I have long preached that meetings need agendas and purposes far less than they need targets. What has to be achieved for this 30 minute gathering of eight persons  to be wildly successful?   I can now report that over 50 clients using this approach report that their average meeting time has been cut in half and that far more participants report that their meeting time was productive.  When I have dug in some surprises awaited me.  One is the difference between speaking in place vs. speaking to a destination.

In many meetings, a big problem is that participants say the same things repeatedly. The meeting is governed by ritual and personal viewpoint, not by the realities of a problem to be solved. Redundant comments can take 25% or more of meeting time I am told.

With a target—and a deft chair or facilitator– meetings move forward as comments build on each other as they must to achieve the result.     So we need to cut our waiting list for this vital service from four weeks to two weeks. Sorry, your comment on how bad government regulations are or how delayed our grant is are not relevant.  Who has an idea for something we can do to shave days off the time it takes to get people help?  Motion builds energy only when it is going somewhere.  Well done, you groups and people that allow no meeting to take place until someone can say what it is to achieve!