No Politicking

How productive are your meetings?

It’s no secret that most business meetings are unproductive. Most leaders rate the effectiveness of their meetings a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10. One main reason for this ineffectiveness is that 90 percent of the meeting time is normally spent reporting and discussing, with nothing being solved.

What makes for great meetings is solving real issues quickly. Click here to download the Issue Solving Track. It’s vital that you spend most of your meeting resolving key issues for the long-term greater good of your company (we recommend one full hour of a 90-minute meeting; see the Level 10 Meeting).

Let’s assume you’re using the Issue Solving Track and spending most of the meeting on real issues (e.g., obstacles, barriers, ideas, opportunities, and problems). One common barrier gets in the way of pure, unfiltered, open and honest conflict and resolution. I’d like you to do a little check-up on yourself and your team to see if it’s present. That barrier is politicking.

Pat Lencioni describes politicking as people choosing their words and actions based on how they want others to react, rather than based on what they really think.

This powerful and cutting definition is a great filter for confirming that each and every member on your team is being 100 percent real, open, and honest when solving key issues together.

Cutting politics out of your meetings (and company) will lead to a team and organization that has clarity, is open and honest, and
fights for the vision, soul, and greater good of the company when obstacles, barriers, and opportunities present themselves.

Keep your eyes and ears on this in your next meeting.