven strategies that have helped leaders transform their meeting cultures and reclaim valuable time. At the heart of ineffective meetings lies a fundamental lack of clarity. We dive deep into establishing clear purposes for every agenda item—determining whether it's truly for information sharing (and if so, could it be communicated another way?), for discussion to inform someone else's decision, or for collective decision-making. 

This simple framework has helped executive teams eliminate wasted time and accelerate progress on critical initiatives. Beyond purpose, we explore practical techniques for meeting transformation: challenging default hour-long time blocks, abolishing the problematic "any other business" category, creating intentional meeting-free zones in your schedule, and ensuring all voices are heard through structured participation. One healthcare executive team implementing these principles reduced their meeting time by 23% while increasing decision-making efficiency by 40%, creating space for genuine strategic thinking rather than perpetual crisis response.

The way we meet reflects and shapes our organizational culture. By treating the quality of thinking in your meetings as your most valuable asset, you'll not just save time—you'll transform your team's capacity to innovate, adapt, and thrive. 

Try the five practical steps outlined in this episode this week, and experience the difference intentional meeting design can make. The future belongs to leaders who create environments where everyone can contribute their best thinking.

Leadership Horizons - Helping You Lead Beyond Boundaries

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Leadership Horizons, where we explore leadership at its most transformative. I'm Lois Burton, an Executive Coach and Leadership Development Specialist with over 24 years of experience working with senior leaders, executives and their teams. Before I founded Lois Burton Limited in 2000, my career spanned retail, finance, higher education and the criminal justice sector. Throughout my journey, I've been privileged to work alongside some of the most well-known figures in international coaching and leadership development, including Peter Bluckett, first chair and co-founder of the European Mentoring and Coaching Council, and the late Sir John Whitmore, author of Coaching for Performance and pioneer of coaching in the UK. Today, I'm going to share some insights that have helped many of the leaders I've worked with transform one of the most time-consuming yet vital aspects of organisational life meetings. Does this sound familiar? Your calendar is packed with back-to-back meetings. You rush from one virtual room to another, barely having time to process what was discussed before you're on to the next agenda. By the end of the day, you're exhausted and you still haven't had time to get down to doing any of your actual work. If you're nodding right now, you're not alone. In my decades of coaching executives across sectors from healthcare to financial services, from manufacturing to higher education, I've found that ineffective meetings are consistently cited as one of the biggest drains on productivity, creativity and well-being. So today I'm going to share how some core principles I've used with executive teams, combined with strategic meeting management, can help you reduce your meetings by 20% or more, while making the remaining ones significantly more productive and engaging. I'll start with how to make meetings more effective and engaging, and I'm going to start with the foundational principle, which often feels obvious but also often gets neglected. So the first principle is understand what you want to achieve in the meeting.

Speaker 1:

Agendas are so often just a list of topics for discussion or information, with no clear focus on what actually the aim and objective is of each item. When I start working with an executive team, I first of all ask them these questions Is this item here for information, for discussion or for a decision to be made? For discussion or for a decision to be made? If it's for information only, is there a better way to share this? Teams, email, a collaborative document, etc. If it needs talking through, then it's for discussion. If it's for discussion, is it because one member or two members of the team want a range of views to help them ultimately make a decision, or is this for discussion and then a collective decision will have to be made. If there's a collective decision, how will you make that decision?

Speaker 1:

On that point, many collective decisions get kicked down the road because team members disagree and the perception is that everyone needs to agree in order for a decision to be made. You have to have a consensus. This may not be the case. This can't always be the case. Decide some decision-making criteria in your team and decide how decisions will be made if there is a disagreement. Will this be by voting and the majority take the decision, or do you take the decision back to the leader or the chair, or is there another way? But essentially, you need to find a way that you can make those decisions if there isn't consensus. These questions are more powerful than you might think, as so many assumptions are made about what an agenda item is brought to a meeting for. I ask the teams I work with to clearly state on the agenda if this is for information only and, if so, why it's being shared in a meeting rather than in another way. Is it for discussion, with a decision ultimately going back to one or more person, or is this for a collective decision? In which case, how will that collective decision be made?

Speaker 1:

The second point is review the time you need to spend in meetings and can you shorten them. Again, assumptions are made about how long a meeting needs to be. Often, we just automatically assume an hour. If so, shorten it to 45 minutes. This will give people greater focus and it saves you time. If there are lots of topics on the agenda that you know will need time, then, of course, put in a longer meeting. However, generally speaking, taking 15 minutes of the time you think you will need works very well.

