Business Tips from SCORE: The art of a productive, well-run business meeting.
Marc L. Goldberg
5 min read
Who hates meetings? Everyone hates meetings. And it is easy to knock bad meetings especially ones that you feel will never end and ruin your day. Even though everyone complains about meetings, holding and managing effective meetings is a big part of an organization leader’s role.
In his 2004 book, "Death by Meeting," Patrick Lencioni emphasizes the importance of structuring and conducting meetings "to align with the organization's goals, encouraging productive communication and decision-making, rather than letting meetings become time-wasting ordeals."
Lencioni’s approach focuses on purpose, structure and team dynamics in making the process more effective. The role of an effective meeting is not one of reporting but one of communication, decision-making and problem-solving.
Let’s look at what leaders who hold effective meetings do to make them so.
Need. Do you really need the meeting? Is there another way to achieve the objective than gathering team members to a meeting? If it is the most effective tool then schedule and execute the meeting. If not, choose the alternative since it avoids the time that it takes to hold the event. Why hold a meeting? Meetings can be used to build understanding, strategize and plan, address issues and challenges, develop new ideas and/or brainstorm and make decisions.
Define the objective clearly, succinctly and in a timely manner to ensure that everyone asked to attend understands the why of the meeting and the expected outcomes. By defining the why you are providing evidence for the necessity of the meeting. In order to ensure that the outcomes are fulfilled and action plans completed should be expected within a specific time frame and be the subject of the initial agenda items at the next meeting.
Create an agenda that is well-structured, details about the topics and time allotted for each topic should be distributed in time for attendees to internalize them and any attachments. A meeting without a specific agenda is a waste of time. The issues addressed should be in priority of importance to the organization. The agenda needs to provide adequate time for discussion. Healthy, open discussion that encourages conflicting ideas to be tabled often results in more positive results. And, send out the agenda with adequate time for attendees to prepare and even comment on additions and/or deletions before the meeting.
Invite appropriate attendees to the meeting. Ask yourself who needs to be at the meeting. Who can contribute to the objective of the meeting — addressing an issue, solving a problem or creating a new policy or procedure? Having the right personnel attending allows the process to move to an actionable next step.
Time management is critical to a well-run meeting. It needs to start and end on time. Make the meeting short — 45 minutes to an hour. Stop and if not finished reconvene at a later time to finish. Adequate time needs to be devoted to the most important issues on the agenda with less time for other items. Time needs to be planned to open discussion using a “parking lot” for ideas that are tangential to the objective of the meeting.
Set meeting ground rules. Everyone likes to know the rules of the game. Consider banning technology, mobile phones and refreshments other than coffee, tea, water or soft drinks to keep everyone focused. Many attendees like to take notes directly into computing devices so you might have to moderate the ground rules for technology. From a time management standpoint, presenters should ensure everyone knows if they want questions to be held or injected so the outcome can be reached in the time frame of the meeting. Another ground rule is how and when feedback is to be offered regarding the effectiveness of the meeting’s content, timing and outcome.
Assign post-meeting actions to ensure that the actions defined in the meeting are actually undertaken assignments need to be made to ensure that the good intentions of the meeting are enacted. Be sure that post-meeting follow-up includes notes and a recap of decisions.
Be creative. Staid, boring meetings are just that and the results are lackluster lacking innovative approaches and solutions. Try using photo decks that depict the issue you are addressing and build on it. Use Post-it notes and Post-it pads to allow individuals to share their ideas that can form the basis of dialogue. Use “mind maps” or “vision trees” to visually depict the elements of the decisions to be made and the various options available. Storyboard the issues and potential solutions. When you are creative and innovative attendees tend to step out of their comfort zones.
Lead by example. This is one way that meetings take on greater meaning and generate results. Show up on time, leave your phone at the door or in the tech basket along with other attendees, avoid interruptions and engage in the process of the meeting
By implementing these recommendations, organizations can transform their meetings from time-wasting affairs into productive and purposeful gatherings that contribute to achieving goals and objectives.
