MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Four Ways to Energize Your Dull Team Meetings

Are you a leader who sparks meaningful conversation — or one who breeds apathy? Use these strategies to improve meeting engagement and fuel team success.

You call your team into a meeting to discuss a looming decision. As the meeting begins, you notice that your questions are being met with little response. Most people seem uninterested while a few dominate the conversation. You’re not making progress on reaching a decision. It’s better than an open revolt, but the level of apathy bodes ill for any real energy around the next move. You aren’t any better equipped to decide the issue than you were before. This is a scenario that leaders hate to find themselves in.

Meanwhile, employees everywhere are spending an increasing chunk of their workweeks in meetings, which they often find repetitive, unstructured, too long, or just plain boring. As a result, meetings become a drain rather than a driver of productivity.

About the Author

Alexander Loudon is a strategic consultant with Loudon & Associates and the author of The Execution Advantage: A No-Nonsense Guide to Turning Your Strategy Into Results (Warden Press, 2023).

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