Don't smother your team’s agenda

As we approach the final weeks of 2022 (yes, you read that correctly), there is an understandable temptation to pack team meetings with all our unfinished work.

Leaders often ask me to review team meeting agendas, and predictably, this is the time of year when everyone includes too many topics in far too little time. Ahh, the lovely dynamics of Q4.

I'm all for getting things done and have no problem with a reasonable year-end push, but these overly ambitious agendas are usually counterproductive.

You need space to create movement.

I'll often share the poem below as a reminder that it takes fuel, and the absence of fuel, to make a fire burn. Pack team meetings with too many topics and outcomes, and you're unlikely to make much progress - and even worse, you'll end the year frustrated.