WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.560 Last week, we talked about the power of reframing. That was really amazing. And by using that tool, 2 00:00:06.560 --> 00:00:11.280 we learned that every single problem can actually be converted into a possibility. 3 00:00:11.280 --> 00:00:17.120 So Dion, you had some incredible examples like the soggy sandwich saga and elevator bypass. 4 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:22.000 And all of those were meant to help us learn how to flip our perspectives about challenges 5 00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:27.920 and turn those seeming mishaps into silver lining. So the more we learn how to reframe, 6 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:33.680 the more we actually open ourselves up and our teams to creative problem solving and innovation. 7 00:00:34.240 --> 00:00:39.600 So today is a fun topic. We're going to be talking about upgrading your meeting culture, 8 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:44.080 because I'm sure we've all been in lots of meetings and spent lots of time there. 9 00:00:44.080 --> 00:00:48.320 So we're going to upgrade our meeting culture with fire. We want it to be focused, 10 00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:55.120 informative, respectful, and effective. And just before we dive in today, we do have a pro tip, 11 00:00:55.120 --> 00:01:01.120 and it's about cultivating a culture of trust. So way back when in season one, episode four, 12 00:01:01.120 --> 00:01:06.880 we learned about the power of safety and belonging in teams and how when our teams feel safe, 13 00:01:06.880 --> 00:01:12.160 our brain chemistry actually changes. So it helps to release more creativity, collaboration, 14 00:01:12.160 --> 00:01:17.520 problem solving, and actually helps improve our ability to think when we're not stressed. 15 00:01:17.520 --> 00:01:23.760 And so a few of those trust based culture habits are things like we always speak about others as 16 00:01:23.760 --> 00:01:29.040 though they're in the room. We learn to show appreciation with precision. And even with 17 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:34.960 negative feedback, we receive that with a sincere thank you. I appreciate that. And so this week, 18 00:01:34.960 --> 00:01:40.160 I encourage you to pick at least one of those trust habits to actively exercise within your 19 00:01:40.160 --> 00:01:45.440 teams. And now just as a quick reminder, we would love for you to add your questions, 20 00:01:45.440 --> 00:01:50.960 your comments, thoughts, reactions to the chat as DM's going through the material. 21 00:01:50.960 --> 00:01:56.000 And if everyone's ready to dive in, Dion, I will go ahead and hand it to you. 22 00:01:56.800 --> 00:02:02.720 Thank you, Jalen. I'm really excited about this. You know, we set the this course up so we don't 23 00:02:02.720 --> 00:02:08.800 try to hit you every week with a major needle moving idea, because nobody can implement that 24 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:15.040 speed, right? I mean, even the pace you're going, and we try to do a lot of repetition to help you 25 00:02:15.040 --> 00:02:20.640 process. So what we do, and the way we've set it up, the architecture of it is we introduce 26 00:02:20.640 --> 00:02:26.400 a big idea, and then we spend some time massaging that idea in with other things that make it feel 27 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:31.360 more effortless, make it feel attainable, practical strategies, and so on. So some of the, 28 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:36.400 you know, some of the top ones that Jalen already asked you was, you know, the whole idea of 29 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:39.840 figuring out what are we doing? Why are we doing it? And how do I fit in? And we came up with the 30 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:45.120 one line job descriptions, right? One line job descriptions is one of the coolest ideas, 31 00:02:45.120 --> 00:02:49.520 because now we all know what everybody does. And if you suddenly under pressure, you've got time, 32 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:54.320 you think, well, what's my one line job description? If I do that one thing, you know, I've made my 33 00:02:54.320 --> 00:03:00.400 contribution to the organization. Jalen hit on the culture of trust. We talked about cue books, 34 00:03:00.400 --> 00:03:05.760 we talked about deep work, we talked about six hats, the six ways of thinking about any problem. 35 00:03:05.760 --> 00:03:10.960 Then we did thin slices, and how to shape up work that matters. And you know, of course, 36 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:15.760 recently, we did playbooks, and capturing playbooks so that you can offload your work, 37 00:03:15.760 --> 00:03:20.480 that's a fastest way to promote yourself internally in the organization. Because what 38 00:03:20.480 --> 00:03:25.200 you're doing is you're capturing your work, and you're pushing it on and handing it off to somebody 39 00:03:25.200 --> 00:03:31.040 in a very controlled way. And now today is another biggie. So today, we're talking about the culture 40 00:03:31.040 --> 00:03:37.920 of meetings. So where does this fit into our whole plan? It fits in. So let's, let's just go through 41 00:03:37.920 --> 00:03:43.200 when we've said there's three types of work, there's deep work, that's four hours uninterrupted, 42 00:03:43.200 --> 00:03:50.560 and you're working on something new. Focused work is typically about an hour or two uninterrupted, 43 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:54.800 but that's existing work, but you're just pushing through it. And what you're doing is you're 44 00:03:54.800 --> 00:04:01.520 batching some tasks together to save on switching costs. Remember mental fatigue, at the end of the 45 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:07.920 day, that cognitive fatigue comes from switching too many times in the day. So that switching cost, 46 00:04:07.920 --> 00:04:13.280 so if you're getting tired, then at the end of your day, that's almost always the reason, even if you've 47 00:04:13.280 --> 00:04:18.079 had a little lack of sleep or haven't exercised and so forth. Actually, one of the bigger drivers is 48 00:04:18.079 --> 00:04:25.360 that that drain on your brain. So we said be kind to your mind, lots of rhyming phrases today. And 49 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:30.000 so as we go through that, we know this whole way, we're going to talk about today's general work. So 50 00:04:30.000 --> 00:04:37.360 this section fits on how to be better at general work. And of course, I'm going to refer to meetings. 51 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:42.160 So we always like to quote some leaders. So today we're working and quoting from Mark Cuban, for 52 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:47.920 many of you may know Mark Cuban, a billionaire, Shark Tank fans will know immediately what I'm 53 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:55.600 talking about. So, you know, Mark Cuban says the problem with meetings is that people over-meet 54 00:04:55.600 --> 00:04:59.920 and over-call, over-meet and over-call. 55 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.640 kills so much time. So what happens is we end up with less 56 00:05:04.640 --> 00:05:08.040 and less time to do more and more work. And you see where 57 00:05:08.040 --> 00:05:12.320 that plan's going? Not in a great direction. And so he says 58 00:05:12.320 --> 00:05:17.200 meetings are the number one obstacle for somebody to own 59 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:21.280 their own schedule. Meetings are the number one obstacle to own 60 00:05:21.280 --> 00:05:24.480 your own schedule. Because if other people are driving you 61 00:05:24.480 --> 00:05:27.840 into meetings, that takes away the cognitive control, that 62 00:05:27.840 --> 00:05:33.000 sense of, I am an owner of my own time. So our concept of team 63 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:37.000 of leaders can be very quickly threatened, when you feel like, 64 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:39.760 I don't lead anything, I don't even lead my contribution, 65 