The Cure For Meeting Bloat

Have you ever been to a good meeting? I mean, a really good meeting — one that started and ended on time, one in which everyone knew why they were there and what the objective was, and that actually gave participants the tools to move forward?

Probably not. Or at least, not often. More likely, your meetings are flaccid, bloated, puffy things that have more in common with a UN Security Council debate on the precise definition of “civil war” than with a tactical session to support a new product rollout.

Standard work, one of the cornerstones of the Toyota Production System, can help.

Standard work is often defined as “the most effective combination of manpower, materials, and machinery.” In a meeting, of course, the critical resource is time. Thus, the purpose of standard work in a meeting is to specify how to use the allocated time — and only the allocated time — most effectively. No running long.