The art of healthy group conversations.

This is a list of practices I believe contribute to healthy and effective meetings. I don't do all of these consistently yet, and taken together they can sound rigid, even grognardy. But my best meeting experiences involved many of these at once and I find the structure frees us all up for collective thought.

1. Everyone knows the purpose of the meeting.
   Why: The time of our employees is our most valuable resource. A meeting with no purpose is a waste of time for everyone. A meeting with an unclear purpose also wastes time, because attendees may steer the meeting in unproductive directions, or stay when they are not needed. Also forces organizers to ask, “should this be a memo instead?”
   How:
   1. The purpose must be clear in the meeting invite. A title is often insufficient, so include a full sentence in the description: “The goal of this meeting is…”
   2. Restate the purpose aloud at the start of the meeting, so folks can nope out or ask clarifying questions.
   3. Meetings should only include people necessary to accomplish their purpose, but in practice this is difficult to judge and as an inclusive practice organizers will invite more people than strictly necessary. Therefore, attendees may choose not to attend, and should be welcome to leave at any time if, in their own judgment, they are neither contributing to nor benefiting from the meeting's purpose. You'll notice senior folks cultivate a habit of doing this very early in a meeting.
2. The meeting has an agenda.
   Why: If a purpose is “what” the meeting will accomplish, the agenda is “how” the meeting will accomplish it. A good agenda empowers attendees to prepare, directs the focus of the group to improve listening, and protects the meeting's goal from unforeseen tangents and arguments.
   How:
   1. The agenda should be shared ahead of time, usually in the meeting invite or a linked notes doc for easy reference.
   2. If the agenda is open for submissions, it should be easily edited by attendees without a gatekeeper.
   3. Every agenda item needs an assigned presenter/facilitator and a planned duration (although for large meetings this info is sometimes hidden from non-participating attendees.)
   4. Especially in certain kinds of meetings, it can also be helpful to label agenda items (Inform / Consult / Decide).
   5. A meeting without an agenda should be cancelled or rescheduled. If this isn't already a practice in the culture, you'll notice senior folks that refuse to attend a meeting without an agenda.
3. The meeting has artifacts.
   1. As
   2. All action items should have a responsible individual and a deadline.

Antony Jay, HBR / How To Run a Meeting (1976)

Matt Green, Skillcast / 12 Best Practices for Productive Meetings (2022)

Liz Keogh / How to run Safety Checks