00:05:39.760 --> 00:05:42.560 because I'm being pulled from that meeting to this meeting to 66 00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:47.040 that thing to this meeting. So, you know, at one point, he's 67 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:50.160 tried so many experiments, ones that he tried, but hasn't kept 68 00:05:50.160 --> 00:05:53.720 going. But one time, he took all the conference chairs out of the 69 00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:56.360 conference room. And they had stand up meetings, man, the 70 00:05:56.360 --> 00:05:59.160 meetings got really short when there were no chairs to sit on. 71 00:05:59.520 --> 00:06:02.080 So he didn't want people to get comfortable. Now that, I mean, 72 00:06:02.080 --> 00:06:04.600 he joked a bit about that. But what he was saying is that that 73 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:07.120 wasn't sustainable, there's a deep, there must be a deeper 74 00:06:07.120 --> 00:06:10.120 way to solve. And that's what we're going to do today. So we're 75 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:12.800 going to look at the best practices for solving that 76 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:16.120 problem. Because it's interesting that some just some 77 00:06:16.120 --> 00:06:22.600 quick research. In 2019, there was a huge survey, and over half 78 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:26.680 the employee survey said that meetings were just distractions 79 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:30.320 from getting their work done. So this isn't, this isn't like, 80 00:06:30.320 --> 00:06:33.640 well, sometimes meetings are useful. No, no, half the people 81 00:06:33.640 --> 00:06:36.800 outright said, almost all the meetings they attended were 82 00:06:36.800 --> 00:06:40.840 doing just keeping them away from their work. That's, that's, 83 00:06:41.280 --> 00:06:45.640 think of the potential as a business, think of the loss of 84 00:06:45.640 --> 00:06:50.600 human capital, and just how, you know, demoralizing. And so, you 85 00:06:50.600 --> 00:06:53.480 know, in the old days, we used to just run over to someone's 86 00:06:53.480 --> 00:06:56.840 desk, ask them a question, knock on their door, walk into their 87 00:06:56.840 --> 00:07:01.160 office. But now that's turned into huddles on Microsoft Teams, 88 00:07:01.400 --> 00:07:06.520 quickly jumping on to on to Zoom or Slack. And so now there's so 89 00:07:06.520 --> 00:07:10.680 many more ways to host meetings, technology has made it a click 90 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:15.160 away, and you can literally call anyone. So it's no longer just 91 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:19.520 phone calls, texts, email, Slack, you know, all these 92 00:07:19.520 --> 00:07:22.880 mechanisms for having online meetings is just extraordinary. 93 00:07:22.880 --> 00:07:27.280 You can FaceTime, all these technologies have made meetings, 94 00:07:27.440 --> 00:07:33.160 you know, much more accessible. So, you know, according to 95 00:07:34.120 --> 00:07:39.840 research that Microsoft did, people are, are having three 96 00:07:39.840 --> 00:07:45.880 times more meetings today, compared to February of 2020. So 97 00:07:45.960 --> 00:07:50.040 just three and a bit years ago, three times more meetings. So if 98 00:07:50.040 --> 00:07:54.200 you were in five meetings a week, you're now in 15 meetings 99 00:07:54.520 --> 00:07:58.760 a week. So one of the things COVID did is not only taught us 100 00:07:58.760 --> 00:08:02.320 we can work at home, we can work remotely, but it gave us what 101 00:08:02.320 --> 00:08:06.680 happened is we all ended up with a pile of new tools that allowed 102 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:10.040 us to facilitate these very quick meetings. So here's the 103 00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:13.480 problem we're facing. It literally is corporate death by 104 00:08:13.480 --> 00:08:17.800 meeting. You know, so did was, was he stabbed? Did he commit 105 00:08:17.800 --> 00:08:21.000 suicide? No, he just died in a meeting. You know, I think that's 106 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:26.240 how it's gonna be one day. Died by meeting. And that's not a 107 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:29.840 thing, by the way, unless you think I was serious. So here's 108 00:08:29.840 --> 00:08:32.679 what too many meetings indicate. So when I first go into a 109 00:08:32.679 --> 00:08:36.159 company, and I see a lot of that when I see a lot of meetings 110 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:38.360 with a lot of people in all the meetings that are going too 111 00:08:38.360 --> 00:08:42.400 long, that's usually a sign that people don't know what they 112 00:08:42.400 --> 00:08:47.040 own. They don't know I own this piece. So what they're doing is 113 00:08:47.040 --> 00:08:51.040 it's a shared ownership. So let's build consensus. Let's all 114 00:08:51.040 --> 00:08:54.040 get everybody on the ball on board here. Because we don't 115 00:08:54.040 --> 00:08:57.880 know who owns this. We don't know who leads this. Or we're 116 00:08:57.880 --> 00:09:01.960 so overwhelmed that when we hit with now that I'm three big 117 00:09:01.960 --> 00:09:05.360 projects behind and the fourth one just landed on my desk this 118 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:08.560 morning, then what I do is I just call a meeting with anyone 119 00:09:08.560 --> 00:09:12.200 who can help me solve it. And it's a way of like kindly 120 00:09:12.200 --> 00:09:15.920 delegating by getting everybody else to weigh in on the meeting. 121 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:18.160 And that's where you get through your through your deal. We've 122 00:09:18.160 --> 00:09:21.320 all seen this, right. And what's interesting is you can do it 123 00:09:21.320 --> 00:09:24.960 quickly, you can work out the true cost of a meeting. So it's 124 00:09:25.000 --> 00:09:27.720 the time is the bigger issue, but there's also a financial 125 00:09:27.720 --> 00:09:31.560 element. So if you take your your monthly cost to run your 126 00:09:31.560 --> 00:09:35.080 company, so let's say, if you want to do the calculation very 127 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:37.560 quickly, the math is very simple, you just take the 128 00:09:37.800 --> 00:09:41.920 say $100,000 a month to run your business as an example. And 129 00:09:41.920 --> 00:09:45.720 let's say you have 10 employees, and you have 168 hours in a 130 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:50.640 week. So in a month rather, everybody has 168 hours in a 131 00:09:50.640 --> 00:09:53.840 month. So if you just take the $100,000, so if you want to do 132 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:56.360 the math, you're very welcome to do it very quickly. It's very 133 00:09:56.360 --> 00:09:59.480 easy. So you just take the $100,000. What does it cost to 134 00:09:59.480 --> 00:10:00.000 run your company? 135 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:05.520 per month, divide that by the number 168. So you and then divide that by the number 136 00:10:05.520 --> 00:10:13.120 of employees. So you should be at about $59. So 59, call it $60 per person per hour in 137 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:19.360 a meeting. So if you have five people or 10 people in a meeting, that meeting just cost 138 00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:26.200 $600. Now that meeting happens every week. That means so if you have a meeting with everybody 139 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:34.040 in it for an hour, every week, that's costing you $600 an hour times four is $2,400. Literally 140 00:10:34.040 --> 00:10:39.800 2.4% of your overhead was spent in a meeting one meeting that happened every week for an 141 00:10:39.800 --> 00:10:46.280 hour. You realize very quickly, we burn through so much money. All right, but we're not going 142 00:10:46.280 --> 00:10:51.480 to focus too much more on the money. But I did. We did we have talked about that before. 