While remote work has kept us at a distance, in many ways we’ve never been more connected.
And if your schedule is anything like mine, I’ve never had more meetings.
But the relationship between meetings and productivity is a scary one and the more we get together the less we seem to get done.
It’s not just because more meetings means less time to actually do the work, but because discussions don’t always lead to decisions.
And in the end, isn’t that why we’re getting together in the first place?
Pleasantries aside, good meetings are about education, alignment, and action.
But we can’t take action if we don’t make calls.
Making The Call In The Room
Years ago, my long-time friend Aaron Edgell taught me that sometimes the best decision we can make is just to make a decision at all.
When he found a meeting was becoming too long-winded or someone was about to relegate a decision to the dreaded “regroup” category, he’d politely reel folks back in with a painfully simple question:
Is there a decision about this that we can make right now in the room?
Moving Forward Doesn’t Mean Moving On
What I’ve since learned is that moving forward doesn’t have to mean you’re moving on.
It means we’re making a call, we’re going to see how it plays out, and we’re going to regroup and discuss the results later on.
And you know what?
More often than not, that decision we made in the room was the right one.
It was a good decision, based on information and instinct, and it saved us time, allowing us to apply our focus to the next challenge in the queue.
So the next time you’re in a meeting where the conversation is going in circles, don’t forget that the distance between where we are and where we want to be is paved in decisions.
It may just be time to solve it in the room.
About the Author
Seth is the Founder and CEO of Kanahoma, a San Diego-based education marketing agency. Operating at the intersection of beautiful brand creative and effective direct response marketing, Kanahoma partners with colleges and universities, education technology and service providers, as well as K-12 organizations.
You can learn more about Kanahoma at www.Kanahoma.com.