You’re about to kick-off a critical initiative for your firm.

Will this begin with another boring 47 slide-driven meeting?

Are you going to attempt to inspire your team by spouting over-used cliches?

• How will you prepare for this meeting?
• How do you want the team to feel after this meeting?
• How will this meeting impact the new program, quarter and organization?
• Will you drill down to the key objectives and outcomes?
• How will this meeting setup the next steps for the program?
• Are the next steps clearly defined?

If you’re not asking yourself these questions regularly, you’re leading your team down the path to missed deadlines and budgets, one boring meeting at a time.

Do this enough times and you will have commoditized your leadership skills and walked yourself to the door.

Avoiding this path can be achieved with focus.

Focusing on outcomes, not just your desired outcomes, but your team’s. Developing and refining your meeting agenda so that is consistently drives toward the key outcomes for the project and the team should help you slash away the distracting slides (drop them in an appendix) and drive towards an effective conversation.

Maintaining an un-relenting, laser beam focus on outcomes and next steps will be appreciated by your team as you will have liberated them from the typical banal meetings that continuously litter their calendars.