Where the Action Is: The Meetings That Make or Break Your Organization

By: J. Elise Keith

Narrated by: J. Elise Keith

How well you meet determines what your group can achieve.

When you ask leaders in a high performing organization about the key to their success, the answers are all over the place: failing fast, radical transparency, operational excellence, strong core values...so many different North Stars to follow.

Then, if you ask them for an example - to tell you what that looks like in practice - they will all describe a meeting. Leaders at these organizations have learned to design a sequence of tailored meetings that create a healthy organizational culture and drive forward momentum. They know that meetings are where the action is.

Where the Action Is reveals how leaders in any organization can use meetings to engage their people, simplify communications, and accelerate progress. In it, you'll learn:

• The truth about why there are so many meetings.
• Surprising research revealing that what you think you know about meetings may be wrong.
• Proven techniques that make any meeting productive.
• Five steps to increasing team engagement in meetings.
• The specific meeting practices high-performing organizations use to create a healthy culture and drive results.
• The stories of those who've found a way to love their meetings, and those who've struggled.
• The 16 distinct types of business meetings and how to use them.

Distilling insights from business management, cognitive research, behavioral psychology, organizational studies, and 10 years of work with organizations big and small, J. Elise Keith's entertaining and informative book will forever change the way you meet.

©2018 J. Elise Keith (P)2018 J. Elise Keith

What does having great meetings have to do with winning soccer championships?

The magic of Elise’ work on meetings is hidden within the title “where the action is”. In Netflix’s The Playbook, Jose Mourinho’s sixth rule for his “Coach’s Rules for Life” is “Don’t coach the player, coach the team”. In soccer, as in business meetings, it is when the team is in play (and the coach has no control) is when the action needs to happen. Winning comes from the hard work of building repeatable dynamic structures and processes. These are established with discipline, practice and constant learning. They are a prerequisite to the many magic moments that change the fortunes of soccer teams and businesses. Elise’s book on structuring meetings guides us how to drive micro change in how people work together in meetings. These disciplines drive macro level change helping teams score more goals.

Change your organization by changing your meetings

Provides solid guidance and a set of tools for improving your organizational health by improving your meeting quality and performance.