Stay After the Useful Part

One of my mentors told me years ago that when a meeting ended, I should get the notes out with the invitation for the next one. Do it right away if possible. Strike while the iron is hot.

It was annoyingly good advice, so I followed it for most of my career. I started blocking thirty minutes after meetings and keeping the room a little longer. That gave me time to clean up my notes, send out the action items, and get the next meeting scheduled before everyone began remembering the last one differently. This was before AI, unfortunately.

Usually, the meeting ended, everyone left, and I stayed behind doing the minutes. But sometimes someone didn’t leave. One colleague stayed back one day and started chatting with me while I was wrapping things up. What he wanted to talk about had absolutely nothing to do with the meeting.

He wanted more responsibility but didn’t know where to start. If I am honest, this was not some magical leadership moment. He was interrupting the exact task I had protected the time to complete. I could have brushed him off and said we would catch up later, which often means never. Instead, I let the minutes sit.

Over the next five years or so, we kept having these random conversations. Nothing especially formal. We just found time when we found it. He got himself promoted twice. And I say himself deliberately. He did the work. I was simply available often enough for the conversation to continue.

The extra thirty minutes were supposed to help me finish the work. Sometimes they allowed a different kind of work to begin. I don’t think the lesson is that everyone should reserve meeting rooms for an extra half-hour. Meeting rooms were hard enough to find.

It is probably simpler than that. Some of the better conversations happen after the thing we gathered for is already over. The agenda relaxes. People do too. I am trying to remember that outside meeting rooms as well. After a meal, a walk, a phone call, or a visit. Not every ending needs to happen immediately.

Maybe this week, leave ten minutes after something that normally ends right on time. If nothing happens, fine. Finish your notes. But if someone lingers, let them.

Stay after the useful part for a few minutes. Real life may be trying to get a word in.

P.S. I’m building the Field Guide around seasons of growth, planning, rest, and renewal. This summer has been about enjoying the life all that growth was meant to create. Start wherever you are.