Most leaders accept bad meetings as the cost of doing business. Steven G. Rogelberg says they don't have to.
In this episode of the ScaleX Insider podcast, Brendan sits down with the internationally recognised organisational psychologist, meeting scientist and bestselling author of The Surprising Science of Meetings to explore the science behind effective meetings and why the way we meet can either accelerate a scaling business or quietly drain its time, talent and performance. They break down why agendas should be framed as questions, how to decide who really needs to be in the room, and why becoming a better steward of people's time can give your business a competitive advantage. .
00:00 Steven G. Rogelberg on scaling with purpose
02:00 Why an organisational psychologist chose to study meetings
04:00 The hidden cost of bad meetings
06:30 Why meeting culture matters from your second employee
09:00 How meetings can become a competitive advantage
12:00 Why leaders overestimate how good their meetings are
15:00 Becoming a steward of other people's time
18:00 The organisational blind spots around meetings
21:00 What makes a great meeting
23:00 Why having an agenda is not enough
24:30 Turn your meeting agenda into questions
27:00 How to decide who actually needs to attend
29:00 Parkinson's Law: stop defaulting to one-hour meetings
31:00 Inclusion by input, not inclusion by invite
33:00 Why meeting leaders need to talk less
35:00 How the leader's mood shapes the meeting
37:00 How to end meetings with clarity and accountability
39:00 Brendan's ScaleX meeting cadence put to the test
42:00 Why you should regularly audit your meetings
45:00 Virtual, walking and standing meetings
47:00 Zoom fatigue, silent brainstorming and better virtual meetings
49:00 Why hybrid meetings often fail
51:00 The science of effective one-to-one meetings
53:00 Three timeless takeaways
54:00 What's next for Steven: AI, hybrid meetings and asynchronous collaboration
55:00 Closing
Guests referenced: Steven G. Rogelberg, Taki Moore
Resources mentioned: The Surprising Science of Meetings by Steven G. Rogelberg, Steven G. Rogelberg's work on one-on-one meetings
Book: The Surprising Science of Meetings by Steven G. Rogelberg
Website: stevenrogelberg.com
Book: Simple Scaling: 10 Proven Principles to 10x Your Business
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Host: Brendan McGurgan, Co-Founder Simple Scaling
Guest: Steven G. Rogelberg
