DEATH BY MEETING A PRESENTATION BY : V INCE P AVIC D IRECTOR OF H UMAN R ESOURCES AND E MPLOYEE RELATIONS WICOMICO COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION.

DEATH BY MEETINGA PRESENTATION BY:

VINCE PAVIC DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RESOURCES AND EMPLOYEE RELATIONSWICOMICO COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE MEETING Death by Meeting, A Leadership Fable

By: Patrick Lencioni

Story of Casey McDaniel, YIP Software’s Founder

The problem: Torturous and unproductive meetings

Enter advisor, Will Peterson, who proposes unconventional and radical approaches to this problem

THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE MEETING

What is the problem?Too many meetings?Too many BAD meetings?Not enough preparation?Agendas too long? Too short?

WHAT’S IN A MOVIE? The #1 Problem….

DRAMA! (or lack thereof)

First 10 Minutes Is Critical

Put the Controversy Out Front!

WHAT ARE YOUR CONTROVERSIAL TOPICS? Global Warming: Is that a thing? The Death Penalty: Is it effective? Gambling in America: How much is too

much? Same Sex Marriage Banning Smoking Common Core

THE SECOND PROBLEM Context and Purpose Differentiation is Necessary

Tactical conversations vs. strategic conversations Four Distinct Types of Meetings

The Daily Check In The Weekly Tactical The Monthly Strategic The Quarterly Off-Site Review

THE DAILY CHECK-IN

Time Required: 5-10 minutesPurpose: Share Daily Schedules/ActivitiesKeys to Success: Don’t sit down, keep it

administrative, and don’t cancel

Challenges: Keeping it to 5 minutes, giving it time.

WEEKLY TACTICAL

Time Required: 45-90 minutesPurpose: Review weekly activities and

metrics, resolve tactical obstaclesLightning Round (60 seconds)Progress Review (5 minutes) Metrics, Revenue, Expenses, Customer satisfaction, etc.

Real Time Agenda Keys to Success: Don’t set agenda, Postpone

Strategic DiscussionsChallenges: Temptation to set agenda ahead

of time, too much information during lightning round

MONTHLY STRATEGIC (AD HOC STRATEGIC)

Time Required: 2-4 hoursPurpose: Discuss, analyze, brainstorm, decide

on critical issues affecting long-term successKeys to Success: Limit to 1-2 topics, prepare

and do research, engage in good conflictChallenges: Failure to schedule enough time.

Putting too many topics on the agenda. Failure to do research and preparation ahead of time. Fear of conflict.

THE QUARTERLY OFF-SITE REVIEW

Time Required: 1-2 DaysPurpose: Review strategy, trends, competitive

landscape, key personnel, team developmentKeys to Success: Get away from office, limit

social activities, don’t over-structure or over-burden agenda

Challenges: Over-structuring or over-burdening the agenda, boondoggle, inviting outsiders to attend.

THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE OF ALL

Too many meetings or too many bad meetings?

Sneaker Time A dangerous, underestimated black hole Example: 7 team members on Executive Team =

21 combinations of 1 to 1 relationships Now consider the dozens of direct reports for

those 7 What is Sneaker Time?

THE SEVEN SINS OF DEADLY MEETINGS#1 People don’t take meetings seriously (arrive late, leave early and spend too much time doodling)

#2 Too long. Should accomplish twice as much in half the time

#3 People wander off the topic

#4 Nothing happens once the meeting ends (no follow-through)

#5 People don’t tell the truth

#6 Too much missing information, which postpones decision making

#7 Meetings never improve

LET’S PUT A NUMBER TO ALL THIS

Some shocking and interesting statistics on meetings… 37 percent of employee time is spent in meetings Managers attend more than 60 meetings per month 47% consider too many meetings the biggest waste of

time 39% of meeting participants admitted to dozing off

during a meeting Over 70% brought other work to meetings It is estimated that 25-50% of meeting time is wasted The researchers found that the more meetings

employees attended, the more exhausted they felt and the higher they perceived their workload to be.

All told, meetings cost about 37 billion/year in unnecessary meeting time

HOW MUCH ARE YOUR MEETINGS COSTING YOU?

A simple formula for calculating your meeting costs: Take roll call at your next “meeting” (note

participants) Figure their hourly salary and do a simple

calculation of what your meeting costs were based on how long the meeting was. Do this for six months…

SAMPLE SCENARIO:if you have a management team with 5 people at an annual salary of $100,000 per person and they spend an average of 15 hours a week in meetings, your weekly meeting cost for only these people is $4,076 and your annual costs are a shocking $212,000! If you can reduce that by 40% you are saving $85,000 per year!

QUESTIONS…