I was supporting a transformation team recently.  Like a lot of senior leaders, the team members spent the majority of their working week in meetings, then often working late into the evening to complete the tasks they hadn’t had the time to do during the day. A common occurrence, as most meetings tend to be repetitive, dull and unproductive, leading to long days and frustration. It is always a surprise to me that leaders get into a habit of regular unproductive meetings, that they feel unable to challenge.

One of the simple (and easy to replicate) ways I helped the transformation team to improve the productivity of their meetings was to introduce P.O.S.T.  It stands for Purpose, Outcomes, Structure and Timings and is a highly effective way to ensure meetings are outcomes focused to deliver real value.

Here’s how to use it. Start by clarifying the outcomes and then the purpose, which is a higher level description of these. Use these to decide who needs to be invited so you have the right level of dialogue and can reach decisions.  Next think about how you can structure the meeting to deliver the outcomes in an engaging way. Instead of simply having a round table discussion, could you use wall charts to involve people in generating ideas and coming to agreement on the way forward? Only after the structure has been decided, can you determine the amount of time the meeting will take.

If you want to know more about POST, contact us.