Oprah Winfrey says highly effective leaders use the 3-sentence rule to make every meeting more productive

Fast Company

10 hours ago

First things first: Whenever possible, science says don't have so many meetings.
Here's why:
A meta-analysis of more than a decade of research shows employee productivity increases by more than 70% when the number of meetings is reduced by 40%.
A study published in Journal of Organizational Behavior found that meetings that start late don't just waste time: Meetings that start 10 minutes late are one-third less effective in terms of both actual and perceived outcomes than meetings that start on time.
A study published in Transcripts of the Royal Society of London found that people placed in small groups asked to solve problems experience an individual IQ drop of approximately 15%. Walk into a meeting, instantly get dumber.
So yeah: Stop having so many meetings. (Besides: A full calendar—especially a calendar full of meetings—is never a proxy for productivity.)
But what if you really need to have a meeting? How can you make that meeting as focused and productive as possible? Borrow a move from Oprah Winfrey's leadership tool kit.
Start with intention
Brendon Burchard, the author of High Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way, says Oprah starts every meeting by asking three questions:
What is our intention for this meeting?
What's important?
What matters?
The premise behind that approach is simple. High performers constantly seek clarity. (And employees who aren't high performers—yet—need clarity.) They work hard to sift out distractions so they can focus and continually re focus on what is important.
Clarity? It isn't something you get. Clarity is something you have to seek: You gain clarity, and focus, only when you actively search for them.
Keep in mind the same holds true on a personal level. Successful people don't wait for an external trigger to start making changes. Successful people don't wait until New Year's, or until Monday, or until the first of the month; they decide what changes they want to make and they get started.
Now.
That's why no meeting agenda should include words like recap, information, review, or discussion. Bringing everyone up to speed, whether formally stated as an intention or not, is a terrible reason to have a meeting. And if information is required to make a decision during a meeting, share it ahead of time. Send documents, reports, etc., to participants in advance.
Good meetings result in decisions. What. Who. When. Clear direction. Clear actions. Clear accountability.
And stick to that intention
That's why the most productive meetings typically have one-sentence agendas: 'Set product launch date.' 'Select supplier.' 'Determine roll-out responsibilities.'
Those agendas are much easier to accomplish when you start a meeting the right way: by clearly stating intentions, and then sticking to those intentions.
Try it. The next time you hold a meeting, kick it off—on time—by answering the three questions for the group. State the intention. Explain why it's important. Explain why it matters. If you find yourself in a meeting that's drifting, help everyone focus by asking the three questions. Ask what you're really trying to accomplish. Determine why it's important, and why it matters.
While it might feel awkward, everyone in the meeting will thank you for it.
Because no one likes an unproductive meeting.
And nor should you.
—By Jeff Haden