Although it’s sometimes suggested that meetings are a thief of time and detrimental to doing successful business, I can’t agree. In fact I find meetings important business tools, not only as they reinforce and enhance relationships and social bonds but also because of the thinking that is stimulated, and the solutions, actionable ideas and ways forward that come out of them. What I do realise though is that many times these meetings go on too long, that having 20 heads around a boardroom table can turn an hour-long meeting into an entire week’s salary for one staff member, and that often we could have spent 20 minutes achieving what took 90 minutes. How then to maximise meetings, get the best out of the time we invest, and free everyone up sooner to get onto other important business? I’ve found these ideas pretty helpful.
Begin with the end in mind. Be clear about overall objectives and desired outcomes before you start planning your meeting. Crystal clear intent is invaluable in planning the meeting, deciding who should attend and how long you will need. Before starting a meeting develop both a mission statement that includes the specific goals (make decisions, assign tasks, etc) and an outcome statement (who will do what as a result of the meeting’s findings). While many people miss doing an outcome statement, if you have one (a sense of what your goal is from the meeting) you can end meetings on time. Staff should never leave meetings without specific tasks and deadlines for completing them.
Create an agenda and stick to it. Vague intentions to have a discussion on a topic rarely end on a productive note. For frequently held meetings such as a weekly status meeting on a project, you can save time by creating a meeting template. Once you have that in place, preparing an agenda becomes a matter of filling in the blanks.
Choose the right format. Meetings have different purposes. Is your meeting a short, weekly status update, a brainstorm and pitch session, or morale boosting day? Choose a location and format that suits the meeting’s goal and your organizational goals, factoring in who’s running the meeting and whether the meeting is dialogue-, or presentation-based.
Prepare participants. Make it easy for attendees to come prepared. Let them know if they need to do homework in advance – pulling numbers or solo-brainstorming – otherwise people show up unprepared and sit back as if they’re going to the movies. Similarly prep reading material and other resources beforehand to increase the effectiveness of time spent in the meeting. If you want people to pay attention however, don’t give them a bunch of handouts at the beginning of the meeting. They’ll start flipping through them, and get distracted.
Script the important things. This includes things like announcements, introductions and instructions to avoid the “Oh, I forgot to mention….” and the “Why didn’t you mention…”. There’s that saying “casualness creates casualties.” It’s very true for meetings.
Review the attendee list. The people in a meeting make or break its effectiveness. There are many meetings where the key person – a manager or executive – is not present. As a result, no significant decisions can be made. Similarly including a person who interrupts too often, talks off the point or is particularly negative, can ruin a meeting. Limiting the number of people attending is often advantageous. For the most part, meetings are not the best way to simply share information, the more people in a meeting, the less gets done. Meetings are generally to make decisions and get work done – which generally requires a limited number of people.
Make the clock your friend. If you don’t it will be your enemy. Starting and stopping on time and staying on track is one of the hardest things you’ll do but it’s critically important for the success of your meeting. Don’t wait for stragglers, it only encourages them. Consider your topic in advance and decide how much time you need to achieve your desired outcomes – 10, 20, 30 minutes – and go through the agenda and decide how long you need for each item. You’ll be surprised at how little time you actually need in general – often a decision can be made in just a few minutes. Designate someone with good people skills to be the official timer. One person who goes on too long or off subject diminishes the importance and effectiveness of everyone else. When nobody takes charge of managing time, it is easy to become careless and unfocused. Remember, when people attend a meeting they cannot do anything else. Make the time count!
Use the “Parking Lot” to manage off topic discussions. At the beginning of the meeting, explain you expect everyone to focus their discussions on the agenda and keep the agenda in front of you as a guide. When someone raises an interesting point that does not relate to the agenda, thank them for the point, write it down “in the parking lot”, include it in the meeting notes, and set a separate occasion on which to address it.
Take notes on paper. Even if you have fantastic abilities to focus on the meeting, taking notes on a tablet or similar device leads others to assume you are catching up on mail instead of paying attention to the meeting. Don’t check your phone during meetings, it encourages everyone else to.
Have a pause/stop button. Be open about it and use it to manage situations where it’s clear that someone isn’t aligned to the core purpose of the meeting or company, where discussions that are not leading to decisions, where meetings are veering off course, becoming complaint sessions, or rehashing rather than advancing what prior meetings have accomplished. Simply say “pause” or “stop”. You can then choose whether to refocus the meeting or close it (and reschedule for another time perhaps excluding a particular person/topic).