143 00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:57.240 So I'm going to leave that because I want to get to the core of this. How do you fix 144 00:10:57.240 --> 00:11:04.200 this meeting issue? So death by meeting is a problem because it's it's death of obviously 145 00:11:04.200 --> 00:11:09.320 not the person, but it's death of our productivity, death of our energy, you know, death of our 146 00:11:09.320 --> 00:11:16.680 focus, because we're constantly switching in meetings. And so you know, what's the saddest 147 00:11:16.680 --> 00:11:22.760 part about meetings is if you look, you take a typical meeting with 10 people in it, very often, 148 00:11:22.760 --> 00:11:28.440 it's two or three people doing most of the talking, maybe a fourth person chimes in. So in other words, 149 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:35.000 we've got six people watching four people work, or seven people watching three people work. Now that 150 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:41.000 is a terrible way to do anything. So quickly in the chat, because I want to get your input on this, 151 00:11:41.000 --> 00:11:46.840 because I'm always interested when when we do this topic, what do you think? So give answer 152 00:11:46.840 --> 00:11:50.600 this question for me, if you would, the team can help me track the answers. 153 00:11:52.920 --> 00:11:59.960 What is the purpose of having a meeting? Why have meetings? Let's just start the first principles. 154 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:05.480 What is the purpose of a meeting? Let's just get some answers. 155 00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:12.840 How are we doing? Purpose of a meeting? Anyone? Collaboration? Bring clarity? 156 00:12:14.760 --> 00:12:21.800 More? Feeling part of something bigger? Not working on an island on your own? Make decisions? 157 00:12:24.040 --> 00:12:26.440 Okay, some of these are good answers. 158 00:12:27.400 --> 00:12:43.560 Okay, very good. Basically, it's all around be on the same page, and feel like you're part of a team 159 00:12:43.560 --> 00:12:48.040 and produce clarity on some decision or another. Is that more or less where we've landed on this? 160 00:12:48.040 --> 00:12:54.040 That looks pretty good. Good answers, by the way. So many of these things we're talking about, 161 00:12:54.760 --> 00:12:57.960 well, we just want everyone to know what's going on. Well, often you can do that with 162 00:12:58.520 --> 00:13:04.760 a Slack message or an email. There are other elements you can do. So a meeting needs to be 163 00:13:04.760 --> 00:13:13.000 the action of last resort. That's the big idea. A meeting needs to be the action of last resort. 164 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:18.920 Now, before we say, wow, that sounds intense. Let me explain what a meeting is first, 165 00:13:18.920 --> 00:13:23.720 and then it'll make more sense. So there are three types of gatherings, if you like, 166 00:13:23.720 --> 00:13:29.400 three types of times we get together. There's the one-to-one relationship, you and somebody else, 167 00:13:30.040 --> 00:13:37.240 and that is not a meeting. That is work. Usually, you're doing something effective, 168 00:13:37.240 --> 00:13:41.560 and it's very effective when both people know how to do deep work or focused work. 169 00:13:41.560 --> 00:13:45.640 They know how to cut out the instruct. Have you ever had to share one of those sessions, 170 00:13:45.640 --> 00:13:49.720 and then the other person's on their phone all the time, or they're quickly answering an email, 171 00:13:49.720 --> 00:13:54.200 and they're distracted, and they're not paying any attention, right? If you've ever had that 172 00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:59.720 going on, that's very annoying. But once you both know to shut down the distractions, and it's a 173 00:13:59.720 --> 00:14:05.320 one-on-one, that's not a meeting. For the purpose of this discussion, that's not a meeting, right? 174 00:14:05.320 --> 00:14:11.240 Then there's the one-to-many. The one-to-many is where one person, like what we're doing right now, 175 00:14:11.240 --> 00:14:16.120 mostly coming from me to you. That's training. I'm not talking that about a meeting. Yes, it might 176 00:14:16.120 --> 00:14:21.160 happen on Zoom. I might be in a room, or it's a webinar, but it's training. It's effectively 177 00:14:21.160 --> 00:14:26.680 a communication where one person is sharing information with everyone. Hey, everybody, 178 00:14:26.680 --> 00:14:31.880 we need to meet on Thursday, because I need to tell you all about what all the different benefits 179 00:14:31.880 --> 00:14:38.040 you have in our new benefits package, and whatever it is. That affects everyone, so it's 180 00:14:38.120 --> 00:14:43.080 very effective if we just do that, you know, one-to-many, and we solve that. So that's not 181 00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:49.960 a meeting either. That's a training type scenario. What I'm talking about is the many-to-many 182 00:14:50.520 --> 00:14:54.600 situation, where many people are involved, and many people have stuff to say. 183 00:14:55.480 --> 00:14:59.880 These are the least effective, least respectful, and usually the 184 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:03.040 default of many teams, they just go straight there. Let's run a 185 00:15:03.040 --> 00:15:05.440 meeting, let's get a meeting, let's get a meeting should be 186 00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:08.440 now it makes more sense. Leading should be the action of last 187 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:12.080 resort. And it's the number one problem that every business 188 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:15.780 leader struggles with is to get rid of the meetings. And I was 189 00:15:15.780 --> 00:15:18.920 speaking to a business leader recently, and he said, my team 190 00:15:18.920 --> 00:15:22.320 have so many meetings, we can't, not only can we not get things 191 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:25.960 done. But if you take the meetings away, then they seem 192 00:15:25.960 --> 00:15:28.200 paralyzed. And I said, Well, that's very straightforward. And 193 00:15:28.200 --> 00:15:31.400 why? Because they don't own anything. And they don't have 194 00:15:31.400 --> 00:15:34.760 authority to make decisions. So if you see intense amount of 195 00:15:34.760 --> 00:15:38.560 meetings, we have to go back to the first training of, hey, 196 00:15:38.560 --> 00:15:41.400 what's my one line job description, create a culture of 197 00:15:41.720 --> 00:15:45.480 trust and a sense of ownership. We're a team of leaders, what do 198 00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:49.160 you need to lead? So if you're the leader, the main leader, and 199 00:15:49.160 --> 00:15:51.600 you're listening and seeing your team doing a lot of that meeting 200 00:15:51.600 --> 00:15:55.520 stuff, you may want to be digging into why does the person 201 00:15:55.720 --> 00:15:58.720 who owns it not own it? And why is it they feel they can't make 202 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:01.320 a decision? Do they don't want to take the risk? Sometimes 203 00:16:01.320 --> 00:16:04.240 people just want to share the risk. Let's all get together. 204 00:16:04.280 --> 00:16:09.800 Hey, no, no, you know, CEO, don't beat up on me. All nine 205 00:16:09.800 --> 00:16:15.800 of us decided together. And so a lot of times it's that. So 206 00:16:15.800 --> 00:16:18.760 here's what I want to suggest. If you're going to make meetings 207 00:16:18.760 --> 00:16:23.960 work, and they are the action of last resort, what again, they 208 00:16:23.960 --> 00:16:26.840 are not work with, you know, where you're doing deep work or 209 00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:29.160 whatever, I'm not talking about work, where you're actually 210 00:16:29.160 --> 00:16:31.880 producing something and solving problems and making decisions. 