Speaker 1:

Thirdly, abolish any other business. Again, this just speaks to people not preparing properly and often adding an item in at the end just because they've just thought of it, or they just think, oh, that'll be helpful. It's either an agenda item, in which case put it on the agenda, or it isn't, in which case it has no place here. If you want to set in a contingency, for if something crops up either just before a meeting or during a meeting that is urgent and does need attention, then maybe follow the practice that one team I work with have done. They've added extremely urgent and unexpected at both the beginning of their meeting and the end to allow something that has happened just before the meeting or during the meeting. That does need attention to be added. However, it has to be genuinely urgent and genuinely unexpected. To go on, it's another way of looking at it and it creates a different mindset than any other business which people do use very, very loosely.

Speaker 1:

Fourthly, set a ground rule to show up, be present and pay attention. True, undivided attention is rare in our distracted world. Undivided attention is rare in our distracted world. In meetings, this means that you show up and you listen with respect, interest and fascination to your colleagues. It means putting away devices and being fully present. This is assisted by a check-in round. Ask people to shut down devices, take a breath and check in to tell colleagues how they're feeling at the outset is take a breath and check in to tell colleagues how they're feeling at the outset, where their energy levels are and what they want to achieve in the meeting. This allows people to show up, share some emotional energy and focus genuinely on what they want to achieve. Try it Start your next meeting with a check-in and by asking everyone to shut down their devices unless they're presenting or taking notes Phones especially need to be off and notice the difference in energy and engagement.

Speaker 1:

If you're online, ask everyone to put their cameras on so that you can actually see that people are engaged. Turn emails off, turn phones off again and commit to being present throughout. We've all experienced and we've probably been guilty of doing other things, like reading or sending emails and texts during a meeting. It is disrespectful to colleagues and it ensures your meetings are not as effective as they can be. If someone has a genuine reason for keeping an eye on their phone, they need to declare it at the beginning of the meeting so everyone knows, and that's fine, but only if there's a really genuine reason that they have to keep that phone on. Being present and giving full attention is a vital part of effective and engaging meetings.

Speaker 1:

The next point is ensuring everyone gets to speak on every topic. So many people I speak to say that they get frustrated because it's often dominant people in the room who take over the meeting. You need to ensure that everyone's thinking and everyone's views are valued equally. It doesn't mean that everyone talks for the same amount of time, but it does mean creating space for all the voices. If you give in to those few dominant voices, everybody else switches off or feels frustrated and therefore they're not engaging properly. A good chair will use a round-robin approach at the beginning of meetings to hear from everyone before diving into the discussion.

Speaker 1:

The beginning of meetings to hear from everyone before diving into the discussion. So, for each item, just asking what you're thinking on this topic and going around the room, giving each person uninterrupted time to respond and then coming back at the end to see if anybody's got any questions for any of their colleagues. This makes sure that a few people don't dominate and when the discussion begins, remember to keep pulling in those people who are quieter and maybe more reflective. It's okay if someone says I don't have anything to contribute at this point, that's fine, but just making sure that they get the opportunity is really, really important. If it's a large meeting and you think there isn't time to do the round-robin approach, then consider using small group discussions to give people again the chance to speak in smaller group environments and ask someone from that group to feedback on behalf of the group. Again, this gives people the chance to be heard and creates a better quality of discussion.

Speaker 1:

The next thing is about decision making. Make sure that if a decision is necessary, it gets made and the actions are agreed and clarified at the end of the meeting, agree your criteria for decision making and your decision making method, and make the call. The only reason for not doing this is if it's clear that someone else needs to be involved, who's not in the room or some information is genuinely missing. On the last point, remember what we said a few weeks ago about leaders today needing to be comfortable making decisions with incomplete information, because often your information will be incomplete because information isn't available or you're not going to get that little piece. Don't fall into the trap of kicking a decision down the road if the information is always going to be incomplete. Make the decision based on what you have and say we might have to review this if more information comes in, but do make the decision Only defer if you know the missing information exists and you can get it quickly. Regarding actions, make a clear list of action points, agree who's responsible, what the deadline is, and get a clear commitment that the action will be completed on time and the person or persons responsible will report back to the team when it's complete. Again, don't neglect this clarity before you close. Often actions are left really fuzzy, as are deadlines, and then they slip. So those are some tips on how to make your meetings more effective and more engaging.

