Mastering Meetings

Approximately 11 million meetings occur in the United States every day! Given that frequency, chances are we’ve all been victims and even perpetrators of what I consider one of the greatest time wasters of our times: The Ineffective Team Meeting! You know what I’m talking about:

  • You have a fairly nebulous topic on which you want to provide or receive input…

  • You want to make sure the whole team stays informed, so you require everyone to be there…

  • The meeting is scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM but doesn’t get going until 10:07 because of “stragglers”…

  • You start the meeting by throwing out the topic you want to discuss and asking your team to share their thoughts/ideas…

  • You get some constructive feedback, but the rest is either off-topic or complete ramblings of someone forcing their agenda…

  • The meeting is scheduled to last no longer than 30 minutes and it takes 70 minutes instead…

  • And you are left not much farther ahead (if at all) than when you started the meeting!

Does that sound familiar? Well, you don’t have to be the victim (or perpetrator) of ineffective meetings any longer!

8 TIPS FOR MORE EFFECTIVE MEETINGS

  • Don’t meet if it isn’t absolutely necessary! Before scheduling any meeting, ask yourself if a face-to-face meeting (telephone conference, etc.) is really necessary. If the same information can be accurately covered briefly in a memo, email, or report, a meeting isn’t necessary.

  • Have a clear picture of what you want to achieve in the meeting. Ask yourself, what do I want the participants to own at the end of the meeting? The clearer your objectives, the better you will be able to lead the meeting and its participants.

  • Make sure to invite the right people! Far too often blanket invites are given to the entire team when only a few of the key decision-making team members need to be in attendance (and the rest can be given a written summary or update of the meeting outcome)

  • Always present the participants in your meeting with an agenda beforehand of what the meeting will cover and follow it closely!! This provides the meeting participants with an opportunity to prepare and gather any background information they may need to bring with them to the meeting. For example: One Fortune 500 company considers agendas so important to their meeting efficiencies that they actually have a rule that states: If participants are not provided an agenda before a meeting, they can skip it, even if their attendance was requested!

  • Set a time limit and stick to it. Start meetings on time, even if all of the participants are not there, and end them when you said you would end them.

  • Keep accurate notes of actions to be taken following the meeting! Whether it is a task assignment, an “off” topic that needs to be discussed at a future date, or a conclusion or decision that has been made you’ve got to keep accurate notes!!

  • Follow-up… follow-up… follow-up!!! No matter how great of a meeting you have, what matters are the results your team produces with what they get out of the meeting. Since we are all human, accountability for doing what they say they are going to do and when they are going to do it is a must!!

  • Teach your team the fundamentals of effective meetings… See Numbers 1 through 7 above!! Give them the power to improve dismal meeting results. Provide your team with insights on how to keep a meeting on track and insights on how to get a meeting that’s gone off track back on track (even if they aren’t the one running the meeting!) You can even post effective meeting basics on your conference room walls! Example: Intel Corporation has posted on every conference room wall worldwide the following questions…
    Do you know the purpose of this meeting? * Do you have an agenda? * Do you know your role?

Meetings are necessary to facilitate the flow of information from one team member to another… to discuss issues as a team… to have the ultimate in complete communication. However, the time we use in meetings is priceless.

Remember: Every second we waste is time we’ll never get back. So make the most of the time you spend inside of meetings. Your time at work will become much more productive as a whole, meaning your time spent at home with your loved ones will be more plentiful, too!

Clay Nelson