Oh No, Not Another Meeting
All too often meetings are called without clear purpose, last way too long, get sidetracked, and don’t involve follow-up. The good news is: they don’t have to be that way! Anyone can plan and conduct effective meetings.
There is an increasing need for effective, efficient and even enjoyable meetings. Leadership increasingly means using our interpersonal skills to get things done. That often involves helping teams work together, which leads to meetings.
Whether your group is gathering for its weekly staff meeting, teleconferencing from different corners of the world, or coming together for an annual off-site planning session, employ the same basic components and scale up or down accordingly.
Why Meet at All?
Meetings should be held for two reasons. One is to forward a group’s work. Participants share information and collaborate to problem-solve and make decisions with each other. The second reason people meet is to solidify the group as a team – to attend to the need to belong; the need to achieve and make an impact; and a desire to communicate and build a common reality. To be productive, groups need to focus on both dimensions. For the task to get done, the group’s team process must be in place. For the group’s team process to be in place, the work has to get done. It is possible to satisfy both if you plan both your content and meeting process.
Planning and Running Effective Meetings
Consider these ten tips the next time you conduct a meeting.
1. Determine if the meeting is really necessary. Before calling a meeting, think about whether or not it is necessary. Ask yourself: What do I need accomplished? Will an e-mail, voice mail, note, or posting on a website suffice? Should I just walk down the hall to visit with someone or pick up the phone? You need a meeting if:
- Decisions have to be made which need the expertise and agreement of different people
- Teams need to apply themselves collectively to solve problems
- Individuals whose interests conflict must resolve them for the greater good of the organization
2. Create and use a detailed agenda. Each meeting should have a detailed agenda that is shared with meeting participants ahead of time, along with any necessary supporting information. If an agenda cannot be developed prior to the meeting, spend the first few minutes of the meeting defining one. The most effective agendas include:
- Purpose of the meeting
- Topics to be addressed (perhaps a sentence or two that defines each item and why it is being addressed)
- The lead person for each topic
- Time allotted
3. Ensure room arrangements are made. You need a space that is conducive to the meeting’s work and is large enough for the group. Make sure everyone can be seated comfortably, and that the room has the right tools for group problem solving — white boards, flip charts and markers. Consider whether it would be helpful to take your group to an offsite environment. Plan refreshments and meals that are appropriate to the time of day and to the group’s needs.
4. Always have a facilitator, timekeeper, and scribe. For a meeting to work well, it should have the following roles (some can be filled by the same person):
- Meeting leader or facilitator: responsible for keeping the meeting focused and running smoothly.
- Timekeeper: helps the group keep track of time during the meeting
- Scribe: records key topics, main points raised during discussions, decisions made, action items and items to be discussed at future meetings; posts ideas on flipcharts or whiteboards as the discussion unfolds so that everyone can see them.
Many ongoing groups we work with rotate these roles among members from meeting to meeting.
5. Set clear guidelines. All groups need guidelines to ensure a productive, cooperative climate. If the same group meets regularly, the guidelines can be developed early on and then reviewed each time they meet. Guidelines should be written by the participants themselves in response to the question: “What ground rules do we need to work effectively together?” The guidelines should cover how to encourage participation, manage conflict and stay on track. Visit our website to learn more about setting ground rules.
6. Manage participation. In productive meetings, everyone is part of the discussion and no one person dominates. If you are familiar with the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, this means those who prefer to extrovert (organize their thoughts by talking) need to reign themselves in enough to make room for others’ contributions. For those who prefer to introvert (organize their thoughts internally), this frequently means an explicit commitment to speaking up in each meeting.
7. Make periodic process checks. Periodically shift the group’s focus to checking how things are being done and what changes are needed to improve the pace and flow of the meeting. These checks can be as simple as asking the participants “What is working?” and “What do we need to do differently?” The most important thing is that the group act on their suggestions.
8. Take and distribute action minutes. These do not have to be Robert’s Rules of Order minutes that capture everything that is said. Rather, your teams need action minutes that briefly recount the decisions made, and most importantly, detail the action items with who is responsible for each item and a completion date. Distribute the minutes to all participants as soon as possible. Visit our website to download a template for this type of minutes: http://www.wunderlin.com/minutes.pdf
9. Plan next steps. If your group’s work is an ongoing process, you can usually develop the agenda for the next meeting from the decisions and actions of the current session. Setting up the next meeting date and time and defining roles for that session will also prove very helpful.
10. Begin and end on time. People’s primary beef with meetings is that they waste their time. Demonstrate your respect for that precious commodity by religiously starting and stopping on time. And every once in awhile, find a way to end your meeting early!
Invoke the 100-Mile Rule
In The Team Handbook, the authors propose a way to ensure that participants give you their full attention. They explain the rule this way:
“Once a meeting begins, everyone is expected to give it his/her full attention. No one should be called from the meeting unless it is so important that the disruption would occur even if the meeting was 100 miles away from the workplace. The 100-mile rule will need to be communicated to those who take phone messages or who would interrupt the team’s work for other reasons.”
More Help is Just a Click Away
Resources abound for improving your meetings. There are a number of good books, videos and websites that can help you brush up on your meeting skills. Among The Wunderlin Company favorites are:
- The Team Handbook, by Peter R. Scholtes, Brian L. Joiner and Barbara J. Streibel.
- Facilitating with Ease, by Ingrid Bens.
- Meetings, Bloody Meetings, a video training course produced by Video Arts and staring John Cleese (of Monty Python acclaim). We own a copy of this video program and supporting materials and would be delighted to rent it to you. Just email Karen Wunderlin with your request: kw@wunderlin.com.
- The 3m Company has an extensive website loaded with tips for improving your meetings. For example, in their reading room they have articles covering everything from meeting activities and exercises to brainstorming techniques and running a video conference.
- Two other sites that we recommend for planning effective meetings: http://www.effectivemeetings.com/ and http://www.meetingwizard.org.
- The Wunderlin Company makes regular use of teleconferencing to stay connected to our team of experts. It’s an easy and cost-effective way to stay in touch.