How many times have you been 45 minutes into a Teams call, staring at your screen, wondering what the point is and when this corporate hellscape will finally end? It is a form of drudgery that plagues corporate jobs and staff meetings across every industry.
But before you click “Join” on your next invite, let the Luchadora Litigator guide you out of the meeting purgatory. With a few simple preparatory steps, you can start running shorter, more efficient meetings.
1. The Motion to Organize
You cannot control every meeting you attend. The Company-wide Townhall is not going to appreciate Cheryl in accounts interrupting to suggest how to make things more efficient.
But when a client call is mooted, stick your head above the parapet and volunteer to be the organiser. Lean in and drive the setup. Not only will this make you look proactive and tick a box on your corporate bingo card, but it is a preemptive strike to save your own sanity.
2. THIS COULD’VE BEEN AN EMAIL!!
So, you have taken the mantle of organizing, and then it hits you: this doesn’t actually feel like something that needs a call.
There is a well-known generational divide here. Generally speaking, Boomers and Gen Xers want the comfort of seeing reactions and thrashing things out in person / on a call. Millennials and Gen Zers would rather drop dead than pick up the phone.
Neither approach is wrong; it depends entirely on the situation. If you are building a client relationship, you need a meeting (ideally in person). But if you are just trying to get agreement on 10 specific contract points or agreement on your class medium-term planning? An email is the most efficient way to set out what you need. Don’t let others bounce you into a soul-destroying, pointless meeting. If it can be an email, say so. Even if your boss overrules you, you can enter that soul-crushing call knowing you did your best to save the others.
3. Culling the Crowd
Do you know who is actually supposed to be on this call? We have all been in meetings where every man and his dog seem to be in attendance, yet only three people do the speaking.
Audit the emails, identify the key players, and cull the rest. You can always circulate a detailed note of actions to the remaining survivors later.
4. Up Close and Personal vs The Screen
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the in-person meeting has largely died a death. Thankfully, bosses realised that making people trek across the city, or across the country (or for 4 people from 4 different cities to trek to another entirely different city) was totally pointless unless the boss just wanted a jolly in first class on the train.
Remote meetings save travel time, but they do have an insidious tendency to replicate like a 2000s Sci-Fi villain (you know which show I’m talking about). Because they are so easy to schedule, you can easily end up with five unhelpful remote meetings in a single day.
The ruling is simple: keep it remote if the meeting is 30 minutes or less with a limited headcount. Reserve in-person for events with serious ramifications, multi-hour discussions, or heavy physical review (like poring over construction plans).
5. Diary Purgatory
If you have a PA or secretary who handles this step for you, buy them wine, biscuits, or chocolate regularly. Arranging a meeting is the worst part of the process. It sits somewhere between herding cats and being gaslighted in an emotionally abusive relationship. You will send out parameters, only to have people ignore them, fail to respond, or back out after you send the final invite.
The Luchadora’s Power Move: Firmly suggest times that actually suit you. Do not sandwich a meeting into a chaotic one-hour window on Tuesday if you would rather do it on Wednesday when you are free as a bird.
Send out your parameters and book the meeting based on the people who actually bother to respond. Send a chaser, but non-responders can deal with being left out (unless they are the key decision maker of course). If availability splits, go with the majority. Most importantly: keep calm and carry on.
6. The Game Plan
You have the date, the time, and the attendees locked in. Wait, what are you talking about again?
Do not get swept up in the logistics and forget the aim of the meeting. Are you regrouping after a court case or a parent’s evening? Are you deciding the next steps on a claim, a patient, or a marketing campaign?
Once you know the big picture, break down the steps and prepare an agenda. Whilst not every meeting requires a formal agenda, having one keeps people on task. Better yet, allocate specific names to talking points. Most people prefer having the ability to prepare in advance rather than being put on the spot.
Takedown checklist
Before you hit send on that invite, run through this final audit:
- Email v meeting: Could this all be done by email?
- Attendees: Who are your key players?
- Date and time: The point at which you want to stick pins into your eyes rather than look at another calendar
- Remote v in-person: See the whites of their eyes or the whites of their Teams display
- Aim: We’re all here because…
- Agenda: Could we just stick to the schedule?
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