High Output Meetings

Meetings are usually seen as a drain on productivity. However, in Andy Grove's view, a meeting is a manager's medium of work. If a meeting identifies a problem that would have cost the company $100,000, and it took 10 hours total for all attendees, that meeting has massive leverage.

"A meeting is nothing less than the medium through which managerial work is performed."

The Process-Oriented Meeting

These are regular, synchronized meetings designed for knowledge exchange and status monitoring.

• One-on-Ones: The most important meeting. The subordinate sets the agenda. The manager listens and asks probing questions. Purpose: Mutual teaching and exchange of information.
• Staff Meetings: Opportunity for peers to interact and for the manager to observe group dynamics.

Mission-Oriented Meetings

These are ad-hoc meetings called to reach a specific decision. They are expensive. If you have 8 people in a room for an hour, that's a whole work-day of cost.Rules: Never call a mission-oriented meeting unless you know exactly what decision needs to be made. Ensure the "Chairman" is defined and responsible for the result.

The Chairman's Duty

The Chairman is responsible for the output of the meeting. This includes sending an agenda beforehand, maintaining focus during the meeting, and circulating minutes with specific action items immediately after. If a meeting ends without a clear decision or next step, it was a failure of leverage.