Five Meeting Myths

Running an effective heartbeat meeting begins with grabbing a sledgehammer to smash a few widely held meeting myths. In the vast majority of organizations, meetings act as sand in the gears of productive work.

The 'Great Projects,' shattered these myths and transformed meetings into the lubricant for peak performance.

Myth 1: Meetings must have an agenda.

Reality: Great meetings start with what they hope to achieve in the meeting. Then decide if an agenda will help achieve that goal. Agendas lead to structured conversations. This can be either good or bad.

Myth 2: Meetings should be fun and enjoyable.

Reality: Meetings can be fun and enjoyable, but that’s not the point. Great meetings are often like a hard workout. The results are rewarding, but the process can be painful. The point is to achieve the goal.

Myth 3: Meetings should motivate people.

Reality: Progress toward a clear and compelling goal motivates the right people. Meetings that focus on motivation skip over problems and avoid holding people accountable—ironically, this demotivates motivated people.

Myth 4: There is one right length for a meeting.

Reality: Changing your meeting from 30 minutes to 25 minutes will not fix your bad meetings. Great meetings start with what needs to be accomplished and then set the time frame. 

Myth 5: Great project teams spend more time in meetings.

Reality: Poorly run meetings generate more meetings, increasing the total meeting time. Despite spending four hours a week in the BPR meetings, the total time executives and employees spent in meetings was reduced by 40% in some cases.