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The Most Productive Meetings Have Fewer Than 8 People

Published by Dan Greer on June 27, 2018June 27, 2018

My soap box these days is that there is an over value given to collaboration. I see too many people spending time in long meetings for the expectation that everyone being involved will produce the best results. In my experience that is almost never the case. This HBR post drives home one critical aspect of why this is true:

“There are many problems with the way most meetings are run. One of the most political is the invite list. Deciding who to include can be tough but too many managers default to including everyone. In an effort to not make anyone feel left out, they unknowingly decrease the quality of the meeting. Robert Sutton, a professor of organizational behavior at Stanford University, looked at the research on group size and concluded that the most productive meetings contain only five to eight people. Why? There is a tipping point beyond which the quality of the conversation begins to erode.”

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“Dan led a workshop on “Reaching Your Potential” at our annual Utility Supply Management Alliance conference. Dan led the group through a very specific process on establishing specific goals, (personal, family and professional) and on how to develop a plan of execution and evaluation.

Dan used a process that he himself has been using for years in his own life. Not one single person left the room during the 1-1/2 hour session.

He was one of only two speakers that received a perfect evaluation. Dan is an incredibly effective and gifted teacher and presenter covering material that is right on target for today’s business leaders and the workforce of the future.”

I had the distinct pleasure of working with Dan for about 2 yrs during his time with Anthem/Amerigroup as a consultant providing executive coaching and professional development support for myself and our leadership team. Dan is an absolute professional and an expert in this field and his engagement with our team helped us transform, particularly in the areas of conflict management/resolution, communication, delegation, trust, and leadership. Dan is candid and sincere and doesn’t shy away from providing direct feedback and a plan that helps you make leaps in your professional development. I found his guidance, tools, and coaching to be a significant factor in my personal and professional development supporting my recent career progression. Above all of his professional skills and years of experience, you can feel and see Dan’s passion for his work and this translates to meaningful and lasting engagement and impact.

“One of our company’s core values was ’employee development.’ For the past three years Dan has played a significant role in helping us achieve that goal while increasing the leadership capital within our company.

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As a Christian business leader , I have a deep desire not only to provide for our employee’s physical needs but also offer a means for them to develop as a whole person. With Dan’s background and business acumen he supported both their personal and professional development. Everyone that Dan has worked with has expressed tremendous appreciation to our company for providing him to assist in their growth.

If you are interested in nurturing a culture of personal development and improvement I highly recommend Dan to lead that effort.”

“We had Dan speak at our global gathering of over 100 of our key leaders. We are in the midst of a major restructuring of the company and are dealing with a number of significant challenges to create a new direction for the company.

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“It has been my unique privilege to work closely with many exceptional leaders during my years in service. I consider Dan Greer to be one of those distinguished leaders.

He is a man gifted with remarkable skill, wisdom, and character. He is a good friend and a valued counselor for this next generation of leaders.”

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I’ve had the pleasure of working in a business capacity with Dan for over 8 years and have seen time and time again his honesty and his values come through in his leadership and his decisions.

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“The process of identifying my Core Values and developing a Personal Mission Statement for myself and my family has had immeasurable benefits.

There have been incredible synergies derived from pursuing business success while staying true to my personal goals and values. I hope someday to be able to coach someone in this process just as Dan has mentored me.”

“I thought your keynote address during our meeting in Destin was excellent. You clearly explained what it takes to achieve excellence on a consistent basis and the challenge to our organization to rise up was engaging and inspiring.

The discussion concerning “A players” and their benefit to our department especially resonated with our managers and employees. Your thoughts and explanations greatly enhanced our ability as managers to define the goal for our team; that being one of ensuring success instead of preventing failure.

Thank you for your passion and for the real life examples that underscored the effectiveness of implementing great strategies. It was very well received and a great motivation for all of us.

Thanks for all your help Dan!!! We look forward to working together again soon!!”

“I thought it was excellent. He’s a great speaker and kept my attention. I also agreed with his points (which always helps!). I liked his take on the type of people we should hire… more emphasis on character than competency; people who want to excel and will settle for nothing less.

I also liked his leadership finding that we should create a culture where the truth can be told… I don’t think we’re there yet. And I liked his statement that when becoming more participative, it’s really not a question of will the leader give it up, but rather will the people step up. Good motivational speaker. Good meeting overall. Thanks for asking.”

“I thought he was very good. It would have been great, if he had a bit more time to talk. I even went out and bought the book he recommended called Good to Great.

I really think that he is right that a lot of people as well as companies settle for good and then never achieve great. I have to say I see a lot of that at SRP… I also really liked how he talked about the different generations working together.

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“One of our company’s core values is ’employee development.’ For the past three years Dan has played a significant role in helping us achieve that goal while increasing the leadership capital within our entire company where the business operations include manufacturing, distribution, sales, marketing and administration.

As a Christian business man I have a deep desire not only to provide for our employees physical needs but also offer a means for them to develop as a whole person. With Dan’s background and business acumen he has been able to support both their personal and professional development. Everyone that Dan has worked with has expressed tremendous appreciation to our company for providing him to assist in their growth.

If you are interested in nurturing a culture of personal development and improvement I highly recommend Dan to lead that effort.”

“Dan was a keynote speaker at our Utility Supply Management Alliance educational conference. He spoke on 21st Century Leadership to a group of Electric Utility and Supplier professionals from around the country.

Dan offered practical leading edge concepts regarding organizational structure, leadership styles and applications that are relevant for the workforce of today and the future. Dan’s presentation was dynamic yet specific enough for all levels of leadership to take home and use.”

“Dan spoke at our Leadership Breakfast for the finalists of Birmingham’s Best Places To Work event. Everyone walked away inspired and many wanted him to come to their individual offices and speak to the workforce.

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“Over the years I have come to value Dan’s opinion on many things, but specifically his ability to effectively carry an organization through change and trying times without compromising his, and the group’s integrity, yet coming out a stronger entity.

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Amerigroup Tennessee, a Medicaid and Medicare managed care insurer with 650 associates, serving 400,000 members, is based in Nashville Tennessee. Amerigroup is a subsidiary of Anthem, one of the largest health insurers in the United States. AGP Tennessee has a local, senior leadership team consisting of twelve leaders, headed by a market President. Amerigroup has had a distinguished history of ten years with the State of Tennessee contract.

Dan Greer was initially sought out to coach a particular member of the leadership team, helping the individual with development of relationship and organizational skills. Dan’s purpose in the engagement was to maximize the leadership potential of this very talented contributor, who is truly an expert in his field. Dan met with this employee and others in leadership to understand where this individual’s leadership opportunities were, but particularly to enhance and improve relationships with his peers.

Because of Dan’s leadership training experience and keen sense of leadership attributes, others on the leadership team became interested in furthering their own personal development. As a result, over the course of two years Dan developed coaching relationships with all members of the leadership team. In addition, Dan led several team-building exercises, including homework reading assignments, general instruction and individual consultations. Dan also became involved with the succession planning process where he consulted with leadership team members in developing their succession plans.

He also did an excellent job speaking at one of our annual leadership development events during an offsite summit. Leadership team members benefited individually in professional development and the organization became more effective. Much less energy was devoted to non-productive interaction, resulting in better and more expedient decision making.

In summary, during a two year period, Dan led the leadership team through multiple dimensions of leadership development, including team building, succession planning and personal professional development of each member.

As leaders, we thank Dan Greer.”