The Core Problem

The typical meeting failure pattern: no agenda, unclear purpose, discussions expand to fill time, action items evaporate after adjournment. Sound familiar?

Physics explains why. Gas molecules expand to fill their container. Meetings work the same way. Set a meeting for 60 minutes without structure, and conversation inflates to consume every minute regardless of actual work required.

The Four Meeting Archetypes

RevOps manages four distinct meeting types. Each requires different structure.

Communication & Engagement Meetings

Purpose: Broadcast information from leadership to teams
Direction: One-way communication
Frequency: Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly
Example: All Hands, QBR

These meetings disseminate business performance, strategic direction, and company updates. Action assignment is secondary. Information flow is primary.

Planning Meetings

Purpose: Set business direction and align stakeholders
Frequency: Annual, Quarterly
Participants: Leadership and function heads
Example: Annual Planning, Territory Planning

Planning meetings shape future periods. Annual planning typically runs August through Q1 for complex organizations. Simpler companies compress into 4-6 week sprints.

Operating Meetings

Purpose: Drive execution and surface risks
Frequency: Daily, Weekly, Monthly
Example: Forecast Review, Pipeline Review, Deal Review

These meetings form your business rhythm. They translate strategy into tactical execution through forced accountability.

Interlock/Alignment Meetings

Purpose: Break down silos between departments
Frequency: Monthly, Quarterly
Participants: Cross-functional leadership
Example: Sales-Marketing Interlock, Product-CS Interlock

Interlocks prevent upstream/downstream blindspots. Marketing needs to know what Sales is hearing. Product needs CS customer feedback. These sessions facilitate critical information exchange.

The Meeting Template

Apply this structure to any operating or interlock meeting:

Pre-Meeting: 48 Hours Before

Collect Agenda Items: Send Slack message or email: "Submit agenda topics by Thursday 4pm. Late submissions move to next meeting."

Ruthlessly enforce this deadline. Without it, meetings become ambush zones for unprepared participants.

Distribute Pre-Read: Share relevant data, reports, or context documents 24 hours before meeting. No excuse for showing up unprepared.

Meeting Opening: First 5 Minutes

1. Good News Check-In (2 min) Start positive. Each person shares one win from the previous week. Builds camaraderie and surfaces hidden successes.

2. State Purpose (1 min) Clear purpose prevents scope creep mid-meeting.

3. Review Ground Rules (2 min) Post these permanently but reinforce periodically:

   1. Speak in turns

   2. Questions submitted ahead when possible

   3. Attach issues, not people

   4. Back opinions with data

   5. Say "I don't know" rather than guess

Meeting Body: Core Agenda

Review Last Meeting Actions (5 min) Accountability starts here. Each assigned action gets 30 seconds: Done, In Progress, Blocked, or Pushed.

No excuses. No extended explanations. Status only.

This Week's Items (Variable Time) Work through submitted agenda items in order. Assign specific time boxes per item to prevent any single topic from hijacking the meeting.

Parking Lot (As Needed)
Capture off-topic but important items in a parking lot. Schedule follow-up sessions rather than derailing current meeting.

Meeting Close: Last 5 Minutes

Review Captured Actions (3 min) Designated note-taker reads back every action item with owner and due date. Verbal confirmation from each owner.

Set Next Meeting Topics (2 min) Identify topics that need continuation or follow-up discussion in next session.

End Early if Possible Finished in 40 minutes of a 60-minute block? Give time back. Reward efficiency by respecting calendars.

Role Assignments

Distribute these responsibilities to prevent single points of failure:

Facilitator Keeps discussion on track, enforces time boxes, manages speaking order. Typically the RevOps lead.

Timekeeper
Tracks time per agenda item and warns when time box expires. Rotates weekly.

Secretary Captures all action items with owners and due dates. Sends recap within 24 hours. Rotates weekly.

Participants Come prepared with pre-read completed, contribute data-backed opinions, own assigned actions.

Meeting Scorecard

Audit your meetings monthly using this scorecard. Score each item 1-10:

Attendance & Participation

• All required attendees present

• Attendees arrive on time

• Attendees engaged (not multitasking)

Structure & Execution

• Agenda distributed 48 hours ahead

• Meeting starts on time

• Meeting ends on/before scheduled time

• Notes captured accurately

• Action items clearly assigned

Effectiveness

• Discussion focuses on right priorities

• Appropriate amount of topics covered

• Data drives decisions

• Issues resolved or escalated appropriately

Target average score: 8+. Below 7 requires immediate meeting redesign.

Common Template Violations

"We don't have time for structure" Wrong. Structure creates time. Poor meetings waste 20-30 minutes weekly per participant. That's 17-26 hours yearly per person.

"Our culture is more casual"
Structure and culture are orthogonal. Casual teams benefit even more from meeting discipline.

"Leadership won't participate" Start with meetings you control. Results speak louder than process documents.

"This is too rigid" Templates provide framework, not straitjacket. Adapt as needed but maintain core elements: purpose, agenda, time management, action capture.

Advanced Optimisation

Once basic template is working, layer in these improvements:

Async Pre-Work Move status updates and informational content to pre-read documents. Use meeting time for discussion and decision-making only.

Meeting Metrics Dashboard Track meeting start/end times, attendance, action item completion rates. Make data visible.

Quarterly Meeting Purge Every quarter, cancel all recurring meetings by default. Reinstate only those that prove value in the audit.

Meetings drain or drive momentum. This template converts time-sinks into accountability engines. Start with one meeting this week. Measure results. Scale what works.