Author, Jerry Olson, is a Business Advisor with The Resultants.

To learn more about Jerry, visit our Team Page or connect with him on LinkedIn.

If Your Business Feels Stuck, Look at Your Meetings

If you want to understand why a business is stuck, sit in on their meetings.

Meetings are where a company’s real priorities show up. 

They reveal whether people are aligned, whether decisions stick, and whether the team knows what matters right now. 

When meetings drift, the business drifts. 

When meetings are focused and disciplined, progress follows.

That’s why learning how to run effective meetings isn’t an “administrative skill.” 

It’s a leadership skill that unlocks a hidden growth lever in your company.

Click to watch our video blog or simply read on for great tips on how to run meetings that move your business forward.

Why Meetings Matter in the First Place

Before we talk about how to run a good meeting, it’s worth talking about why you need them at all.

An organization exists because a group of people can accomplish more together than any individual can on their own. 

That only works if people are aligned. Aligned around the mission, the priorities, and what matters right now.

Left to our own devices, we wander. We each choose our own path. Meetings are one of the primary ways a business brings people back to the same direction, the same priorities, and the same goals.

Well-run meetings do a few critical things:

• They align people around what matters most

• They engage and galvanize the team around the mission

• They set priorities and drive execution

• They create clarity about who is doing what

If you want a business that actually moves forward, meetings aren’t optional. And they need to be effective.

How to Run Meetings That Move the Business Forward

1. Decide If You Even Need a Meeting

Not everything deserves a meeting.

If the objective is simply to communicate information—sharing a report, providing an update, sending data—don’t call a meeting. Send an email. Post it in Slack or Teams.

Meetings are for work that needs to be done together: discussion, problem-solving, prioritization, decision-making, and alignment.

If you’re not clear on what you want the group to accomplish together, you probably don’t need a meeting.

2. Start With a Clear Objective and Agenda

Every effective meeting starts with clarity.

What are we trying to accomplish in this meeting?

Not “we’re meeting because it’s Tuesday,” but a real objective. Are we creating a plan?

Making a decision? Solving a problem? Reviewing progress and setting priorities?

Once the objective is clear, the agenda becomes obvious. And if there’s no agenda, that’s a problem. A meeting without an agenda is almost guaranteed to drift.

The agenda should also set expectations for preparation. People shouldn’t show up wondering what the meeting is about. If you want good input, people need time to think before they walk in the room.

3. Get the Right People in the Room (and Only the Right People)

Another key to effective meetings is having the right people involved.

If 30% of the people in the meeting are wondering, “Why am I here?” the meeting won’t be effective. 

Smaller groups of people who understand the objective, are prepared, and have a role to play will always outperform a room full of spectators.

Meetings work best when everyone there has a reason to participate.

4. Focus on Effectiveness, Not Efficiency

A lot of people confuse efficient meetings with effective meetings.

They’re not the same thing.

Efficient meetings rush through the agenda. Effective meetings make meaningful progress on a few high-priority issues.

I’d much rather leave a meeting knowing we made real progress on two important things than feeling good because we checked every box on the agenda. 

The goal isn’t speed. It’s traction.

5. Set the Stage for Participation

One of the most common mistakes I see is a meeting leader doing all the talking.

They spend the first 20 minutes delivering a message, then suddenly ask, “So… what do you think?” and are met with silence.

That silence isn’t the team’s fault. The stage wasn’t set.

Effective meetings establish from the very beginning that participation is expected. In our meetings, everyone speaks early. That sets the tone that this is a working session, not a lecture.

Someone also needs to facilitate the meeting—keeping the conversation on track, drawing out input, and making sure no one person dominates. That role doesn’t always have to be the same person, but it does need to be clear.

6. Start on time. End on time.

It sounds simple, but it matters more than people realize. 

Starting late rewards late arrivals. Ending late leaves a bad taste and erodes trust.

Use time blocks on the agenda. Have a timekeeper. 

When meetings consistently start and end on time, people notice—and respect the process more.

7. Capture Decisions, Actions, and Progress

Meetings that move the business forward create a record.

Who committed to what? What decisions were made? What issues are parked for later?

Those things need to be captured and revisited. 

Whether it’s a shared tool, a platform, or a simple system, people need to know that what gets raised in the meeting won’t be lost.

8. Establish a Regular Meeting Rhythm

One-off meetings are fine. But real progress comes from a consistent cadence.

We’re big believers in weekly execution meetings. That rhythm eliminates a lot of wasted time spent wondering if something is getting done. If it’s important, it goes on the agenda.

If it’s not urgent, it waits until the meeting.

That regular cadence creates focus, discipline, and momentum. This allows teams to move important work forward in a prioritized way instead of constantly reacting to the loudest issue of the day.

Good meetings aren’t complicated.

They require:

• A clear objective

• A clear agenda

• The right people

• Preparation and participation

• Strong facilitation

• Respect for time

• Consistent follow-through

Do those things consistently, and meetings stop being something people dread. 

They become the place where real work gets done.

And also?

This isn’t really about meetings. It’s about building a business that can make decisions, set priorities, and execute consistently—without everything falling back on the owner.

Well-run meetings create alignment. Alignment creates focus. Focus creates execution. And execution is what drives growth.

At The Resultants, meeting facilitation is core to our work because it’s one of the fastest ways to improve how a business runs. 

We’ve facilitated thousands of leadership and execution meetings, and we see the same pattern over and over: when meetings improve, the business gets better. 

If your business feels busy but not moving, the issue usually isn’t effort. It’s structure. And meetings are often the best place to start fixing that. 

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If you’re ready to implement the structural work you need to grow your business, reach out for a free consultation and we’ll show you the path forward.