Waving the calendar flag of back-to-back meetings is not unusual in the healthcare leadership world. It seems to sneak up and then be the norm and then you’re stuck. I’m looking at the phemonoman from the lens of the SCARF model. There are challenging questions, get real and think about it.

Do back to back meetings make you feel needed and special? Do you actually have to say yes to attending. What would happen if you asked about the purpose of a meeting?

If you are honest there could be some icky realisations. The good thing is that with that insight you can do something different. If you honestly think back-to-back meetings are productive, a good use of your time (think of you actual goals and purpose) and helpful to support the culture and the change you want to see, go for it. If you’re wondering maybe not, then you have to do something different. Here’s your invitation to do that.

S - Status

Do back-to-back meetings make you feel important? Do they give you a sense of status? I’m needed in meetings, so I must be important. How does that translate to people who aren’t in meetings all day - does that mean they aren’t important?

C - Certainty

If you’ve got meetings to go to, you know what’s happening. You know where you have to be and when. You’re following directions. Your calendar of back-to-back meetings gives you certainty about what’s going to happen today. It can feel safe. Does it mean the left-field things that can fly up can get deflected or moved to another day?

A - Autonomy

What choice do you have about the meetings you attend or lead? What would happen if you declined a meeting? Are you clear about why you are at all the meetings you go to and why they exist? Can I challenge you to suggest you have more autonomy than it feels? Over an auto-accept of a meeting. You can ask, what’s the purpose, what’s the agenda, why me? In a psychologically safe environment that everyone says they are creating, those types of questions should be welcomed, encouraged and expected.

R - Relatendness

Do you see the same people in meeting after meeting? Are you creating an echo chamber of the same people in different meetings? Now there is great value in teams getting together, and connecting, getting to know people, that’s all good. What is less good is picking the same people to represent or be part of meetings. How can you get challenge, diversity and inclusion? Who are the voices unheard and how do you tap into them? I went to a meeting and needed a decision, but the group deferred the decision and said it needed to go to xx meetings. I looked around the room and said - but you all sit in that group I thought! I get that different meetings, different purposes, and different decision-making rights, but seriously it was precisely the same people. How does that help?

F - Fairness

When you look at back-to-back meetings who are they being fair to? Is it fair that you don’t get time to do the work, the thinking that you need to do? And what about a break? If you do that thing where you set meetings with yourself to get pieces of work done (which is a great tactic), do you hold yourself to the same level of account for turning up as you would for other meetings? If the answer is no - what impact does that have and is that fair? What about the teams you lead? Are you in your role to serve the churn of meetings or to serve and support your people? How are all-day meetings fair to the person who really needs to talk to you, and get the support and coaching they are looking for at that moment? When you have back-to-back meetings, or meetings clash - how do you pick which ones to drop, which one gets your attention and why and how do you get to that decision?

Now I love meetings. A well-defined, clear purpose, with a good set-up and introduction. A meeting with connection, clarity and understanding. There are so many good things we can get from our meetings. So this is not an anti-meeting post. This is a point to stop and consider if you can do one thing differently to the intensity of back-to-back meetings.

You care about good meetings, so join me on an webinar to get clear on what they can look like. I’m looking for 10 people who want to make the most of meetings they lead. We’ll unpick everything about meetings and what can help us all. Signing up means you’ll get 50% discount on the online course I’m creating, where all the wisdom about meetings and how to make them great will be gathered.