Q: 1. What's the single most important part of this meeting agenda?

While every component is important, the Action Plan at the end is where the value is crystallized. A meeting without a clear summary of who is doing what by when is just a conversation. Verbally confirming every action item, owner, and deadline before anyone leaves the room is the single most effective way to turn discussion into tangible momentum.

Q: 2. How do I get buy-in from a team that's tired of meetings?

You get buy-in by framing the new structure as an act of respect for their time . Say this: "I know we're all feeling meeting fatigue. My goal is to make this our single most effective and efficient meeting of the week, so we can eliminate the need for many of our other ad-hoc check-ins. Let's try this new 90-minute format for one month. If it doesn't save us all time and create more clarity, we'll adjust."

Question 1

1. What's the single most important part of this meeting agenda?

Accepted Answer

While every component is important, the Action Plan at the end is where the value is crystallized. A meeting without a clear summary of who is doing what by when is just a conversation. Verbally confirming every action item, owner, and deadline before anyone leaves the room is the single most effective way to turn discussion into tangible momentum.

Question 2

2. How do I get buy-in from a team that's tired of meetings?

Accepted Answer

You get buy-in by framing the new structure as an act of respect for their time. Say this: "I know we're all feeling meeting fatigue. My goal is to make this our single most effective and efficient meeting of the week, so we can eliminate the need for many of our other ad-hoc check-ins. Let's try this new 90-minute format for one month. If it doesn't save us all time and create more clarity, we'll adjust."

Question 3

3. What if my CEO is the one who constantly derails the agenda?

Accepted Answer

This is the most common challenge for a COO. The solution has two parts. First, the pre-meeting sync with your CEO is non-negotiable. Understand their priorities beforehand. Second, use the "Open Forum" as your secret weapon. When they go on a tangent, you can politely say, "That's a fantastic point. To make sure we give it the proper time, can we capture that for the Open Forum in about 20 minutes?" This honors their idea without sacrificing the structure.

Question 4

4. Why 90 minutes? Isn't the goal to have shorter meetings?

Accepted Answer

The goal is to have more effective meetings, not just shorter ones. A well-designed 90-minute strategic sync once every two weeks can eliminate the need for five or six smaller, chaotic 30-minute meetings. It's a strategic investment of time that creates focus and alignment, ultimately saving your team dozens of hours in wasted effort and miscommunication.

Question 5

5. Our meetings follow a good agenda, but we still feel stuck. What's wrong?

Accepted Answer

This is a sign that the problem isn't the meeting itself, but what the meeting is revealing about your business's operating system. A meeting is like a diagnostic tool; it shows you where the real issues are.

Are you constantly re-litigating the same decisions? That's a Decision Rights problem. Is the KPI review always a surprise? That's a Data & Reporting problem. Does the team leave unsure of how to execute the action items? That's a Role Clarity or Process problem.

Fixing the meeting is the first step. Building the resilient, underlying systems that make those meetings run smoothly is the real work. If you're ready to diagnose and solve these deeper operational challenges, a complimentary Clarity Call is the best next step.

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The Anchored Operator’s Guide to Running a Weekly Leadership Meeting That Doesn’t Suck

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