211 00:16:32.360 --> 00:16:35.720 I'm talking about, and it's not training, I'm talking about the 212 00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:39.120 many to many meetings, where we're sitting around, and you 213 00:16:39.120 --> 00:16:42.960 know how that goes, especially when we're tired. So let's talk 214 00:16:42.960 --> 00:16:46.960 about the way to fix this problem is called FIRE 215 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:51.200 meetings, F-I-R-E, FIRE meetings, and it's an acronym, 216 00:16:51.240 --> 00:16:54.120 and it's hopefully easy to remember. And it stands for 217 00:16:54.440 --> 00:16:57.920 these meetings, if you want them to be super effective, here's 218 00:16:57.920 --> 00:17:00.760 what I have learned after over 30 years of trying to solve this 219 00:17:00.760 --> 00:17:08.640 problem. One, what does F stand for? Focused. Number two, is 220 00:17:08.680 --> 00:17:13.680 informative. So focused, informative, respectful, 221 00:17:13.760 --> 00:17:17.200 effective, focused, informative, respectful, effective. Let me 222 00:17:17.200 --> 00:17:21.280 run through that very, very quickly with you. So by focused, 223 00:17:21.319 --> 00:17:24.720 I mean, we've picked the right mode, we know this is a many to 224 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:28.200 many meeting. And the best way to manage a many to many 225 00:17:28.200 --> 00:17:32.440 meeting, which is what we've now defined as a meeting, is to 226 00:17:32.440 --> 00:17:37.960 start every meeting with this meeting will be successful if 227 00:17:38.080 --> 00:17:43.120 dot, dot, dot. If you start every meeting with this meeting 228 00:17:43.120 --> 00:17:46.960 will be successful if, what that does immediately is it 229 00:17:46.960 --> 00:17:51.440 focus everybody on the point why you're there. Now, here comes 230 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:55.960 the more cultural one and the harder one. It's called five 231 00:17:55.960 --> 00:18:00.560 star permission. And five star permission has been starting to 232 00:18:00.560 --> 00:18:03.280 catch on in corporations. I don't know if Tesla started 233 00:18:03.280 --> 00:18:06.560 this, they may have, others have caught on to this five star 234 00:18:06.560 --> 00:18:10.040 permission is, you have permission to leave this 235 00:18:10.040 --> 00:18:16.640 meeting, if you feel you have nothing to contribute. Now that 236 00:18:16.680 --> 00:18:21.480 we have to make that culturally acceptable in our culture. And 237 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:24.920 the way we do that, so it doesn't feel rude, is we say, 238 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:27.760 right up front, hey, if you got to this meeting, and now that 239 00:18:27.760 --> 00:18:30.200 I've said this meeting will be successful, if you think you 240 00:18:30.200 --> 00:18:33.240 don't really have much to contribute to that, you can 241 00:18:33.240 --> 00:18:36.720 leave and nobody thinks the worst, you know, there's no 242 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:41.200 negative consequences to that. And we allow five star 243 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:43.520 permission for up to 10 minutes off, because some say, well, I 244 00:18:43.520 --> 00:18:46.960 don't know if I'm going to, let me just see how it's going. They 245 00:18:46.960 --> 00:18:49.560 feel it out. It's not so nice if they leave halfway through the 246 00:18:49.560 --> 00:18:52.840 meeting, that gets a bit annoying and disruptive. So we 247 00:18:52.840 --> 00:18:55.920 call five star permission is after 10 minutes, the first 10 248 00:18:55.920 --> 00:18:59.160 minutes, you can leave or you can leave up front. And so in 249 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:02.360 fact, that happened to us today, right? So we jumped on a call 250 00:19:02.360 --> 00:19:06.080 with a vendor. And it was, you know, Jenny and Bridget and Matt 251 00:19:06.080 --> 00:19:10.080 and myself, that's, that's four resources from Brilliant. And 252 00:19:10.080 --> 00:19:12.720 there was one or I suppose later on two or three people on their 253 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:15.920 end. And when I heard what the topic was, and I heard what we 254 00:19:15.920 --> 00:19:19.560 were going to do, once she said what the meeting was about, I 255 00:19:19.560 --> 00:19:24.120 excused myself. So, you know, but, but, you know, sometimes 256 00:19:24.120 --> 00:19:27.680 you have to really explain that if it's an external group. And 257 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:31.360 so obviously do it with grace. But it should be normal in your 258 00:19:31.360 --> 00:19:34.640 company to let people out of the meetings to walk out of a 259 00:19:34.680 --> 00:19:39.120 meeting you don't have any, any contribution to. Next thing to 260 00:19:39.120 --> 00:19:42.280 keep it focused, do not over invite. A lot of people was 261 00:19:42.280 --> 00:19:46.200 like, well, let's invite them just in case. No, let's do just 262 00:19:46.200 --> 00:19:50.280 in time, not just in case. Just in time is tell them when they 263 00:19:50.280 --> 00:19:54.000 need to know or a little bit before they need to know. But we 264 00:19:54.000 --> 00:19:58.200 shouldn't be doing this thing. Well, just in case, just in 265 00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:00.040 case, you know, we're going to 266 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:03.840 that they may, might possibly need this information. 267 00:20:03.840 --> 00:20:04.680 Don't do that. 268 00:20:04.680 --> 00:20:07.360 Don't invite people for the just-in-case plan, right? 269 00:20:07.360 --> 00:20:08.200 There are other ways. 270 00:20:08.200 --> 00:20:09.440 You can send them a note, a summary. 271 00:20:09.440 --> 00:20:10.720 They can see whatever. 272 00:20:11.600 --> 00:20:14.400 The other ideas, and this one is a little tricky, 273 00:20:14.400 --> 00:20:17.360 but set a time shorter than you think you need. 274 00:20:18.280 --> 00:20:19.120 Why? 275 00:20:19.120 --> 00:20:20.360 Because all meetings fill up. 276 00:20:20.360 --> 00:20:25.360 All the time you give it plus five minutes, right? 277 00:20:25.360 --> 00:20:26.960 You can set the meeting for one hour 278 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:28.320 and it'll take one hour and five minutes. 279 00:20:28.320 --> 00:20:29.680 You can set the meeting for 30 minutes. 280 00:20:29.680 --> 00:20:31.400 It'll take 35 minutes. 281 00:20:31.400 --> 00:20:33.920 Okay, and then the last thing is 282 00:20:33.920 --> 00:20:36.200 when you give the shorter time than you think you need, 283 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:37.760 it gets everybody focused. 284 00:20:37.760 --> 00:20:39.800 Like, wow, we have to discuss all that in 30 minutes. 285 00:20:39.800 --> 00:20:41.880 Let's go, let's go, let's go, right? 286 00:20:41.880 --> 00:20:45.320 And it also raises the energy level of the meeting. 287 00:20:45.320 --> 00:20:46.720 Keeps it focused. 288 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:48.480 And, you know, one of the other things is 289 00:20:48.480 --> 00:20:52.720 if you have an opinion leader, this is just a help. 290 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:54.320 If you're the one who calls a lot of meetings 291 00:20:54.320 --> 00:20:56.080 or has to call meetings, 292 00:20:56.080 --> 00:20:57.760 if you have an opinion lead in the group, 293 00:20:57.760 --> 00:20:59.840 it doesn't matter where they are in the org chart. 294 00:20:59.840 --> 00:21:01.280 If they're the ones who get in a meeting 295 00:21:01.280 --> 00:21:02.760 and can derail the whole meeting, 296 00:21:02.760 --> 00:21:04.840 you may want to give them a heads up beforehand. 297 00:21:04.840 --> 00:21:06.920 Hey, we're going to be talking about this. 298 00:21:06.920 --> 00:21:07.920 I just want you to be aware. 299 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:09.520 Any input thoughts? 300 00:21:09.520 --> 00:21:10.880 Okay, good. 301 00:21:10.880 --> 00:21:12.600 And then you get into the meeting 302 00:21:12.600 --> 00:21:14.400 because sometimes you have to get people, 303 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:16.640 you know, some people are, you know, 304 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:18.960 naturally black hat thinkers, right? 305 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:22.800 Okay, so that's just how you'd really focus it down. 306 00:21:22.800 --> 00:21:26.160 Again, you know, start every meeting with, 307 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:27.360 this meeting will be successful. 308 00:21:28.360 --> 00:21:30.440 Give everybody's five-star permission. 309 00:21:30.440 --> 00:21:32.640 You can leave up to 10 minutes into the meeting. 