A couple years ago, our group of close college friends and spouses decided it would be fun to group plan a winter vacation.

One friend wanted to hit the mountains for skiing, another demanded hiking adventures and Carissa and I knew somewhere in the Caribbean, a huge platter of delectable seafood was waiting for us by the beach.

We unanimously voted for the Caribbean the next fall. In an attempt to include everyone in the planning, we set up a group text thread, “College Group Spring Break.” Immediately, the ideas were flowing!

Then, a text from one friend turned College Group Spring Break into College Group Spring Blah.

Friend 1: “We were talking, and we’ve already been to Jamaica…”

And with that, College Group Spring Break chat blew up.

Quickly, it became clear that there were too many team members on College Group Spring Break, all with different opinions and preferences that made it virtually impossible to get anything done.

Of course, our intention was to ensure everyone had a hand in the decision-making process, but we’d inadvertently fallen into a trap. The same trap I see leaders making every day when they host large-group meetings. It comes with good intentions, but it often ends in problematic bottlenecks!

Four Reasons Why Big Meetings Don’t Work

#1 — Unbalanced Participation — Focus gets lost to side discussions, unrelated questions and comments. A lot of leaders say once this happens that they feel they’ve “lost the room.” That may be the case, but it doesn’t make it their fault (or anyone else’s). Unbalanced participation stems from inviting all people into the room, not the right people. Think about the appropriate staff and who is more of a leader vs a doer and taking direction. Individuals that just sit in a meeting and don’t contribute with thought, direction, vision or useful information don’t need to be in attendance.

#2 — Technical Issues — Zoom goes down or a PowerPoint crashes. As much as virtual meetings have revolutionized how we work in many positive ways, when meetings are delayed or even canceled due to technical difficulties, everyone gets discouraged. Of course, this leads to delays across the organization that can potentially disrupt your bottom line.

#3 — They Often Run Late — Speakers talk too long and agendas go down the drain. Of course, this is a problem with all meetings, but once the front row is yawning, you know it’s time to wrap it up. That’s harder to do in a virtual environment!

#4 — Little to No Follow-Through or Follow-Up — A lack of actionable takeaways leaves everyone feeling like they wasted their time. Worse yet, leaders and meeting organizers often find themselves back at square one: craving actionable insight and participation from their peers and employees, but only fielding questions and follow-up meeting requests. Nothing creates disengagement like not following up.

Tips for Better Meetings

There are many transformative approaches to keeping everyone engaged while gaining valuable perspectives that strengthen decision-making and focus. Here are just a few easy-to-implement ideas for you to think about the next time you need all hands on deck, but don’t want all those cooks in the kitchen.

#1 — Collect feedback and thoughts prior to the meeting to help guide the agenda and keep the lines of communication transparent and clear.

#2 — Invite the appropriate individuals to in-person meetings so that you are getting the most value from your time together.

#3 — Make attendance optional by offering an async attendance option for employees who aren’t expected to provide comprehensive feedback (such as tactical team members).

#4 — Record the meeting and share meeting notes with all team members afterwards. Not only does this support your commitment to transparency, but it sends a message to all that their portion of the work you do is important.

Bottom Line

Teamwork does not always make the dream work Just like College Group Spring Break, large-group meetings just don’t always work, even under the best intentions. But you don’t have to lose energy, focus or impact.

#1 — Aim for smaller meetings with the right team members.

#2 — Offer optional attendance to employees who are on the tactical end of operations.

#3 — Create a solid system for sharing meeting notes and videos afterwards.

Do all these and you have yourself one super productive meeting!

Want to run a better and more efficient meeting? Check out our Top 10 Meeting Roles Blog with FREE HANDOUT.

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Follow Patrick Metzger on LinkedIn.