Run Meetings that Don't Suck (10 Tips)!
About this video
Jeff applies the 40-20-40 rule, which he attributes to the book How to Fix Meetings, to meetings colleagues will not dread: 40% of effort on preparation, 20% on the meeting itself, and 40% on productive follow-through, prompted by the phrase ‘meeting recovery syndrome’ from an MIT article he cites. In preparation, his go/no-go test says a meeting is unnecessary if it is only an update, if key decision makers are unavailable when full alignment is needed, or if feedback does not need to be real-time — his example solicited ideas offline and voted on final choices in under five minutes. He advises not over-inviting (one representative per affected department or function, who gathers input and briefs their team; if someone ends with no action items they probably did not need to attend), sending an ‘OC combo’ of objective and context in the invite — an actionable objective such as finalising one livestream platform, with context and pre-reads linked and file access granted beforehand — and pre-aligning with participants individually so concerns surface before the meeting. During the meeting he recommends inclusive facilitation with free polling tools such as Mentimeter and Slido, and a parking lot to capture tangents for genuine follow-up. Afterwards, he says to name action items person by person, send a concise summary with one or two key takeaways and named actions, prepare ‘after action’ drafts so colleagues can brief their teams easily, and, as a final tip, bring coffee, donuts, or snacks to lighten mood and invoke reciprocity.
Key takeaways
- Follow the 40-20-40 split: 40% preparation, 20% the meeting itself, 40% follow-through
- Cancel or make it async under the go/no-go test: update-only, key decision makers missing when alignment is needed, or feedback not needed in real time
- Invite one representative per affected function, and send objective plus context (OC) in the invite with pre-read access granted in advance
- Pre-align one-on-one before the meeting and facilitate inclusively during it with polls, plus a parking lot for tangents you actually follow up on
- Close by naming each person’s action items, sending a concise summary in a single thread for recurring meetings, and drafting the follow-on material colleagues need to brief their teams
Episode details: published May 24, 2022 · 7:23 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Jeff Su’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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