Meetings (in organizations, businesses or even in professional practices and families) are a powerful tool to clarify goals, determine a course of action, and to implement and monitor implementation. They are, however, widely misunderstood, misused, and are incredible opportunities squandered. Like anyone who’s been in business for more than a few weeks, you’ve almost certainly experienced the pain and frustration of poorly run meetings. In fact, I’ve been in and run more than my fair share of disappointment or ineffective meetings. But, through time, and by paying attention to what really works (and what’s supported by real data and experience) I’ve become better. So, I’ll share a few of the best practices, strategies and tactics so that you can skip the long trial and error phase and go right to getting the most out of meetings in every possible dimension ranging from better morale, to faster and better implementation, to higher levels of profit, and client, customer and patient satisfaction and ultimately…referrals. So what are the most common problems? Meeting that never end, meetings that waste time and fail to achieve any results, meetings that lack focus and kill morale. You’ve probably experienced all of these. And the data supports your memory/perceptions. The typical American professional attends over 60 meetings per month (Source: A network MCI Conferencing White Paper. Meetings in America: A study of trends, costs and attitudes toward business travel, teleconferencing, and their impact on productivity (Greenwich, CT: INFOCOMM, 1998)Approximately 50% of meeting time is wasted (same source as above)39% of people attending meetings doze off during the meeting (source: CBS News). Wow! Whether you are organizing meetings or simply attending them, you owe it to yourself to become more effective at this professional skill. Just imagine the gains you will achieve if you become 1% or 5% better at meetings over time. See http://projectmanagementhacks.com/meeting-tips/ So what’s the cure? How do we go from running uninteresting and perhaps even damaging meetings to a system that produces calculated, consisten, energizing results? Have Clarity of Outcome – Whether you’re running the meeting or attending Never host, facilitate or attend a meeting without clarifying what needs to happen at the strategic and tactical level. Having a clearly defined and written purpose and a list of the intended and needed results of the meeting (prioritized) will definitely change the tone and flow for the better. This can, however, also cause you to close your mind to other alternatives, suggestions, and data from other participants. Solutions? I always make sure that there are reminders in my copy of the agenda to seek input from others and to allow for the fact that they may have more and better data than I do. Along the same lines… Obtain or Create The Written Agenda - In Advance Vague ideas and intentions to have a discussion on a topic rarely end on a productive note followed by specific actions and desired results. The meeting agenda is really the key to clarifying your thoughts AND to getting others to prepare in advance. If you are just getting started with agendas, start with a point form list of topics to be discussed and make sure that material is provided to attendees at least one day before the meeting. For better results, provide background information on the agenda items and specially what is desired and what kind of data, ideas, and information will be useful and what goals have been established for the meeting so that everyone attending has the same information. What about when you are asked to attend a meeting without an agenda? Ask, “Can you please send me an agenda for the meeting so that I can prepare?” Pro Tip: For frequently held meetings such as a weekly status meeting on a project, you can save time by creating a meeting agenda template. Once you have that in place, preparing an agenda becomes a matter of taking time to clarify your specific objectives for THAT meeting and then filling in the blanks. Determine or Review The Attendee List – And Be Sure That The Right People Are There The people in the meeting room make or break your effectiveness. I have been in MANY meetings where the key person – a manager or executive – is not present. As a result, no significant decisions can be made. For Meeting Organizers: limit the number of people attending the meeting. The purpose of meetings is to make decisions and get work done in service of a specific strategic or tactical goal. For the most part, meetings are not the best way to simply share information (exception: meetings are helpful to share sensitive information or information that can be emotionally charged and best not shared by email). For Meeting Attendees: read the attendee list before you walk into the room. Do you see any unfamiliar ...
