How to Change the Things Everyone Complains About

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All day long, I hear colleagues complain about their organization. I am no different; I say things like, “I wish this meeting had an agenda”; “I hate when meetings run over time”; or “this meeting could have been an email.” We have a hundred criticisms of our company and our peers each day. But, too often, I see the very people who complain acting in the way they criticize in others. They set meetings with no agendas, schedule meetings without a decision maker, or keep talking as the scheduled meeting end passes by, causing colleagues to leave or be late for their next engagement

When challenged, the answer is always the same: "What’s the point? Everyone else is doing this poorly; why should I be different?” This, however, is the wrong way to look at the problem. Instead of allowing the masses to pull individuals down toward them, each person should take on the mantle of pulling their organization up.

We forget the power and impact the actions of one person can have. Especially when that is multiplied over many meetings a day, multiple days a week, and multiple weeks a year.

If most people were challenged to start a social media account and get 50 followers, I think almost everyone would say that was achievable. Heck, it might only take a week or two. What makes us think, then, that we can’t influence 50 people in our office? And, better yet, empower those 50 to reach 50 more. In one cycle, that’s 2,500 people, a huge percentage of most organizations.

A 2021 paper by McKinsey & Company reported that “Transformations involving at least 7% of employees are twice as likely to have positive excess total returns to shareholders as those that involve a smaller share…We view 7 percent as a tipping point…”¹

Seven percent. Can you believe what a small number is needed to begin to turn the whole company? For a company of 1,000, that is 70 people; at 5,000 it's only 350 people. That is a level of influence that is both achievable through day-to-day actions and shown to be the point at which a change begins to take on momentum of its own.

Tomorrow, make a list of the top three things that you think would make your company more efficient, make your meetings run better, or make you a better leader or member of your team—simple tasks that you can do with little or no additional effort outside of planning and organization.

When you are ready to turn that into action, try the following ideas:

1. Be the change you wish to see. Take action in your own meetings, your own teams, and your own interactions. Do not complain about an action missing in others that you are not willing to complete yourself. For the next week, take time to make sure every meeting you send out has a detailed agenda. Set a timer so meetings don’t run over, and make sure that you send out a summary of what was discussed and key actions as next steps.
2. Ask your team to mirror your actions. If you manage or lead a team, ask that your team do the same for their meetings. If you have been practicing good meeting etiquette for a week or two, you should have good examples as to why you think it is important and how it would make things more efficient. Share these ideas with your employees and challenge them to participate in working toward your goal. As a leader, you can give them gentle reminders and quickly have a whole group of colleagues participating. If you are not a leader, you still have influence. Teams are filled with people who make great suggestions about what we need to talk about, how we should structure our meetings, etc. Share your thoughts with your leader and team members and see how you can get their buy-in toward your goal.
3. Ask others to take on the challenge. Once you have built the habit of good meeting etiquette in yourself and your team, move to your next circle of influence. Start asking the project managers, business leaders, and people around you if they will do the same. Start the meeting by asking attendees to practice the same habits, starting with agendas, keeping meeting minutes, and ending on time. In your next session, share the importance of the practice, and try to get a new group of recruits. More often than not, people will share your opinion on how to improve company meetings, or may have experienced your meeting in which things were run differently. It’s just a matter of taking that thing that everyone already knows to be true and making it a habit.
4. Praise those who join the movement. As easy as it sounds, when you see the good behavior in place, call it out and give the person some recognition. Doing so will drive others to comply in their meetings and reinforce the improved action in those already taking it. It costs nothing to say thank you.

Try this action plan for a week or a month and see how many people you can influence. You will be surprised how quickly a new practice can spread. The examples I used above are related to better meeting etiquette, but it could be anything you want to see improved in your organization; it all starts with you.

The actions of one person can have a massive impact, especially over time and in partnership with others. Each voice you add moves the needle exponentially. It also moves the organization one step closer to being the kind of place where you want to work and allows you to tackle the big challenges we all face.

Don’t succumb to the masses and their bad behavior because it is easier. Instead, set the bar for what good can look like and offer a hand to help pull them up when they are ready.