Culture Success Story
Culture Change through Meeting Effectiveness
The Issue
The project management group of a Fortune 500 organization was drowning in meetings with no common practice so they were effective use of everyone’s time. The VP of the group decided that since they owned and facilitated 80% of the meetings for the group, they could have a big impact if they could find a solution.
Challenges
As a result of improper meeting etiquette, the project management team was struggling with:
- Back-to-back meetings meant people were constantly running late,
- The wrong people often were invited and it wasted their time,
- Virtual meetings went on too long, so people were multi-tasking and not paying attention,
- Decisions were constantly escalated due to wrong attendees,
- The organization and her boss lacked patience for a long-term coaching intervention – something needed to change quickly.
The Issue
The project management group of a Fortune 500 organization was drowning in meetings with no common practice so they were effective use of everyone’s time. The VP of the group decided that since they owned and facilitated 80% of the meetings for the group, they could have a big impact if they could find a solution.
Overarching Goal
- Shorter, fewer, and more effective meetings.
Corporate Culture Pros Intervention
- Custom designed meeting and decision-making protocol with workbook and tools that could be leveraged by client for online use.
- Trained all PM’s on it.
The Payoff
- Meeting goals are being shared up front, so meeting doesn’t ramble on without clear purpose
- Contracting in advance is more common so the right attendees know whether to be present
- Decision process is clear
- 30 minute meetings are becoming more the norm (versus one hour)
- Agenda topics are being shared in advance
- Many meetings don’t exist now, or have shrunk to a more effective 2-3 people.
The Moral
A little goes a long way…with the right coach at the right time.