Best Practices for Recurring Client Meetings

The 8-person team that hated meetings… My client was convinced more meetings would solve his company’s communication issues. His small team of eight was stuck in a cycle of weekly status calls, three meetings totaling nearly six hours every week. The result? Exhausted employees Disengaged conversations And very little progress. He needed clarity and accountability but was drowning his team in endless discussions. So I asked: “What do you really need these meetings to accomplish?” His answer was: Visibility into work progress Accountability for tasks And assurance that nothing falls through the cracks. Here’s what we did instead: ↳ Built a digital “source of truth”: We implemented a project management platform (ClickUp) that made all tasks, deadlines, and blockers visible in real-time without micromanagement. Everyone could see how their work impacted the bigger picture. ↳ Created a simple async communication rhythm: The team started sharing daily check-ins in Slack, limited to three bullet points: → What I accomplished yesterday → What I’m working on today  → Any blockers. This replaced multiple meetings and kept everyone aligned. ↳ Scheduled one focused weekly meeting: Instead of three calls, the team met for a 30-minute session each week focused purely on problem-solving and decision-making, not status updates. The results? Within two months: ✅ Employee engagement scores improved by 20%. ✅ Project delivery time shortened by 15%. ✅ Leadership reclaimed 6 hours weekly previously spent in unnecessary meetings. ✅ The founder said, “Our communication finally feels effortless, we’re focused on outcomes, not just talking about work.” Massive value takeaway: If your meetings are killing productivity, they’re not the problem, it’s the system you’ve built around them. Here’s how you can get started today: 1. Stop asking for status updates in meetings, put all updates in a shared, visible platform. 2. Replace long meetings with short, focused problem-solving sessions. 3. Build asynchronous check-ins that fit your team’s workflow and culture. This approach helps your team own their work, spot issues early, and free up time to actually do their jobs. If you want to improve your team’s communication without adding more meetings, what’s the biggest obstacle you’re facing right now? Let’s talk. This is exactly what I help small business owners do; create systems that reduce friction and boost team productivity. #systems #leadership #business #strategy #ProcessImprovement 

Have you ever sat in a meeting and thought, “Why am I even here?” Maybe you didn’t say a word, or you walked away feeling like the meeting didn’t add any value. Chances are, the meeting had one (or more) of these issues:  ↳ No one owns the meeting. No one’s responsible for leading, giving context, or setting expectations. ↳ It’s a zombie meeting. A recurring meeting that used to have a purpose but now just lingers on everyone’s calendars. No one questions if it’s still needed. ↳ No agenda. Without a plan, the meeting becomes a free-for-all brainstorming session. ↳ No time limits. What should’ve taken 30 minutes drags on for an hour (or more) because no one sets boundaries. ↳ No follow-through. There are no clear next steps or accountability, so even productive discussions lead to no follow ups. ↳ No feedback. The meeting owner doesn’t ask for input, so the same mistakes happen again and again. ↳ It’s too far into the future. Talking about things months down the line might feel visionary, but it rarely connects to the priorities of today. So, how do you fix it? Here’s what makes a great meeting: ↳ A clear meeting owner. Someone who’s responsible for moderating and making sure the meeting has a purpose and outcome. ↳ Pre-work / Pre-Read Set the agenda, pre-read and expectations at least 24 hours before the meeting. ↳ A clear outcome. Kick things off by re-emphasizing what the meeting is meant to achieve. ↳ An agenda with time-boxes. ↳ Action items and accountability. Document next steps and make them visible to everyone. ↳ Ask for feedback. At the end, ask: “How can we improve this meeting?” or “Was this worth your time?” What strategies do you use to ensure meetings are worth the time?

Project managers, every meeting has a cost So spend your time like a budget. Our daily job is managing attention. And meetings are expensive. Not just in dollars, but in focus, energy, and momentum. Make every meeting you schedule worth the investment. Here's how: ✅ Audit recurring meetings regularly Does your meeting still serve it's original purpose? Are the right people still attending? If the answer to these are "no", you have 3 choices. Cancel, consolidate, or reformat to reestablish the value. ✅ Set the agenda before you send the invite A good rule of thumb is if there's no agenda, there's no meeting. A clear agenda sets expectations. It keeps the group on track and respects everyone's time. Solicit input from the team to keep your meeting current/impactful. ✅ End with clarity Every meeting should produce a minimum of 3 things. 1. Next steps 2. Owners 3. Deadlines/decisions Don't burn 30 minutes of momentum by ending with "we'll circle back." Review these BEFORE you end the meeting (and send them out as action items following the meeting). You wouldn't waste your money on things that aren't important to you. Your meetings are the same way. Make them valuable. 🤙

Are you a CSM drowning in recurring meetings that have started to become less and less impactful? Here are three ways to set the re-set button: 1. On the call with your customer, "We've been having these recurring meetings for most of our partnership now and I wanted to check in on the efficacy of them and ensure we're still using our time together as strategically as possible. We've accomplished [insert tactical moves you've made, goals achieved], and I think we're at a point where it's safe to change the frequency. How about we try meeting every other month, instead of monthly and ensure we keep lines of communication open in the interim." Why it works: you're highlighting what you've achieved with the recurring meetings, you're not taking them off the table completely, and you're ensuring you keep lines of communication open so the customer still feels supported 2. "When we initially set up these recurring meetings the goal was to ensure you were getting the most out of the platform and to ensure you were using the tools available to you. Typically, with customers like you, I run recurring meetings for about [insert amount of time], and then they feel enabled and up to speed enough to operate more independently day to day. Are we at a point where you feel enabled enough to change our meeting cadence to focus on quarterly strategy?" Why it works: Customers always want to know what customers like them are doing (even when it comes to meetings!), and setting the expectations around that tends to go further than telling someone they're enabled enough to do it on their own without any context. 3. Customer pushes back, wants to keep recurring meetings even though you know they're not fruitful. Try this, "Sounds like we're not in a stopping place just yet, to be sure we ensure the time is well spent together let's commit to setting an agenda in advance of our calls and if those agenda items start to get thin or are hard to fill up, we'll know we're at a point to re-evaluate meeting cadence" Why it works: You're keeping the meeting, so the customer gets that win, but you're also setting expectations and putting guardrails in the form of an agenda. It gives the customer accountability to come to the table with real things to discuss. #csm #customersuccess