310 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:34.120 Don't over-invite. 311 00:21:34.120 --> 00:21:38.240 Use just-in-time, not just-in-case. 312 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:42.320 Set shorter time for big PowerPoints around that. 313 00:21:42.320 --> 00:21:44.120 Right, next one's make it informative. 314 00:21:44.120 --> 00:21:45.520 Get to the point. 315 00:21:45.520 --> 00:21:47.280 What must the team know? 316 00:21:47.280 --> 00:21:49.240 What decision needs to be made? 317 00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:51.920 Get to the key point. 318 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:53.560 And watch for the rabbit trails 319 00:21:53.560 --> 00:21:56.200 because the rabbit trails sometimes can be conversational, 320 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:58.560 but it takes a little experience to say, 321 00:21:58.560 --> 00:21:59.840 even if you're not quite sure 322 00:21:59.840 --> 00:22:01.080 and you're new at leading a meeting, 323 00:22:01.080 --> 00:22:02.920 you can say things like, 324 00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:04.320 I know we can discuss that. 325 00:22:04.320 --> 00:22:05.400 I just want to know, 326 00:22:05.400 --> 00:22:06.960 does everybody think that will help us 327 00:22:06.960 --> 00:22:07.800 get to the main point? 328 00:22:07.800 --> 00:22:11.320 Remember when we said this meeting will be successful if? 329 00:22:11.320 --> 00:22:14.080 Right, so let's keep it informative 330 00:22:14.080 --> 00:22:17.520 and keep it very to the point. 331 00:22:17.520 --> 00:22:19.160 Next one is respectful. 332 00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:21.360 Okay, now this gets a little tricky. 333 00:22:21.360 --> 00:22:23.360 So, but if you pull this off, 334 00:22:23.480 --> 00:22:26.560 which we have at Brilliant and at other organizations, 335 00:22:26.560 --> 00:22:27.920 if you pull this off, 336 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:30.400 it will change a lot of other things. 337 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:33.760 This is one of those keystone habits, 338 00:22:33.760 --> 00:22:36.240 corporate habits that if you do this thing, 339 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:37.880 it fixes a whole lot of other things 340 00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:39.680 without you having to put the effort in. 341 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:42.200 And that is making the meetings respectful. 342 00:22:42.200 --> 00:22:45.520 In particular, everybody gets on two minutes early. 343 00:22:45.520 --> 00:22:46.520 Why? 344 00:22:46.520 --> 00:22:50.240 Because you just need a little buffer. 345 00:22:50.240 --> 00:22:52.120 The messaging of respect 346 00:22:52.120 --> 00:22:54.760 that it says to everybody's time is fantastic. 347 00:22:54.760 --> 00:22:57.080 If you have a meeting with Team Brilliant 348 00:22:57.080 --> 00:22:59.160 and you get on a minute early, 349 00:22:59.160 --> 00:23:01.400 you'll see the whole team's waiting for you. 350 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:04.960 We're on two, three minutes early every time. 351 00:23:04.960 --> 00:23:05.800 Why? 352 00:23:05.800 --> 00:23:07.080 Because we're being respectful, 353 00:23:07.080 --> 00:23:10.360 but also because we want to work with margin. 354 00:23:10.360 --> 00:23:11.680 The people who run meetings, 355 00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:12.720 one, two minutes off. 356 00:23:12.720 --> 00:23:14.640 So, hey, we have a meeting at 10 o'clock. 357 00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:15.800 They, at 10 o'clock, 358 00:23:15.800 --> 00:23:17.760 they're trying to wrap up the meeting. 359 00:23:17.760 --> 00:23:20.200 Now it's 10.03, 10.04. 360 00:23:20.200 --> 00:23:22.400 They have to quickly grab something, come back. 361 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:23.920 It's 10.05, they get on the meeting. 362 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:25.520 Hey, sorry guys, sorry I'm late. 363 00:23:26.480 --> 00:23:29.680 So, when I was running a leadership company, 364 00:23:29.680 --> 00:23:33.040 we had about 25 employees and this was the norm. 365 00:23:33.040 --> 00:23:34.080 But it was particularly the norm 366 00:23:34.080 --> 00:23:36.560 because the president of the company kept doing it. 367 00:23:36.560 --> 00:23:38.840 And so I said to him, okay, here's the deal. 368 00:23:38.840 --> 00:23:41.040 You can come to meetings and if you come late, that's fine. 369 00:23:41.040 --> 00:23:42.440 You just can't say anything. 370 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:45.400 And that fixed it. 371 00:23:46.680 --> 00:23:47.520 And it was really funny 372 00:23:47.520 --> 00:23:49.280 because the next morning he arrived five minutes late 373 00:23:49.280 --> 00:23:51.720 for the pre-meeting because we were a Christian group 374 00:23:51.720 --> 00:23:53.280 and he arrived, so then he realizes, 375 00:23:53.280 --> 00:23:55.960 well, somebody better leave this meeting 376 00:23:55.960 --> 00:23:57.120 because it wasn't him. 377 00:23:57.120 --> 00:23:59.720 So, what's the fuss about that? 378 00:23:59.720 --> 00:24:04.200 Well, the fuss about that is that that one tiny adjustment 379 00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:07.080 brings a level of respect to one another's time. 380 00:24:07.080 --> 00:24:11.160 It filters down into things like not overloading people, 381 00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:13.120 not shoving your work onto others. 382 00:24:13.120 --> 00:24:14.040 It's being respectful. 383 00:24:14.040 --> 00:24:16.520 It creates a culture of respect across the board. 384 00:24:16.520 --> 00:24:18.320 So, that means you have to end the meeting 385 00:24:18.320 --> 00:24:22.680 five minutes early so that everyone has two minutes early, 386 00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:23.520 even you're unorganized. 387 00:24:23.520 --> 00:24:25.280 Now, if you can't end it five minutes early, 388 00:24:25.280 --> 00:24:27.000 at least end it exactly on time 389 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:28.840 or as close to on time as you can. 390 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:34.720 So, there are so many benefits to this. 391 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:38.000 One of them is we are not only respectful 392 00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:41.800 of each other's time, but also we do what we say. 393 00:24:41.800 --> 00:24:43.640 I said the meeting starts at 10. 394 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:45.920 You know, the way I learned this, though, 395 00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:49.680 was really interesting because I didn't learn this in, 396 00:24:49.680 --> 00:24:51.840 I learned this in Germany. 397 00:24:51.840 --> 00:24:55.440 And I remember arriving at a meeting in Germany 398 00:24:55.440 --> 00:24:58.600 and I arrived, it was, the meeting was for 7 a.m. 399 00:24:58.600 --> 00:24:59.440 by the way. 400 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:02.520 And I arrived earlier, a huge insurance company, 401 00:25:02.520 --> 00:25:04.360 big multi-billion dollar insurance company. 402 00:25:04.360 --> 00:25:08.680 Myself and my team arrived and we arrived at 6.45. 403 00:25:08.680 --> 00:25:12.240 We were signing in the front desk and the manager 404 00:25:12.240 --> 00:25:14.480 called down and wanted to cancel the meeting 405 00:25:14.480 --> 00:25:15.520 because we were late. 406 00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:20.760 And I said, late, 6.45, you know? 407 00:25:20.760 --> 00:25:24.240 And so he said, and so my German partner, 408 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:26.440 he started to explain to me, he said, no, no, no, no. 409 00:25:26.440 --> 00:25:28.360 When Germans say the meeting starts at seven, 410 00:25:28.360 --> 00:25:30.160 they mean the meeting portion. 411 00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:33.000 That means you're in the room 15 minutes early. 412 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:35.160 You're doing the coffee and handing out the business cards 413 00:25:35.160 --> 00:25:36.480 and saying hello and where you're from 414 00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:39.080 and all that chatty, chatty stuff. 