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How To Run A Meeting That Doesn’t Suck | Part 4: You Have To Know How To Deal With Breakdowns With Grace and Efficiency

After running thousands of meetings and sitting through even more, here’s the skills you actually need to be successful.

Toku McCree
4 min readJul 2, 2021
Photo by Claire Nakkachi on Unsplash

This is part four of a seven part series.
Part 1: You Have To Be Present
Part 2: You Have To Know How To Set A Context
Part 3: You Have To Know How To Track Four Things At Once

Almost everyone I meet seems to think they know how to run a meeting. The startup founders I coach are convinced that their ability to guide a process is better than almost anyone else. The coaches I work with are no different, they feel their ability to listen and reflect makes them master facilitators. And yet consistently when I sit in on a meeting that one of my clients runs, I have to bite my tongue to hold back my suggestions and objections.

The truth is: MOST MEETINGS SUCK.

This is despite the fact that there are numerous guides, books, and outlines for how to run meetings. The real problem is that running a meeting is less about the mechanics (timing, agendas, talking sticks, conches, wands, etc) and more about the…

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Toku McCree
Toku McCree

Written by Toku McCree

Executive coach and writer. I’ve toured with rock bands, trained as a zen monk, and taught preschool. My hope is that my writing makes you think.

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