Managers are expected to run group meetings and need to be competent at facilitating communication, debates, and decisions occuring in those settings. On this page you will find guidance on leading group meetings as opposed to 1:1 formats. These are mostly covered by Relationship Building and Performance Management depending on their purpose.
Manager Tools offers this 3-part series as a primer on running effective meetings. You may already know various popular formats, such as brainstormings, your staff meeting, or decision meetings. These foundations apply to the vast majority of meeting types out there, so it’s best to start your journey on running better meetings with this particular podcast.
Recommended Resources
The Staff Meeting: Eliot Horowitz shares a brief but crisp read on running a highly productive recurring meeting with your direct reports. I’ve experimented with various formats over the years and this one has proven itself in different organizations and contexts. Take notes on the prep work, silent reading, and intentional discussion part of the meeting. (3 min read)
Gamestorming: Dave Gray, Sunni Brown, and James Macanufo with a vast library of games that are designed for meetings or workshops in professional contexts. The book with the same name is a must have for any facilitator looking to spice up their workshop game. (3 min read per “game”)
Rituals for hypergrowth: Shishir Mehrotra offers a rare learning resource of the time he led technology, product, and user experience for YouTube during its hypergrowth years. This collection of pages and templates is an extensive read on an entire meeting protocol over just a single format. Shishir goes deep on how four core meeting types work together to achieve a cohesive meeting cadence across a rapidly growing organization. (60 min read)
Design Sprint Kit: Design Thinking Workshops are a effective ways to understand problems and collaborate on effective solutions. The Design Sprint Kit developed by Google offers a guide for a 5-day workshop journey, but can also be studied and applied a la carte. Using proven techniques like silent brainstorming or dot voting will elevate your management game if you decide to learn applying them correctly. (60 min read)
Lean coffee - How to run informal meetings: If you’re looking to run a less formal meeting, the Lean Coffee format is my go-to. You can also propose this format for meetings that are organized by other people if they are open to it. The most simple yet powerful technique may be having participants vote on staying with a topic versus moving on to the next one after a set time. (6 min read)
On Better Meetings: Lara Hogan shares a brief but helpful guide that you can apply to almost all meeting formats. Lara’s structure on what you can do before versus during the meeting is easy to follow. I also find the general points on hygiene particularly easy to grasp and apply, even if they’re more relevant for your 1:1 meetings. (7 min read)
Meeting Creatures: Michael “rands” Lopp with a surprisingly refreshing take on typical meeting actors. Learn how to identify and manage the ones who may not have a positive impact in your meetings. If nothing else, figure out your own type and how you may be perceived by others. I often act as a Synethsizer, but our roles frequently change depending on the context of a particular meeting. (10 min read)