Three Meeting Red Flags That Skilled Leaders Notice

Have your meetings become routine? The underlying dynamics of meetings often go unnoticed and unchecked. But savvy leaders run meetings like elite sports coaches choregraph games using a series of plays. These leaders scan for potentially destructive meeting red flags and seize subtle opportunities to enhance team success and individual growth.

In recent years, meeting dynamics have shifted because of the increased frequency of virtual meetings and a corresponding normalization of side chats during in-person, hybrid, and virtual meetings. The widespread presence of distracting electronic tools (such as phones, iPads, and laptops) in face-to-face meetings also makes it difficult for meeting leaders to gauge the attention levels of participants — many of whom erroneously believe they have multitasking superpowers. Finally, the presence of AI tools that monitor real-time interactions as virtual meeting “attendees” and notetakers also alters meeting dynamics.

These dynamics only intensify the challenges of running a productive meeting. Collectively, we’ve observed, evaluated, and led thousands of team discussions over several decades. Based on our observations, experience, and related research, we’ve identified three key roles that the smartest meeting leaders pay attention to, and three red-flag meeting dynamics they notice and address.

Essential Roles a Meeting Leader Must Play

Meeting leaders typically assume three interrelated roles, starting with the most visible one.

• Shaper: Leaders craft agendas, regulate the flow of conversations, and influence decision-making.
• Participant: Like other meeting attendees, leaders share relevant information, express viewpoints, and query others in an attempt to advance discussions.
• Observer: Leaders observe interactions among meeting participants, spot dysfunctional patterns, and detect inflection points in the discussion. This is the least visible role.

Most meeting leaders seamlessly (and unconsciously) shift between these three roles. After all, it’s hard to effectively influence decision-making (shaper role) without detecting discussion inflection points (observer role) or expressing a viewpoint (participant role).

Yet, these seamless shifts can prove challenging for meeting participants, particularly if the person leading it also has hierarchical power. For example, attendees may be confused whether a meeting leader is simply offering a new perspective or adding insight on an issue as a participant, or trying to dominate the decision-making process as a shaper.

Sometimes meeting leaders emphasize one role at the expense of the other two.