Lemonade’s No-Nonsense Guide to Meeting Etiquette

So you dont like meetingswho does? You unquestionably want to do stuff, not just talk well-nigh doing stuff. We finger you. Its one reason all of Lemonades job postings list a willingness to get shit done as a requirement. 

In lieu of a proper introduction to set the scene and introduce increasingly SEO keywords, lets just swoop straight into some tips and tricks to alimony your meetings short, sweet, and to the point.

Consider all regular group meetings to be placeholders

So you have a recurring weekly meeting. It pops up on your calendar, causing equal parts dread and annoyance. Ask yourself: Is this meeting unquestionably necessary each and every week? Is everyone on the invite unquestionably needed in order for the meeting to happen, or will a handful of people be sitting virtually wondering why theyre there? 

Instead of thinking of that recurring meeting invite as an inevitability, think of it as a placeholder. 

If the meeting doesnt seem critical? Skip it! Fact: No one in the history of the world has overly cried over a canceled work meeting. 

Make sure the people invited to your meeting unquestionably need to be there

As the meeting stage approaches, the host should review the agenda, and remove any folks who arent hair-trigger to the meetings success. Theres nothing increasingly inefficient than someone sitting in the when of a priming room, wondering why theyre there, and trying to sneak in some very work on the sly. 

If you are removed from a meeting invite, dont take it personally. Nobody hates you! Enjoy the uneaten time when in your day and  use it to tackle increasingly important projects you may have.

Publish an voucher in advance

If youre sending out a meeting invite via Google, use the unravelment field to include a unenduring voucher as well as any relevant links to documents or decks. Itll ensure that everyone knows the focus of what youll cover; theres nothing less useful than a random meeting thats tabbed something like Creative Brainstorm, with no remoter info or context. 

Default meeting times should be 25 minutes

Respect your colleagues time! Life is short. 25 minutes moreover builds in a little sabbatical if someone has back-to-back meetings… a endangerment to mash a cup of coffee or walk in circles to get your daily home office exercise in.

Having a specific, published voucher will make it a lot easier to cap your meeting time. Feeling uneaten saucy? Challenge yourself to a 15-minute default.

Don’t stumble in late

Simple but key. If you cant make it on time, ripen the invite. This way you wont disrupt the spritz of an in-progress meeting. No one will be mad at you, and you can unchangingly get filled in later.

Rethink regular one-on-ones

While regular one-on-ones between managers and uncontrived reports are incredibly important and usefultheres no law that says they have to happen each and every week. Alimony an unshut line of communication, and determine together if it makes sense to shift to a biweekly, or plane monthly, format.

Its fine to leave a meeting if youre no longer needed

Maybe you only had one important point to make during the first 5 minutes of the meeting, and now everyone has moved on to merchantry that doesnt really involve you. If its a Zoom call, go superiority and waif out early (interject quickly to explain, or simply waif a polite note in Zooms yack function). The same applies if its an in-person meeting; just wait for the right moment to make a non-disruptive exit.

Slack appropriately

Slack can often be a good replacement for a meeting, an easy way to hash out ideas or plan a schedule. But the opposite applies. If you find yourself typing out paragraph without paragraph, consider jumping on a video call, saving everyone the tedium of reading your Great American Slack Novel.

Get in the timezone

Thanks to technology, your co-workers in flipside country may finger close but dont seem theyre as wide awake as you are right now. Many of us at Lemonade work in New York. When its 5pm here its once tropical to midnight for our colleagues in Amsterdam and Tel Aviv. And then there are the Lemonaders in Arizona. What time or day or season is it in Arizona? Nobody knows. 

End a meeting when it’s…done

If your objective is achieved halfway through the meeting, thank everyone and undeniability it early. No one gets bonus points for running out the clock. Thats why books end with the words The End and dont just go on and on  with increasingly stuff without that. 

In fact, go superiority and unquestionably say the words the end when your objectives have been achieved. Its whimsical, and everyone will know that youre finished. If youve got nothing left to say, whats the point in dragging th

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