The 1-3-1 Rule will transform your meetings

You know when you’re right in the middle of something critical at work and someone interrupts you?

They think it’s okay because they’re free at that moment and ready to talk. 

But they fail to recognise that you might be doing some of your best work and just need a minute to get the remaining ideas out of your head.

It can be incredibly frustrating.

But you can’t exactly blame them. Because it’s not as if you have a neon sign up to say you’re deep in thought.

And especially not if you’re the type of leader who likes to be available for their team all the time.

I was that guy for years.

I had an open-door policy where anyone could stop by for help. 

In fact, during that time I didn’t even have a door. Or an office!

I just stood at a desk in the middle of the business which made me very available.

The result was loads of people dropping by for a chat. 

Occasionally there would be some things I would pick up on that would make me feel like I was achieving something by enabling the team and helping them make decisions.

But in between those moments, it was hard to get back on track with important work.

So I changed my environment. 

I moved into an office, blocked out the glass door, and put up signs to say when I was available. 

It changed the game for my productivity and I’ve been reaping the rewards all year.

But it didn’t solve one remaining problem.

That people still wanted to have a ‘meeting’ to talk about…. Well, not much actually!

They were scheduling 'agenda-less' meetings or ones that should have been full-on workshops because the topic hadn’t been researched and needed to be explored from a concept.

In either case, the reality was time wasted chatting or doing discovery instead of making decisions.

I suspect you know exactly what I’m talking about Jarrod.

Something had to change if I wanted to maximise my time and spread it across the whole business.

So after a bunch of investigating I found the perfect solution.

It’s called the 1-3-1 Rule.

And after learning it, you’re going to want to use it for your meetings too.

Let’s take a look.

The 1-3-1 Rule is about pushing the thinking and research out to the edges of the company and onto the wonderful people you’ve employed to do it.

It’s about setting some rules around how to engage you for a meeting so you can keep it short, on-point, and decisive.

Every meeting must have:

1 - Problem

3 - Possible solutions

1 - Recommendation

By pushing all of the investigative thinking and research outside of the meeting you can get to outcomes much faster in the time you have.

By presenting three clear solutions that address ONE problem. And submitting their recommendation out of those three options you massively reduce the meeting load.

In fact, it'll probably clear your schedule for a while as people adjust to you not solving problems in meetings.

They might even find solutions to the problems and not need a meeting!

When it comes time for you to have one, if you agree with the problem and their recommendation, you can simply say - “I agree. What help do you need from me to make it happen?”

END OF MEETING!

Imagine how much time you’ll get back!

But there are a few things you need in place for this to be truly effective.

1.   It relies on having seriously talented people in your business who can think creatively and problem-solve. If you don’t, start to focus more on recruiting and onboarding.

2.   Offer loads of clarity about the business direction, your standards and expected outcomes. This will help people solve their own challenges in line with the company values and then present relevant solutions that will work.

3.   Facilitate discussions outside 1:1 meetings

Often people want a sounding board. And that can occupy valuable meeting time.

If a topic is unresolved or needs more input, schedule workshops to dive deeper and involve more people. 

You’ll need to facilitate these so you achieve outcomes and don’t just use the time for more ‘general’ discussions.

Honestly, I wish I found the 1-3-1 Rule years ago. I can’t wait to share my results with you.

That’s it for today!