The Problem:

An internal employee survey identified that 100% of the team felt most meetings were unproductive. Team members noted that many meetings had no agenda, no action items captured, and sessions started and ended late.  Some members even reported feeling afraid to share ideas to improve their meetings.

The Method:

The team recognized the opportunity and set a goal to reduce unproductive meeting time by 20 hours per week. A cross-functional team used a structured problem-solving method to analyze survey results, observe common meeting attributes, and assess the root causes of poor meeting outcomes. The teams then facilitated workshops to develop solutions based on these root causes.  Selected teams tested and refined solutions before standards were adopted broadly.

The Result:

The method fostered alignment around the desired improvement because everyone was involved in the structured problem-solving process. At the end of 12 weeks, the team implemented eight (8) improvements and eliminated 40 hours of unproductive meeting time.