415 00:25:39.080 --> 00:25:40.280 But the meeting portion, 416 00:25:40.280 --> 00:25:43.040 the actual business starts at seven. 417 00:25:43.040 --> 00:25:45.360 I didn't know that, you see, cultural update. 418 00:25:45.360 --> 00:25:50.360 So I was like, so, okay, that might not be the way we do it, 419 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:54.880 you know, but it does have an interesting impact 420 00:25:54.880 --> 00:25:57.880 that if everyone jumps on a minute or two early, 421 00:25:58.280 --> 00:25:59.720 people can say hi and hey, how's it going? 422 00:25:59.720 --> 00:26:02.240 And you know, are you guys okay in the hurricane 423 00:26:02.240 --> 00:26:03.440 and all that good stuff? 424 00:26:03.440 --> 00:26:05.520 But the meeting portion starts on time. 425 00:26:05.520 --> 00:26:06.680 It makes a big difference. 426 00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:09.480 Now, the cool thing about this idea 427 00:26:09.480 --> 00:26:13.200 is that being respectful of creating this culture of respect 428 00:26:13.200 --> 00:26:15.440 if you can build this into your meeting culture, 429 00:26:15.440 --> 00:26:18.880 honestly, it's a complete game changer for your business. 430 00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:20.640 And lastly, effective. 431 00:26:20.640 --> 00:26:22.600 And so we talked at the beginning of the meeting 432 00:26:22.600 --> 00:26:23.640 when we focused the meeting, 433 00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:26.240 this meeting will be successful if, 434 00:26:26.280 --> 00:26:27.920 and we said what it was. 435 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:29.800 And if you're about halfway through and it's going nowhere, 436 00:26:29.800 --> 00:26:32.760 just say, by the way, we're 15 minutes in, 437 00:26:32.760 --> 00:26:34.280 this is halfway through the meeting, 438 00:26:34.280 --> 00:26:35.560 just want to let everybody know 439 00:26:35.560 --> 00:26:37.080 we need to get to this objective. 440 00:26:37.080 --> 00:26:40.840 Sometimes it's a great way to just cut all the rabbit holes 441 00:26:40.840 --> 00:26:42.920 and get it back to where it needs to be, 442 00:26:42.920 --> 00:26:44.080 you know, rabbit trails. 443 00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:48.360 So, hey, at the end of the meeting, do this. 444 00:26:48.360 --> 00:26:50.720 State whether you reached your objective or not 445 00:26:51.560 --> 00:26:53.120 and thank people. 446 00:26:53.120 --> 00:26:54.280 And do that like two minutes 447 00:26:54.280 --> 00:26:55.360 as you're coming in for the landing, 448 00:26:55.360 --> 00:26:56.320 two minutes before and just say, 449 00:26:56.320 --> 00:27:00.080 okay, we said this meeting will be successful 450 00:27:00.080 --> 00:27:05.080 if we had a clear action plan for the upcoming event. 451 00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:06.520 Hey, thank you, team. 452 00:27:06.520 --> 00:27:07.640 We really got a clear plan. 453 00:27:07.640 --> 00:27:09.160 Couple of things we still need to work out, 454 00:27:09.160 --> 00:27:11.240 but we've got the core plan. 455 00:27:11.240 --> 00:27:12.160 Really appreciate it. 456 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:13.000 Thank you. 457 00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:15.120 Let people feel they were successful. 458 00:27:15.120 --> 00:27:18.680 Let people feel they made a contribution and it mattered. 459 00:27:18.680 --> 00:27:20.920 Because there's nothing worse than wasting your time 460 00:27:20.920 --> 00:27:22.320 in a meeting and feel like it didn't matter 461 00:27:22.320 --> 00:27:23.560 if you were there or not. 462 00:27:24.560 --> 00:27:25.920 Give clear next steps. 463 00:27:25.920 --> 00:27:27.920 All you need, you don't, when you take minutes, 464 00:27:27.920 --> 00:27:29.320 you don't have to write everything down. 465 00:27:29.320 --> 00:27:31.680 Just what did you decide? 466 00:27:31.680 --> 00:27:32.880 Who's doing it? 467 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:33.800 When? 468 00:27:33.800 --> 00:27:34.720 What did you decide? 469 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:35.560 Who's doing it? 470 00:27:35.560 --> 00:27:36.400 When? 471 00:27:36.400 --> 00:27:37.240 That's it. 472 00:27:37.240 --> 00:27:38.080 So, and then you just summarize. 473 00:27:38.080 --> 00:27:38.920 Hey, we reached our objective. 474 00:27:38.920 --> 00:27:40.120 Now, John's going to do that. 475 00:27:40.120 --> 00:27:42.240 Sally's going to do that by this day. 476 00:27:42.240 --> 00:27:44.320 Just give it a simple thing. 477 00:27:44.320 --> 00:27:47.040 By the way, if a meeting ends early, 478 00:27:47.040 --> 00:27:50.080 there's a concept called giving back their time. 479 00:27:50.080 --> 00:27:52.120 Give back the time. 480 00:27:52.680 --> 00:27:55.160 If a meeting, if you thought it would take an hour 481 00:27:55.160 --> 00:27:57.760 and it's 40 minutes in and you realized this team 482 00:27:57.760 --> 00:28:00.440 did it a whole lot faster, don't feel like, 483 00:28:00.440 --> 00:28:01.400 well, I don't want them to think 484 00:28:01.400 --> 00:28:02.440 I don't know what I'm doing. 485 00:28:02.440 --> 00:28:03.880 So I'm going to use up the rest of the time. 486 00:28:03.880 --> 00:28:06.240 So I'm going to pull and spread out the meeting. 487 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:09.520 Most people do that maybe consciously or subconsciously. 488 00:28:09.520 --> 00:28:11.720 But if you can land the meeting early, 489 00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:15.200 the reputation you'll build as a leader is tremendous. 490 00:28:15.200 --> 00:28:16.960 So we've had fun times at Brilliant 491 00:28:16.960 --> 00:28:20.120 where we've ended meetings before they started. 492 00:28:20.160 --> 00:28:22.440 So we have a 10 minute standup. 493 00:28:22.440 --> 00:28:23.560 Of course, being the team, 494 00:28:23.560 --> 00:28:25.600 they're all on three minutes beforehand. 495 00:28:25.600 --> 00:28:27.200 And then we go, okay, so what's happening? 496 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:28.040 One or two things. 497 00:28:28.040 --> 00:28:29.160 We did that in a minute. 498 00:28:29.160 --> 00:28:30.080 And the meeting ended 499 00:28:30.080 --> 00:28:32.520 before the clock actually hit the hour. 500 00:28:32.520 --> 00:28:34.440 So the meeting ended before it start. 501 00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:36.800 Now, it hasn't happened too many times, but it's been fun. 502 00:28:36.800 --> 00:28:39.000 All we've had meetings lasted two minutes. 503 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:40.120 Okay. 504 00:28:40.120 --> 00:28:42.840 And so when you have a standup, 505 00:28:42.840 --> 00:28:45.360 perhaps the focus of the meeting is like, 506 00:28:45.360 --> 00:28:47.720 hey guys, we have a remote team. 507 00:28:47.720 --> 00:28:49.920 Everybody's out in different cities. 508 00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:51.280 Like we have a team Brilliant. 509 00:28:51.280 --> 00:28:52.520 Everybody will almost, 510 00:28:52.520 --> 00:28:54.960 the team is so spread out, you know, 511 00:28:54.960 --> 00:28:58.760 from Santa Barbara, Michigan, Georgia, 512 00:28:58.760 --> 00:29:00.480 you know, we're spread out Oregon. 513 00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:02.280 We're spread out as a team. 514 00:29:02.280 --> 00:29:04.560 So 10 minutes every day, cameras on, 515 00:29:04.560 --> 00:29:06.320 look at each other, say hi. 516 00:29:06.320 --> 00:29:07.160 That's not some, 517 00:29:07.160 --> 00:29:09.600 we can talk about coordination or what we're doing, 518 00:29:09.600 --> 00:29:11.240 but sometimes it's just to realize 519 00:29:11.240 --> 00:29:12.640 you're still part of a team. 520 00:29:13.760 --> 00:29:16.360 They're real people on the other side. 521 00:29:16.360 --> 00:29:17.880 So that's the objective of the meeting. 522 00:29:17.880 --> 00:29:19.240 Then enjoy that. 523 00:29:19.240 --> 00:29:20.440 Hey, how's it going? 524 00:29:20.440 --> 00:29:23.280 Have a kind of coffee break together. 