Start with an experiment that solves a problem that really matters to people - and that is achievable fairly quickly.

Have a think about what is costing people the most at the moment. What do they care about?

- it could be having their voice heard?

- or getting out of back to back meeting days

- or reducing the sheer volume of meetings

- or it could be that they are always having to do emails and meetings at inconvenient times.

What could you do that would address this as quickly, simply and cheaply as possible?

- If the problem is that people don't feel heard, you could start by reorganising next month's team meeting around contribution.

- If the problem is that people are in back-to-back meetings, it could be that you schedule meetings for 50 minutes rather than 60 minutes (or 25 rather than 30) for the next month.

- If the problem is that meetings are long and full of wasted time, you might decide that all meetings will be 30mins by default and have a very simple agenda for the next month.

- If the problem is that people are having to meet and collaborate at inconvenient times, you could ask everyone to answer three simple questions about their schedules: my working hours, best meeting times for me, my focused work time (or whatever addresses the specific issues people have)

Small changes won't solve everything about this problem. But they take you towards what does solve it more completely.

How can you share, model and develop this idea so people understand it's an experiment - and that it will help everyone understand what else is needed next?

How can you design the experiment so people have some fun exploring it? Can you give it a name and emoji (e.g. "The Thirty Day Thirty Minute Meeting Challenge 🙌")? 

How can you set the tone? For example, you'll notice that I didn't put a clock or sand timer as the emoji - which emphasises the speed element. Yes, we want speed but not just to put all meetings on fast forward. Instead I used a raised hands emoji to show full respect to people as they redesign those sessions to get more out of less time. A subtle but important shift!

What's the small first step that will get the ball rolling?

And then how can you maximise the impact of what you've decided to try? For example, if you're reducing meetings to 30 minutes by default, can you apply this to existing meetings, not just new meetings that go in the diary? 

What support do you need to provide people to make it Oh So Easy to take part in this experiment?

When will you check in with people?

If your first small experiment starts snowballing into a lot of work, stop. 

We are looking for the smallest, simplest changes that make a positive difference and allow us to learn. 

If it's too cumbersome and involved, make it smaller, lighter. Take a smaller slice of the problem. For example if it's getting too complicated to try and line up everyone's scheduling preferences including meeting time, focus time and other preferences, just focus on when people DON'T want to meet. Find a simple way to allow them to specify that or block it out and have that respected.