Writing a happy post about taking a month without a single one probably didn’t help… nor did the fact that it wasn’t a one-time experiment :)

I think that the traditional sixty-minutes, several-participants #meetings are:

- too short to offer a deep dive into a challenge,

- too long to keep everyone energized,

- too frequent to be treated seriously and come prepared,

- and what's most annoying, everyone is in a strange hurry because of the next one on the calendar.

This way, it's hard to move things forward, so...

BIWEEKLY WHOLE-DAY MEETING

Today, I share with you a new concept that I am loving so far.

I’ve limited the formal interactions with our top leadership team to a biweekly whole-day meeting.

It’s based on:

1. Truthfulness - no PowerPoint slides to “help” us interpret results - we view them in PowerBI and ask questions if something is unclear. It is not a place to look or sound good; it’s about discovering truth.

2. Intensity - investigating with questions and challenging ourselves, we identify the biggest opportunities and the root causes of recurring issues. The same topic coming up again and again would be a big red flag.

3. Alignment - we make sure we have the same conclusions looking at the same data; if top management can achieve that, you can successfully counter siloes emerging in the organization.

The agenda is only a draft to help us come prepared, but we let ourselves follow the flow of the discussion. 

We end the meeting by recording our decisions and changes in the Notion wiki. Thanks to that, it's easier to find reliable information without bothering people on Slack. 

Before the day ends, I prepare a short ”who, what, when” note so we can start the next meeting by reviewing whether we are moving forward or are just talking.

As you can see, it's about going deeper and making important things happen.

CONCLUSION

Honestly, at first, everyone was reluctant to schedule that much of their valuable time.

But if you disconnect every half a month from daily operations and use this time to recalibrate yourself with the strategy and leverage, it becomes very fulfilling and effective.

Finally, it's about building outstanding B2B services companies, not running around with empty wheelbarrows ;) 

So now it’s your turn. Complaining about meetings is easy, but what have you done to make them valuable and effective?