When meetings go smoothly, it’s a strong hint they’re a waste of time.
I mean, smooth meetings feel great.
Thanks to your polished arguments decisions are made in record time and you walk out thinking, “That went well.”
Until nothing happens and you realize that this was perhaps a little too easy.
It took a fair amount of frustration until I realized that the meetings that actually lead to progress mostly don’t feel smooth.
They feel awkward.
→ Like that heavy silence after someone asks a question no one wants to answer.
→ Like the tension when two people disagree, and you’re not sure how to get things back on track.
→ Like the frustration of circling around an issue that just won’t click into place.
It’s messy.
And it feels like a problem.
But it’s not.
It’s the work.
Uncomfortable? Yes. But that’s the work.
I often call it the trap of eloquence: When your communication is so polished that it silences the dissent. It might get you a convenient quick “yes”.
But it’s often the slow “yes”, the common alignment that provides the breakthrough.
Clarity isn’t born from convenience.
It comes from wrestling with ideas.
From tension that forces people to thoroughly think it through, not just quickly agree.
In short: from questions that don’t have neat answers.
That’s why I get suspicious when everything goes too smoothly.
When that happens, I like to ask: “Did we really align or did we just avoid the mess?”
If it felt a little too easy, chances are you’ve still got work to do. That’s not a failure. It’s an opportunity to dig deeper, ask better questions, go to the messy places. It’s perhaps less convenient, but far more likely that this is where we find what really matters.
What’s your experience with meetings that went suspiciously smooth?
Keep lighting the path.
PS: Of course, sometimes it is that easy. But it’s the exception, not the norm.
