We’ve all been there. Sitting in a meeting that’s dragging on, watching the minutes tick by while one person dominates the conversation. Half the team is checking emails under the table, a few brave souls are trying to contribute, and you’re wondering if anything productive will come from the next hour.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
The True Cost of Ineffective Meetings
The numbers tell a sobering story about meetings in today’s workplace:
- According to Atlassian, meetings are ineffective 72% of the time. This is the equivalent of 372 hours per year – nearly two months of work time!
- Atlassian found that the meeting culture at most organizations actually makes it harder for teams to reach their goals.
- Harvard Business Review research found that executives spend an average of 23 hours per week in meetings, up from less than 10 hours in the 1960s.
- Microsoft research revealed that inefficient meetings are their #1 productivity disruptor.
- A meeting effectiveness report by Otter.ai and Dr. Steven G. Rogelberg, Professor of Organizational Science, Management at UNC Charlotte, found that respondents said they didn’t need to be in 30% of the gatherings they attended.
- They also found that for companies of 100 people, cutting unnecessary meetings would save nearly $2.5M each year and for companies of 5,000 that savings rises to over $100M.
These aren’t just statistics – they represent real time, energy, and money flowing out of your business. But here’s the thing: meetings themselves aren’t the problem. Bad meetings are.
The Meeting Momentum Opportunity
Think of your team meetings like the engine of your department. When they’re running smoothly, everything else works better – communication flows, decisions get made, and people leave feeling energized rather than drained.
As a manager, you have enormous influence over whether your meetings fall into the “energy-zapper” or “productivity-booster” category. But most of us never received formal training on how to run effective meetings. We inherited meeting cultures from previous managers or workplaces, for better or worse.
And as a leader, your team probably won’t come to you and tell you the truth – that the team meetings you’re running are a snoozefest.
How Do Your Meetings Measure Up?
As a middle manager, you’re caught in a particularly challenging position. You need meetings to align your team, communicate priorities from above, and generate solutions to problems. Yet you’re also acutely aware of how precious everyone’s time is – including your own.
This is where the 2-Minute Team Meeting Check comes in. This quick assessment helps you diagnose exactly where your meetings need improvement, with separate scores for people focus and process management.
Want to see where your meetings stand? Take the 2-Minute Team Meeting Check.
Once you complete the assessment, you’ll receive a score based on your answers. Plus, you’ll get access to the complete Meeting Momentum Toolkit – a comprehensive resource covering the essential elements of effective meetings
Let’s take a look at what you’ll find in this toolkit. First, let’s start with the “why”.
Why Are You Gathering People?
One of the first questions in the toolkit forces you to confront a fundamental issue: Why are you meeting in the first place?
It’s easy to fall into the trap of meeting just to meet or meeting because you’re ‘supposed to’. Many managers schedule regular team meetings without clear purpose beyond status updates – which could often be handled more efficiently through other channels.
The toolkit provides specific guidelines to ensure your meetings have genuine purpose, including:
- Always having a reason beyond status updates
- Establishing meeting norms as a group
- Enlisting team members to help during meetings by assigning specific roles
Meeting Agendas as Your GPS
Think of an agenda as a GPS for your meeting. Without it, everyone will be wandering around, hoping to reach their destination.
The Meeting Momentum Toolkit includes a flexible agenda template that serves as your roadmap, forcing you to think through exactly what needs to be discussed and accomplished. This simple planning step often reveals whether you actually need a meeting at all.
How meeting agendas can help:
- Meetings will start and end on time
- Clear expectations for all participants
- Actionable outcomes instead of vague discussions
- Better follow-through on decisions
One agenda pro tip – Don’t overstuff the agenda – fewer items discussed properly is better than rushing through many.
Building Connection Among Your Team
Strong teams aren’t built during discussions about KPIs and project updates. They’re built in those small moments when people connect as humans.
It’s like the difference between playing basketball with strangers versus playing with friends – the same game, but trust and understanding make everything flow better.
Managers often skip connection activities when deadlines are tight. When deadlines are tight and inboxes are overflowing, spending 5 minutes on team connection might feel like a luxury you can’t afford. But think about it like your morning coffee — it seems like a small thing to skip, but it primes you for a better day.
The toolkit provides numerous 5-minute connection activities that build trust without feeling forced, including:
- Quick check-ins using energy levels (red/yellow/green or empty/quarter/half/full tank)
- Simple prompts like “What’s your favorite or most frequently used emoji?”
- “This or That” questions (Coffee or Tea? Winter or Summer?)
10 Ways to Encourage Quieter Team Members to Speak Up
Your quieter team members often have valuable insights they’re holding onto. However, not everyone processes information the same way or feels comfortable jumping into discussions.
Just because someone is quiet doesn’t mean they don’t have great ideas – they might just need a different way to share them.
From the 10 approaches covered in the toolkit, here are three that make an immediate difference:
1. The Two-Minute Writing Activity Before opening the floor for discussion, give everyone two minutes to write down their thoughts. This simple pause gives everyone time to collect their thoughts without the pressure of immediate response.
2. The Round-Robin with a Twist Instead of asking for volunteers to speak, go around the table with each person taking a brief turn. The twist? Allow people to pass if they wish, but circle back to them at the end with: “Is there anything you’d like to add now that you’ve heard from everyone?”.
3. The Advance Notice Strategy If you need input from specific people, give them a heads-up before the meeting: “Sarah, I’d love your thoughts on the customer research since you’ve been leading that work. We’ll discuss it about 15 minutes into the meeting.”
The toolkit also offers guidance on measuring success, with signs to look for:
- Quieter team members contributing without direct prompting
- More balanced participation across the team
- People building on each other’s ideas rather than just waiting to speak
A Leader’s Guide to Having the “I Notice” Conversation
Even with the best meeting practices, you’ll sometimes notice team members who seem disengaged, distracted, or not contributing as they normally would.
When leaders notice and address changes in behavior early, they can often prevent bigger issues from developing. It’s like seeing smoke before there’s a fire.
For these sensitive conversations, the toolkit provides specific conversation starters:
“I noticed that you seemed distracted during our meeting. You seemed to be on your phone and not participating. Is everything ok?“
“I noticed that you were quieter than usual in our meeting. Your input is important, as you offer a unique perspective to this project. Is everything ok? Is there anything you need me to do differently in our next meeting so you feel comfortable speaking up?“
A few pro tips for having these conversations – Lead with curiosity, not judgment.
What’s Next?
Ready to transform your team meetings from energy-draining to momentum-building?
- Take the 2-Minute Team Meeting Check
- Get your personalized results and Meeting Momentum Toolkit
- Choose one technique to implement in your next meeting
- Notice the difference in engagement and productivity
Your team – and your calendar – will thank you.
