How strict ground rules and AI can keep team meetings on track

If someone is talking or interjecting too much during a meeting, call out the behaviour in a respectful way.Getty Images

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Ask Women and Work

Question: Lately my team meetings have been going off the rails. We’re all smart, extroverted people with lots to say, but we’re wasting time. How can I help my team be more efficient with meetings without anyone feeling like they’re being shut down?

We asked Cailey Heaps, president and CEO of The Heaps Estrin Real Estate Team in Toronto, to tackle this one:

This is very topical for me because we just restructured how we run team meetings. Here is what’s working for us.

Each department head on the leadership team has to submit their agenda item two days before the meeting, and any materials to be reviewed must be shared among the team at least one day before the meeting. That way, people have time to review and form their thinking before they go into the room.

We have internal meetings only once a week, on Wednesdays. There’s always one department head who is in charge of the meeting each week, and if we go off topic, they will rein everyone in and pull us back to the agenda. We always have a start and stop time and I never let it run over.

Another thing that is really helpful is that with the introduction of AI, no one has to take notes during the meeting. Otter.ai and other programs like it will not only record meetings but will transcribe notes for you. Everyone in the meeting can be super-focused on what we’re talking about, as opposed to the click-click-clicking of a note taker.

I really dislike being in the meeting when someone has their computer open and they’re typing. You can always see when someone’s focus shifts, and it takes everyone with them. So that’s a no-go for me – it’s phones off, computers shut for in-person meetings.

The other thing I’m really strict on is we never have a meeting about a meeting. You’re never going to come into my office and say, ‘I’d like to meet with you about these three things,’ and then have a follow-up meeting to talk about it. I think we live in a world where there are too many meetings, to be honest. A lot of it can be accomplished by sharing very clear and concise notes with action items.

If there is someone who is talking or interjecting too much during a meeting, I think the best way to approach it is to call out the behaviour in a respectful way. ‘Jen, what you just said was really interesting, but I actually want to hear what Alyssa has to say now. So let’s give her a chance to speak without any judgment and interference.’ I think once you call them out, they recognize the behaviour and will stop doing it on a repeated basis.

You do need a forum where people can prove their brilliance, and it doesn’t necessarily need to be in a live meeting. We have a Google form that lives in our company drive where people can share their ideas and we review all of them.

The last thing I would say is that I agree with what [Amazon founder] Jeff Bezos said: Meetings should never include more people than can be fed with two pizzas.

Submit your own questions to Ask Women and Work by e-mailing us at GWC@globeandmail.com.

This week’s must-read stories on women and work

These entrepreneurs are making swimwear, peanut butter and hair extensions more sustainable

Courtney Chew wants to change the way consumers think about swimwear.

“We want to show that a commodity like swimwear can become an investment piece that can last for you, as opposed to [wearing it] for one vacation and throwing it away,” she says.

Ms. Chew is the founder of OCIN, a Vancouver-based ecoswimwear label for men and women. The company’s swimsuits are composed of “infinitely regenerable” nylon yarn (made from waste products such as fishing nets, carpets and industrial plastic) and recycled polyesters made from plastic bottles saved from landfill. OCIN also offers a recycling program where customers can return old swimsuits, OCIN or not, which are sent to a mattress recycling facility and regenerated into a concrete alternative used for construction.

Ms. Chew says the inspiration for OCIN came from her days as a competitive swimmer who spent most of her time in the ocean, “a place where I feel the most connected to the earth.”

Read about more women-led businesses championing sustainability in surprising places.

Loud quitting: Women of colour aren’t going quietly

“Forget quiet quitting. The new trend I’m seeing and hearing about is loud quitting,” says Karima-Catherine Goundiam, founder and chief executive officer of digital strategy firm Red Dot Digital and business matchmaking platform B2BeeMatch.

“These days, I’m noticing that a lot of women – and in particular Black women and women of colour – are becoming less patient with the systemic injustices we face in the workplace and are more likely to take a stand, loudly and publicly. We want change. We have had enough of celebrating Black History Month, International Women’s Day and any other one-off efforts to celebrate us, but don’t result in real action. As Cindy Gallop, who recently appeared on my podcast It’s a Small Business World, says, ‘Don’t empower me, pay me.’

“Sometimes, racism manifests overtly. But what bothers me is the palpable unwelcoming atmosphere in some settings that speaks volumes. And increasingly, women of colour are speaking back.”

Read how women are voicing their frustrations in the wake of “superficial commitments to diversity.”

How to spot a toxic workplace before accepting a job offer

The excitement of starting a new job can quickly subside once signs emerge that the workplace culture is toxic.

Sara McCullough recalls the excitement and anticipation she felt about a job she was looking forward to starting. However, she says that feeling faded and turned to dismay as time went on.

The number of issues in the workplace piled up, but the final straw came when her manager said she wasn’t meeting her weekly goals despite working long hours. During a discussion about her performance, she learned she was being judged on goals that were double what could be realistically achieved in a week. Discussions with colleagues revealed many of them were also underperforming against what they saw as unrealistic goals.

“I thought, ‘Well, that’s weird.”

McCullough says when she pointed out the goals were unattainable, the manager dismissed her concerns by blaming the system, while she didn’t find the human resources department helpful.

Read about the red flags you should watch for when starting a new job.

In case you missed it

How do I talk to my employer about my menopause symptoms?

“I wish I could say, ‘Oh, yes. Tell your employer, it will be lovely,’” says Trish Barbato, co-founder and director of the Menopause Foundation of Canada. “But that won’t necessarily be the case. It’s definitely tricky, because this is such unchartered territory. Because of that, I think you need to proceed with care.

“If you want to disclose, I think you need to be very clear about your symptoms, indicating which symptom is impacting you at work and how is it impacting your work. And what do you want from your employer? I feel like the more clear that you are, the easier it will be for your employer to know what to do.

“I also think it’s important for individuals to reflect on their new reality and what changes might be needed for them personally.”

Read the full article.

From the archives

Want to be a better leader? Stop trying to be someone you’re not

When Morgan Klein-MacNeil first landed a senior leadership position at the bank where she worked, she had three go-to shirts set aside for days she would speak in front of her large team.

They were specifically chosen to cover the hives that covered her neck and chest.

“My body was literally rebelling against the fact that I needed to talk to a large group of people that worked for me,” she says. “I felt like, ‘Oh, they’re going to find me out. Everyone here knows more than I do and I’m supposed to be their boss.’”

Ms. Klein-MacNeil was in her twenties when she landed her first executive position and she tried hard to lead like her peers, all of whom were at least two decades older than her. It was a white shirt, navy blue suit (and mostly male) crowd she was trying to emulate, and it just wasn’t working.