Ben MortonLeadership Trainer, Coach and Speaker

Empowering Change Through Effective Meeting Management

30 May 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment of Ben Morton's leadership talk, he addresses a common objection that organizational culture or personal diaries limit one's ability to improve meetings. He introduces the concept of circles of control and influence, emphasizing that while leaders cannot overhaul an entire organization instantly, they can exercise direct control over the meetings they organize. He outlines concrete actions: making meetings shorter, establishing a clear agenda, and incorporating a brief pause at the start for participants to gather their thoughts. These steps are presented as immediate, controllable levers to enhance meeting effectiveness and drive incremental change.

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Now, this is the point where a lot of people say to me, "Yeah, but Ben, that's just the culture here," or, "My diary's not really within my control." And yes, there will always be constraints, but this is the point where we can pause and think about something I talk about in every single leadership program that I run, and it's our circles of control and influence. So yes, you can't change or even influence the entire organization overnight, but you can absolutely take control and make changes in the meetings that you set up and control. You can make your own meetings shorter. You can make sure there's a really clear agenda. You can even build in a minutes pause at the start for people to Gather their thoughts before you start.