Speaker 1:

Now let's address how to reduce your meetings by 20 or more. This isn't about arbitrarily cancelling calendar invites. It's about being strategic and intentional with how you use your time. So, first of all, audit your meetings one week. Track every meeting you attend. Note the purpose, outcomes, attendees and whether your presence was necessary. In my work with senior leadership team, these audits often alone reveal that up to 30% of meeting time is spent in gatherings where key participants aren't needed or aren't needed for the entire duration. Establish clear meeting criteria.

Speaker 1:

With an executive team I coached last year, we developed these four questions that must be answered, yes, before scheduling a meeting. First of all, is collective discussion necessary? Secondly, is this the most efficient use of everyone's time? Thirdly, are the right people, and only the right people, invited? And fourthly, do we have a clearly desired outcome? This also links to my first point that I made right at the beginning about engagement. If the answer to any of these is no, consider alternatives like email updates, collaborative documents or smaller, focused discussions. Just think about senior team meetings. Think about how much people who are in those meetings are paid by the hour, and if the time allocated to a meeting is not going to be effective, then you're not just wasting people's time, you're also wasting a lot of money.

Speaker 1:

The third thing to think about is implementing meeting-free zones. Several organizations I've worked with have designated specific times, whether it's a Wednesday afternoon or a Friday morning, as meeting-free. It's a Wednesday afternoon or a Friday morning as meeting free. These protected spaces allow people to do the work that needs deeper thought, more reflection, and also to just be catching up, which often prevents the need for additional coordination meetings later. Let me share a real example of these principles in action. I recently worked with the executive team of a healthcare organisation facing significant transformation challenges. Their calendars were overflowing with meetings, yet critical decisions were stalled and team members were burning out. We implemented the principles I've spoken about and strategic meeting reduction techniques we've discussed today. Within three months, they had reduced total meeting time by 23%, increased decision-making efficiency by 40% that was measured by the time that the issue was identified to it being resolved and they reported significantly higher job satisfaction levels and reduced stress levels. The director told me for the first time in ages, we have the time and space to think strategically rather than just reacting to the next crisis.

Speaker 1:

Before we wrap up, here are five practical steps you can take this week to begin transforming your meeting culture. First of all, start your meetings with a check-in round, allowing people to ground themselves, show up and focus on what they achieve. Also, ask them to be present and switch all their devices off. Secondly, end every meeting on time, or preferably five minutes early, to give people transition time and a break if they need it. Thirdly, challenge the default meeting length. If the calendar suggests 60 minutes, ask if you could accomplish the same in 45. Fourthly, introduce the question what's the purpose of this discussion, rather than jumping straight into getting opinions, views and potential solutions before you've established the purpose. Fifthly, audit your meetings, and particularly audit one recurring meeting this week and decide if it could be shorter, less frequent or replaced with another form of communication, be shorter, less frequent or replaced with another form of communication. I was with a team just last week and we were discussing all of these and they committed particularly to challenging meeting length and auditing their meetings, and before we left the session that we were in, they'd already committed to taking out one of their recurring meetings for the next few weeks because they're in a period of intense pressure and it wasn't an essential meeting, so that's going to save them a lot of time and take some pressure off their deadlines that they're having to meet.

Speaker 1:

The way that we meet reflects and shapes our organizational culture. When we create better environments in our meetings, spaces where people feel valued, heard and able to contribute their best thinking, we don't just save time. We transform our capacity to innovate, adapt and thrive in an increasingly complex world. In my 24 plus years of coaching leaders across all sectors, I've consistently found that the quality of thinking in an organization is its most valuable asset. By applying these principles, you're investing in that asset in the most practical way possible.

Speaker 1:

Next week, I'm going to be diving into the area of psychological contracts and psychological safety and how the parameters have changed post pandemic. This is a really crucial topic at the moment because psychological contracts have shifted and people are feeling quite uncertain about the current contract they have with their organisation. So we're going to be diving into this and creating some debates around it. So we're going to be diving into this and creating some debates around it. I will also be able to announce the date that my first guest, dr Lloyd Gregory, will be joining us. Lloyd is the director of the Joint Research Office for King's College and Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital London and he is doing some really transformative things within his organization, so we're really going to be looking forward to hearing from Lloyd. Until then, I'm Lois Burton and this is Leadership Horizons helping you lead beyond boundaries, because the future of leadership knows no bounds.