Some weeks our leadership team is highly efficient, and we completely clear our top prioritized issues and have fifteen minutes remaining in our ninety-minute block. Some team members want to end the meeting early, but I worry we are losing our discipline. Should we stay?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

If you have truly solved your top issues, reviewed your Scorecard, checked your Rocks, resolved your To-Dos, and have nothing left on your Issues List that requires the leadership team's attention, you should end the meeting early. There is no value in staying in the room just to fill the time. That is the opposite of operational efficiency.

However, before you adjourn, the facilitator must do a rigorous double check. Look at the Issues List again. Are there long-term issues on your V/TO® that should be pulled up and solved? Are there departmental issues that are stuck that you could help resolve? Have you fully pressure-tested the solutions you created today to ensure they are permanent solves and not temporary band-aids?

If the answer to all of those questions is yes, then declare victory, complete your meeting ratings, and give your team fifteen minutes of their day back. Ending early because you actually solved your problems is a sign of a high-performing team. Just ensure you are not ending early because you are avoiding the hard, uncomfortable issues that are sitting at the bottom of your list.