The meeting-trap

I fell into the meeting-trap early some years ago as a young manager of teams: I participated in all the meetings I was invited to.

I did not ask myself if I needed to participate, did not consider the context or ask for an agenda, and when the meeting(s) was over, it was unclear what I or others had to do.

Eventually, I realized I was stuck. So I started doing this:

1. I asked myself if I needed to participate and I asked the person inviting me what they expected of me in the meeting.
2. I asked for (or made) an agenda and made sure we covered to-dos and potential next meeting planning before we'd leave the room (this was prior to zoom :-) )

The people around me started to invite me to fewer meetings and yet the world kept turning 😀 + I had more time to think and be proactive rather than reactive.

It made me a better leader to not be part of everything.

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