Some Meetings Shouldn't Have an Agenda

I know. It sounds slightly irresponsible - and anyone I’ve worked with has probably propelled tea across their desk…

Surely every meeting needs a purpose, an outcome and ideally a colour-coded spreadsheet showing what everyone is supposed to do afterwards.

And yes, I agree that most meetings would probably benefit from a little more structure.

But I wonder whether we've become so focused on productivity that we've forgotten the value of simply having a conversation.

Some of the most useful conversations I have with leaders don't start with a carefully prepared agenda. They start with, "So, what's on your mind?" and then we see where it goes.

Sometimes the thing they thought they needed to talk about turns out not to be the thing that is really bothering them. Sometimes they need to say something out loud a few times before they can work out what they actually think. Sometimes there is a pause, a bit of thinking and then a sentence that starts with, "Actually, I think the real issue is..."

You can't always schedule that neatly into a meeting agenda.

You can't put "discover what I actually think" into a calendar invite and assign it a 20-minute time slot between Budget Review and Performance Management.

And perhaps that's part of the problem.

Leaders are surrounded by meetings where they are expected to have answers, make decisions and move things forward. What they often have far less of is somewhere to stop and think without needing to arrive at the right answer immediately.

That's one of the reasons I value coaching so much.

It creates a space where the conversation doesn't have to be productive in the traditional sense. It doesn't need to produce an action point by 3pm or end with someone saying, "Great, I'll take that away."

It just needs to help someone think more clearly than they were thinking when they arrived.

And sometimes, that is the most productive conversation of all.

So here's today's question.

What would happen if you gave your leaders an hour with no agenda, no expected outcome and simply enough space to talk about what was really on their mind?

#Leadership #LeadershipDevelopment #ExecutiveCoaching #ThinkingSpace #PeopleLeadership #LeadershipCoaching