525 00:29:23.280 --> 00:29:24.320 That's fine. 526 00:29:24.320 --> 00:29:25.320 If you're doing that, 527 00:29:25.320 --> 00:29:28.320 because there's a very, very clear objective. 528 00:29:28.320 --> 00:29:29.160 Okay. 529 00:29:29.160 --> 00:29:30.520 Any questions around that? 530 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:35.480 So let's go through, summarize. 531 00:29:35.480 --> 00:29:37.760 What do we talk about? 532 00:29:37.760 --> 00:29:40.760 That meetings should be the action of last resort. 533 00:29:40.760 --> 00:29:42.120 Try other things first. 534 00:29:43.000 --> 00:29:45.480 We're not defining working together, 535 00:29:45.480 --> 00:29:46.360 where we're solving problems, 536 00:29:46.360 --> 00:29:48.200 making decisions and creating something. 537 00:29:48.200 --> 00:29:49.040 That's work. 538 00:29:49.040 --> 00:29:50.440 That's not a meeting. 539 00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:52.680 When you're being taught something, that's training. 540 00:29:52.680 --> 00:29:54.920 We're talking about the many to many meetings. 541 00:29:54.920 --> 00:29:55.800 And what do we do with those? 542 00:29:55.800 --> 00:29:57.640 We turn them into fire meetings. 543 00:29:57.640 --> 00:29:58.840 Make them focused. 544 00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:02.840 We make them informative, we make them respectful, 545 00:30:02.840 --> 00:30:05.800 start on time, say what you wanna do, 546 00:30:05.800 --> 00:30:07.920 make them effective, land them well. 547 00:30:07.920 --> 00:30:10.240 Thank you, we've reached our objective, 548 00:30:10.240 --> 00:30:13.200 now everyone's gonna do the following. 549 00:30:13.200 --> 00:30:14.040 Robin. 550 00:30:15.000 --> 00:30:18.280 Yeah, we have a daily huddle that lasts 15 minutes, 551 00:30:18.280 --> 00:30:20.880 which I understand you guys do call it stand up, 552 00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:23.040 which is great, because we do the same thing. 553 00:30:23.040 --> 00:30:27.280 However, we have a two-hour strategy meeting every Tuesday, 554 00:30:27.280 --> 00:30:31.800 and we have a inspector meeting every other Thursday, 555 00:30:31.800 --> 00:30:33.960 and they're just scheduled, 556 00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:38.760 but we really, we don't really, we go off course a lot. 557 00:30:38.760 --> 00:30:40.640 I mean, we do have structure, 558 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:43.160 but a strategy meeting needs to do strategy, 559 00:30:43.160 --> 00:30:45.520 and usually it's just talking about things 560 00:30:45.520 --> 00:30:49.960 that are going on, and I mean, I hear what you're saying, 561 00:30:49.960 --> 00:30:52.080 and we've been doing this ever since we started, 562 00:30:52.080 --> 00:30:56.280 pretty much, so to get the team to say, 563 00:30:56.280 --> 00:30:57.560 oh, we're just gonna have a meeting, 564 00:30:57.560 --> 00:30:59.680 and boom, and we're done, kind of a thing. 565 00:31:01.040 --> 00:31:04.680 To me, that's, I don't see that happening very easily, 566 00:31:05.680 --> 00:31:07.120 but I hear what you're saying, 567 00:31:07.120 --> 00:31:09.960 and I'd like to be able to implement that. 568 00:31:09.960 --> 00:31:12.280 So here's, this raises an interesting point, 569 00:31:12.280 --> 00:31:14.120 but let me hear from Ben first before we respond. 570 00:31:14.120 --> 00:31:15.040 Hey, Ben, go. 571 00:31:16.680 --> 00:31:17.520 What's happening? 572 00:31:17.520 --> 00:31:20.320 I think maybe we have a similar meeting, 573 00:31:21.400 --> 00:31:24.040 which I almost felt guilty saying at this point, 574 00:31:25.000 --> 00:31:30.000 but the question is, how do we exchange information 575 00:31:31.400 --> 00:31:34.040 so that we're all kind of on the same page 576 00:31:34.040 --> 00:31:36.440 with what needs to happen today? 577 00:31:37.560 --> 00:31:39.680 Okay, so we're now getting into 578 00:31:39.680 --> 00:31:41.320 more of the subtleties of it. 579 00:31:41.320 --> 00:31:44.360 What I think we need to do when we start and say, 580 00:31:44.360 --> 00:31:46.640 sometimes a meeting is the action of, 581 00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:49.280 is the last resort, action of last resort, 582 00:31:49.280 --> 00:31:51.440 because there's no other way to achieve a goal. 583 00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:53.480 So what you just said there, for instance, 584 00:31:53.920 --> 00:31:58.120 so Mondays at Brilliant, we have a meeting, 585 00:31:58.120 --> 00:32:00.560 it's not 10 minutes, it's a bit longer, 586 00:32:00.560 --> 00:32:03.840 which Jenny hosts, and in that specific meeting, 587 00:32:03.840 --> 00:32:05.520 it's designed for everybody shares, 588 00:32:05.520 --> 00:32:06.520 what did you do last week? 589 00:32:06.520 --> 00:32:07.400 What are you gonna do this week? 590 00:32:07.400 --> 00:32:09.280 It's not an accountability meeting. 591 00:32:09.280 --> 00:32:11.400 It's not even a meeting so much 592 00:32:11.400 --> 00:32:13.520 to let everybody know what you're doing or coordination. 593 00:32:13.520 --> 00:32:15.000 I mean, that's a side benefit, 594 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:17.800 but the main thing is to give everyone a voice, 595 00:32:17.800 --> 00:32:19.760 because a lot of times silent work happens, 596 00:32:19.760 --> 00:32:21.440 especially in a remote team, 597 00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:23.120 and there are people who are doing amazing things, 598 00:32:23.760 --> 00:32:25.320 but nobody knows they're doing that. 599 00:32:25.320 --> 00:32:28.000 So that objective, so the reason for this meeting 600 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:31.000 is to give you a voice, to hear what you did last week 601 00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:32.240 and what you're gonna do next week. 602 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:36.280 And it's a kind of a celebratory information exchange thing. 603 00:32:36.280 --> 00:32:38.640 So you can have meetings like, 604 00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:40.400 it doesn't have to be all business, business, business, 605 00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:43.200 business, but when you do have business meetings, 606 00:32:43.200 --> 00:32:46.440 define them so that if they're going to be more social, 607 00:32:46.440 --> 00:32:48.720 then let them be amazingly social. 608 00:32:48.720 --> 00:32:51.360 If they're gonna be all business, let them be business, 609 00:32:51.360 --> 00:32:53.400 but it's when we don't define them 610 00:32:53.400 --> 00:32:55.240 and they're going to this mushy, 611 00:32:55.240 --> 00:32:56.920 like you were saying, Robin, 612 00:32:56.920 --> 00:32:59.800 there's two hour everything happens meeting. 613 00:32:59.800 --> 00:33:01.160 You could, what you could do is say, 614 00:33:01.160 --> 00:33:02.600 hey, we're gonna do the business part 615 00:33:02.600 --> 00:33:05.280 and whatever's left, we're gonna hang out together. 616 00:33:05.280 --> 00:33:06.760 What that does in the culture 617 00:33:06.760 --> 00:33:10.080 is it sets a very clear expectation. 618 00:33:10.080 --> 00:33:11.560 When we do business, we do it, 619 00:33:11.560 --> 00:33:13.520 and then we put that aside. 620 00:33:13.520 --> 00:33:15.240 And listen, this is a constant fight, 621 00:33:15.240 --> 00:33:17.120 no matter how good the culture is. 622 00:33:18.400 --> 00:33:19.480 Hope that's helpful. 623 00:33:19.480 --> 00:33:21.480 So we're not saying, 624 00:33:21.480 --> 00:33:24.560 cause there's a social element to being a team, right? 625 00:33:24.560 --> 00:33:27.520 There's a certain getting to know each other, 626 00:33:27.520 --> 00:33:30.400 it's certain relational components, 627 00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:32.200 but then make space for that. 628 00:33:33.080 --> 00:33:35.720 So if you say, hey, let's get the business portion done, 629 00:33:35.720 --> 00:33:37.360 and then we wanna hang out, 630 00:33:37.360 --> 00:33:39.360 hey, get your cup of coffee or your favorite drink, 631 00:33:39.360 --> 00:33:41.720 let's hang out, let's do our thing. 632 00:33:41.720 --> 00:33:42.920 So we can do that. 633 00:33:44.280 --> 00:33:47.760 And also having set meetings to make sure 634 00:33:47.760 --> 00:33:50.880 that there's a certain rhythm to what you're doing. 