In this week's newsletter

• Tips for keeping meetings from running over
• Warm-up and checkout questions you can use today
• Q: How do I cut people off who are going on tangents?
• Your weekly bird break

One of the biggest pet peeves I hear from readers and clients: meetings running over. One reason this is so common: Parkinson’s Law, “work expands to fill the time available.” Schedule 60 minutes and you’re likely to use 60+ minutes.

So is it inevitable? No! And by understanding underlying causes, we can intentionally avoid this fate.

The first big culprit is poor planning.

Often meetings run over because there wasn't enough time to achieve everything in the first place. To avoid this trap, it helps to take time before meetings to have an honest conversation with yourself:

• What are you trying to achieve? How long will it actually take?
• What do all the different stakeholders want? Can you meet all their needs in one meeting?

Adjust the time and invite list accordingly. And be explicit with everyone about what's in and out of scope before you start with clear objectives.

Next culprit? Unclear norms

The next most important antidote to meetings running over is setting clear norms for how you’ll manage tangents and keep time. Simply say, “we have a lot to get through so don’t be surprised if I jump in to make sure we stay on topic.” Or introduce a parking lot.

Even with the best norms, you still need to have the courage to redirect.

We often don’t jump in because we’re afraid of offending the person speaking. In these instances it can be helpful to remember: the person speaking isn’t the only one whose time and feelings matter. Reframe: when you redirect, you’re respecting everyone else’s.

More on what to say in the Q&A section below.

And when you’ve tried everything and you’re still about to run over?

Try saying, “we have about 5 minutes left and we’re clearly not done yet, so I want to agree on how we’ll bring this to a close.” Then decide together: can everyone stay 10 extra minutes? If not, document what you’ve achieved and what questions and actions are still outstanding to keep the momentum asynchronously or next time.

Ask yourself

Meeting Minute

​Warm-up question​

Ask people to shout them out or put in the chat. This gives you a quick read on how everyone is doing. With this info, you may want to adjust your expectations for the meeting or follow-up with individuals later.

​Check-out question​

If you hear "energized" and "clear," great. If you hear "confused" or "drained," that's information you can act on later. If you used the one word warm-up, you can compare answers.

Q: How do I cut people off who are going on tangents?

A: This is one of the hardest parts of keeping a meeting to the time. If you need to do so and you haven't normed up front, try interrupting by saying:

“I want to jump in quickly to do a time check. Our objective is to make X decision in the next 15 minutes. Before you continue, can you help us understand how exploring this issue helps us get there?”

Cutting people off tactfully usually starts with setting norms up front about what people can expect so they're not surprised.

You might explain:

“I really want to make sure we keep the discussion focused on our objectives today and put related, but tangential discussions in the parking lot as efficiently as we can.”

Then you can either announce what you’ll do:

“To do this, I’m going to jump in right away and ask you to confirm if it’s a tangent before you continue. It might feel like I’m interrupting more than usual.”

Or invite the group to help set norms:

You might facilitate this by having people discuss in pairs how they’d prefer to be redirected when needed, then propose a group norm based on what people come up with.

Have some fun with this!

I’ve seen teams call tangents “squirrel” moments.

A norm could be: anyone can put “🐿️?” in the chat and the person talking needs to confirm their comment relates to the meeting objective before proceeding.

The benefit of opening it up to the group: you don’t have to be the only one enforcing the norm and people may be more conscientious when it’s coming from their teammates, not just the leader.