Finding Your Meeting Pulse

The problem with most meetings? They are inefficient. However, you can’t have a successful business without meetings. If you think meetings are a total waste of time, it might have more to do with the way you hold your meetings than the meetings themselves. The problem is not that you have too many meetings, it’s that you have too many bad meetings.

Does this sound like your meetings?

• They’re distractions. They interrupt your day, stopping you from getting things done and putting you behind schedule.
• They’re sporadic. You only ever meet when there’s a problem or a fire that needs to be put out.
• They’re never focused. Meetings are filled with long tangents, unrelated stories, and side conversations that never actually help to arrive at any solutions.
• They’re filled with unnecessary people. There’s always at least one person that really didn’t need to be there.

While it might be impossible to run a business without meetings, it is possible to hold better meetings that actually help you save time and increase productivity in your business. To help teams do this, the Entrepreneurial Operating System uses something we call a Meeting Pulse.

What is a Meeting Pulse?

A meeting pulse is a way of keeping your circles connected. It helps you develop a cadence, a pulse, a routine, that sets you free, improves efficiency and gives you peace of mind. The 5 things that make a meeting pulse are: Same Day, Same Time, Same Agenda, Start on Time, and End on Time. By bringing your leadership team together consistently, it can increase traction, accountability, communication, team health and lead to more results. It gives you the opportunity to make sure everything in your business is on the right track and that you come together to solve the most important things holding you back from moving your business forward. I’m not talking about the duct tape and twine versions of solving an issue, but instead something I call IDS – solving issues at the root and making them go away forever.

The EOS Meeting Pulse involves three stages aimed at addressing issues at a specific level of business:

• Weekly Level 10 (L10)
• Quarterly Meeting
• Annual meeting

While the L10 is meant to help you accomplish the smaller, day-to-day tasks, the Quarterly and Annual Meetings are larger, strategic meetings meant to help you make sure the business is heading in the right direction toward your vision. Implementing a business pulse into your business will help combat the procrastination that we are all prone to. While we might have the best intentions to get all those key initiatives completed walking out of a meeting, the next day we get sucked back into our day-to-day—putting off those critical things until right before they are due. By introducing mid-term spikes (the L10’s and Quarterly Meetings) your energy gets spread out over time so you don’t have the time to procrastinate.

The Weekly Level 10 Meeting

The Level 10 Meeting is where all the magic of EOS happens. In fact, most of the traction businesses gain comes directly from implementing these Level 10 Meetings into their Meeting Pulse. Sitting down once a week for 90 minutes to discuss tactical issues and work toward your quarterly goals. While 90 Minutes a week might seem like a lot at first, you will actually save time and increase your productivity by avoiding miscommunication, preventing problems, solving issues, and keeping people accountable. The L10 is so effective as a time management tool, you might actually start looking forward to having meetings!

Quarterly Sessions

The Quarterly Meeting means sitting down for a full day, once a quarter, to review the Vision/Traction Organizer, review the previous 90 days and set new goals for the next 90 days. It’s human nature to get distracted. To combat this, EOS brings the key people of the organization together every 90 days to learn from the past, confirm that they’re still headed in the right direction, and make plans on what the biggest priorities are for the next 90 days to help achieve the 1-year plan. Doing this each quarter ensures that you are headed in the right direction and staying on track.

The Annual Session

The Annual Session happens once a year for 2 full days. This is a powerful meeting where we focus on both Healthy and Smart. The first day is high-level—reviewing and learning from the past, diving into the health of our business, and creating deeper connections as a leadership team. That evening I encourage my teams to go out, have fun, let their hair down. Day 2 is where we get down to planning next year—getting the team aligned, setting new goals for the year and next 90 days, and solving big issues to help move the business forward. These full-day sessions take annual planning to the next level, helping the leadership team get healthier, stronger, and more aligned than ever before.

Find Your Meeting Pulse with EOS Implementation!

Are you ready to get more from your meetings? Preventing bottlenecks and train wrecks BEFORE they happen? Consider implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System into your business. Not only will it help you become better at running meetings, but it will help you experience true, impactful results, achieve your goals and live a more balanced life while getting more from your business. Ready to get started? Let’s connect to schedule your 90 Minute Meeting today!