I’m thinking about giving up on leadership consulting and becoming a Meeting Czar.

I mean, if I really want to help organizations thrive, this is the lever to pull.

You’ve probably never heard of a Meeting Czar, likely because it’s a role I made up, but hear me out. 

The Meeting Czar exists to prevent people from having dumb meetings and ensure the meetings that do happen are actually effective.

If you want to have a meeting, send your agenda and invite list to the Meeting Czar. If your agenda is coherent and each invitee is necessary, the meeting can be scheduled.

The Meeting Czar attends your meeting and ensures you actually follow the agenda and make coherent decisions with clearly defined work assignments. No one leaves the meeting without complete clarity about what was decided and what happens next.

They also follow up to make sure that the work gets done. A well run meeting with clearly defined next steps is still trash if no one actually does anything.

Okayokayokayokay. This is obviously a farce.

But I bet you’re thinking, “we could really use someone like that around here!”

If so, I urge you to start by becoming the Meeting Czar of your own meetings.

Make sure every meeting has a clear purpose. (shared ahead of time)

Make sure the right people are present to facilitate that purpose.

Make sure everyone understands what was decided and what happens next.

Make sure the work actually gets done.

Yes, contrary to popular belief, planning and follow through are absolutely a part of the time commitment for every meeting you plan.

That hour-long meeting on your calendar is actually a 3-hour commitment if you do it right.

But if you do it right, you save yourself half a dozen more meetings that don’t accomplish anything.

TRY THIS: Before you throw a meeting on the calendar and invite everyone you’ve ever met, define a clear purpose you can share ahead of time and only invite those who are necessary to facilitate that purpose. If the meeting isn’t important enough to invest the time necessary to define a clear, shareable purpose, don’t schedule it

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