635 00:33:51.960 --> 00:33:54.840 We've encouraged, for instance, that you have a pitch day. 636 00:33:54.840 --> 00:33:57.800 So if you, you know, Tuesdays at Brilliant is pitch day, 637 00:33:57.800 --> 00:33:59.840 there are no pitches, other stuff happens. 638 00:33:59.840 --> 00:34:01.800 But maybe the other stuff is just hanging out. 639 00:34:01.800 --> 00:34:03.240 Jenny, I know you run these meetings. 640 00:34:03.240 --> 00:34:05.160 Do you wanna comment from, 641 00:34:05.160 --> 00:34:07.640 I think you're the leader, you should comment on this. 642 00:34:07.640 --> 00:34:08.480 Sure. 643 00:34:08.480 --> 00:34:12.960 So having those meetings and the goals for each meeting, 644 00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:15.239 like you're saying, Monday, we talk about 645 00:34:15.239 --> 00:34:17.280 what we did last week and what our goals are for this week 646 00:34:17.800 --> 00:34:19.800 to give everyone on the team a voice. 647 00:34:19.800 --> 00:34:21.719 It really does create the expectation. 648 00:34:21.719 --> 00:34:24.600 And so people come up really ready to participate. 649 00:34:24.600 --> 00:34:28.440 And then Wednesday is more kind of like a celebration 650 00:34:28.440 --> 00:34:30.760 meeting where we celebrate, we highlight someone, 651 00:34:30.760 --> 00:34:34.560 or you share a weekly win from like our edge training. 652 00:34:34.560 --> 00:34:37.480 And so folks will come there and they'll know 653 00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:41.719 that that's a time where it's a time to celebrate as a team. 654 00:34:41.719 --> 00:34:43.840 And then if we are gonna go longer in some of those, 655 00:34:43.840 --> 00:34:45.920 we can ask, hey, everyone, 656 00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:47.560 we look like we're gonna go a little bit longer. 657 00:34:47.560 --> 00:34:49.880 Is everyone okay to be on for two to three more minutes? 658 00:34:49.880 --> 00:34:53.120 And then everyone can say yes or no. 659 00:34:53.120 --> 00:34:55.760 And then that's a way that they get to have a voice 660 00:34:55.760 --> 00:34:57.840 if they don't have the extra time. 661 00:34:57.840 --> 00:34:59.400 And that's been really helpful. 662 00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:06.000 I think the respect thing is probably the most important part of all of what I just said. 663 00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:13.000 And if I were to just net it out for you, I'd say, if you can get your trains running two minutes early on, 664 00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:19.000 and if you are going to go over, ask respectfully to every team member that five-star permission to leave. 665 00:35:19.000 --> 00:35:24.000 And just being clear at the beginning, we're going to do this, and at the end, did we do it? 666 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:26.000 And if so, what is the follow-up? 667 00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:32.000 I think it's easy to fall into, especially when we're tired and we're running a meeting. 668 00:35:32.000 --> 00:35:38.000 I mean, last Tuesday, I think I ran meetings back-to-back from 9 a.m. till 6 p.m. 669 00:35:38.000 --> 00:35:45.000 And I think there may have been seven or ten minutes in between when I wasn't actually busy. 670 00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:48.000 You know, eat at your desk and all that stuff, that's no way to live. 671 00:35:48.000 --> 00:35:54.000 But if on the days that happens, there needs to be a culture to those meetings so that it makes it huge. 672 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:58.000 Now, was that effective? Hugely effective. 673 00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:02.000 So, okay, any other questions? 674 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:08.000 So, by the way, I know we're going to – let's do the breakout, because we are running – 675 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:13.000 and since we've done a little bit of Q&A, let's give you right till, you know, 58 or whatever, 676 00:36:13.000 --> 00:36:15.000 or we can just let it run to the hour. 677 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:16.000 We can even do that. 678 00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:21.000 The reason – in the breakout questions, what I want you to do is – 679 00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:26.000 exercise number one is for everybody to look at how many meetings you're attending. 680 00:36:26.000 --> 00:36:27.000 Look over a two-week time period. 681 00:36:27.000 --> 00:36:29.000 How many meetings did you attend? 682 00:36:29.000 --> 00:36:32.000 You know, estimate how many hours those meetings took. 683 00:36:32.000 --> 00:36:36.000 What percentage did you contribute to in those meetings? 684 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:40.000 And then of those meetings, you know, which could have you not attended? 685 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:44.000 And then exercise two is, like, write down the meetings you think in your organization 686 00:36:44.000 --> 00:36:48.000 you should be attending versus those you would like to stop attending. 687 00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:52.000 And this is where the culture of trust comes, because exercise three is as a team discuss. 688 00:36:52.000 --> 00:36:57.000 So, this is to answer your question, Robin, directly, is that maybe people don't want 689 00:36:57.000 --> 00:36:59.000 a two-hour strategy meeting every week. 690 00:36:59.000 --> 00:37:01.000 So, let's have a talk about that. 691 00:37:01.000 --> 00:37:02.000 You know, is it effective? 692 00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:03.000 Am I contributing? 693 00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:04.000 Could I have done something else? 694 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:08.000 So, then talk about the amount of meetings we have, the length of the meetings, 695 00:37:08.000 --> 00:37:09.000 and the number of meetings. 696 00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:11.000 We all agree there's one thing about meetings. 697 00:37:11.000 --> 00:37:15.000 We have too many of them, they're too long, and too many people in them. 698 00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:18.000 I think we all agree to that, generally speaking. 699 00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:22.000 Now, if you're getting it down and that's not your case, fantastic. 700 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:25.000 Then you're in good shape. 701 00:37:25.000 --> 00:37:28.000 Over to you, Jalen. 702 00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:29.000 All right. 703 00:37:29.000 --> 00:37:31.000 That was some great dialogue. 704 00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:34.000 We will go ahead and separate out to our breakout rooms now. 705 00:37:34.000 --> 00:37:38.000 And you'll have the opportunity to discuss this together with your team. 706 00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:41.000 And as a reminder, the worksheet has been posted in the chat. 707 00:37:41.000 --> 00:37:42.000 Thank you, Jenny. 708 00:37:42.000 --> 00:37:45.000 And you can let us know if you have any issues accessing it. 709 00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:48.000 Any solo leaders, you can join the room called General, 710 00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:50.000 and you can interact there together. 711 00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:53.000 So, we are going to go ahead and open the breakout rooms now. 712 00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:57.000 And since we've done some Q&A, Dion, it sounds like we will give you all the 713 00:37:57.000 --> 00:38:01.000 rest of the time in this call to discuss with your teams. 714 00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:02.000 Yeah. 715 00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:03.000 We won't say goodbye. 716 00:38:03.000 --> 00:38:06.000 We'll just let you run to the end and we'll wait a minute or two afterwards, 717 00:38:06.000 --> 00:38:08.000 and we'll shut it down in case you have to wrap up. 718 00:38:08.000 --> 00:38:10.000 So, just shut yourselves down on the hour.