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FAITH AND WORK BOOK REVIEW:

Death by Meeting: A Leadership Fable…About Solving the Most Painful Problem in Business by Patrick Lencioni. Jossey-Bass. 256 pages. 2007
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Most of us hate meetings, wanting to get out of them so that we can “go do some real work”. But Patrick Lencioni tells us that meetings are critical, and that there is no substitute for a good meeting. He also tells us that bad meetings almost always lead to bad decisions, which is the best recipe for mediocrity.
I read this helpful book several years ago and decided to read it again as I prepared to facilitate a NXTGEN Pastors soft skills module on how to run a meeting with our local Cohort.
In the book, Lencioni follows his usual format of using a leadership fable and then ending by summarizing the main points made in the fable.
The Fable
In the fable we meet Casey McDaniel, a former professional golfer who had trouble with his putting (the “yips”). He then started Yip Software and was successful in developing a golf video game. Casey was considered to be an ordinary CEO. Yip Software might have been twice its current size under the stewardship of a more focused and disciplined leader. There was a surprising lack of excitement among the people who worked there, and a subtle mediocrity that pervaded the organization.
Yip was plagued by horrible meetings. Important decisions—and the discussions that led to them—usually took place in Casey’s office, involving him and one or two other executives, depending on the issue. Casey and his leadership team agree for Yip to be acquired by Playsoft.
With Casey’s administrative assistant out on leave to have a child, Will, the son of a family friend was chosen to fill in. Soon, Will hears from Casey that Casey’s job as CEO may be in jeopardy due to his poorly run meetings. Will decides he will do whatever he can to help Casey maintain his job before J.T. Harrison of Playsoft attends one of their meetings in the near future.
Throughout the fable Will works with the executive leadership team to improve their meetings. He coaches them on four different types of meetings, each of which has a different purpose, format and timing. He teaches them about meetings having drama and how to mine for ideological conflict.
Summary
In discussing meetings, Lencioni tells us that the single biggest structural problem facing leaders of meetings is the tendency to throw every type of issue that needs to be discussed into the same meeting, like a bad stew with too many random ingredients. He writes that there should be different meetings for different purposes, and each of them serves a valid and important function. While it is true that much of the time, we currently spend in meetings is largely wasted, the solution is not to stop having meetings, but rather to make them better.
The four types of meetings discussed in the book are:

  1. Daily Check-In. The purpose of the Daily Check-in (standup, huddle) is to help team members avoid confusion about how priorities are translated into action on a regular basis.
  2. Weekly Tactical. Every team needs to have regular meetings focused exclusively on tactical issues of immediate concern. Whether it takes place weekly, or every other week doesn’t really matter. There are two overriding goals for the meeting: resolution of issues and reinforcement of clarity. Obstacles need to be identified and removed, and everyone needs to be on the same page.
  3. Monthly Strategic. These meetings allow executives to dive into a given topic or two without the distractions of deadlines and tactical concerns.
  4. Quarterly Off-Site Review. Effective off-sites provide executives an opportunity to regularly step away from the daily, weekly, even monthly issues that occupy their attention, so they can review the business in a more holistic, long-term manner.

I recommend all leaders read this book with a goal of improving the meetings that they hold.

Faith and Work Book Club – Won’t you read along with us?

We are reading through You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News by Kelly Kapic. The list of demands on our time seems to be never ending. It can leave you feeling a little guilty–like you should always be doing one more thing.
Rather than sharing better time-management tips to squeeze more hours out of the day, Kelly Kapic takes a different approach in You’re Only Human. He offers a better way to make peace with the fact that God didn’t create us to do it all.
Kapic explores the theology behind seeing our human limitations as a gift rather than a deficiency. He lays out a path to holistic living with healthy self-understanding, life-giving relationships, and meaningful contributions to the world. He frees us from confusing our limitations with sin and instead invites us to rest in the joy and relief of knowing that God can use our limitations to foster freedom, joy, growth, and community.
Readers will emerge better equipped to cultivate a life that fosters gratitude, rest, and faithful service to God.

This week we look at the second half of Chapter 7: Do I Have Enough Time? Clocks, Anxiety, and Presence. Here are a few helpful quotes from this section of the chapter:

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