3 Myths That Ruin Meetings
10 Characteristics Of Effective Meetings
10 Things That Lead To One Great Meeting
12 New Tips for Effective Meetings
3 Myths That Ruin Meetings
These myths have cost companies billions of pounds in wasted payroll money.
Myth 1) Structure Spoils Spontaneity. I once attended a two-day long disaster that easily cost over £30,000. Thirty people spent the first hour seeking an issue to discuss, then spent the next 15 hours arguing over insolvable problems. When I asked the manager who called the meeting, "Where's the agenda?" the reply was, "I didn't want to spoil the spontaneity by imposing a structure.
Reality: If spontaneity was a universally sound business practice, we would build buildings without blueprints. Of course, no smart business leader works without a plan.
The Fix: Set a goal and then prepare an agenda. Ideally, this agenda should be so clear, complete and specific that someone else could use it to lead the meeting to obtain and accomplish the goal.
Myth 2) Since It's My Meeting I Should Do All The Talking. Some meetings are run like a medieval court. The chairperson sits on a verbal throne while the subjects sit in respectful silence. The big talker justifies this by thinking:
If the other people in the meeting knew anything worthwhile, they'd be leading the meeting.
Reality: If you're the only one talking, you're working too hard. In addition, realise that most people protect themselves from extended monologues by sending their thoughts off on a holiday. That is, no one is paying attention to you: They're busy daydreaming, doodling or dreaming.
The Fix: Convey large amounts of information by a memo or email. Then call a meeting based on participant driven activities that test or reinforce comprehension.
Myth 3) Meetings Are Free. Most meetings are paid for with soft money. That is, it's money that has already been spent for wages. In addition, no purchase request is necessary. No budget needs to be approved. All someone has to do is call a meeting.
Reality: Meetings are very expensive. They use people's time and payroll is the largest part of running a business. When people hold bad meetings, they waste the most important resource in a business - the time people spend working to earn a profit for the company.
The Fix: Design meetings to earn a profit. After all, a meeting is a business activity, not a company picnic.
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10 Characteristics Of Effective Meetings
Here are ten fundamental concepts that characterise an effective meeting.
1) Definition: A meeting is a business activity where select people gather to perform work that requires a team effort.
2) A meeting, like any business event, succeeds when it is preceded by planning, characterised by focus, governed by structure and controlled by a budget.
3) Short meetings free people to work on the essential activities that represent the core of their jobs. In contrast, long meetings prevent people from working on critical tasks such as planning, communicating and learning.
4) Three things guarantee an unproductive meeting: poor planning, lack of appropriate process and hostile culture. Effective leaders attend to all of these to create an effective meeting.
5) Effective meetings require sharing control and making commitments.
6) The ultimate goals of every meeting are agreements, decisions or solutions. Meetings held for other reasons seldom produce anything of value.
7) Unprepared participants will spend their time in the meeting preparing for the meeting.
8) It is better to spend a little time preparing for solutions than to spend a lot of time fixing problems.
9) Meetings are an investment of resources and time that should earn a profit.
10) A meeting can be led from any chair in the room and if it’s your meeting, you want it to be your chair.
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10 Things That Lead To One Great Meeting
Here are ten things that you can do to make your meetings more effective.
1) Avoid Meetings: Test the importance of a meeting by asking, "What happens without it?" If your answer is, "Nothing," then don't call the meeting.
2) Prepare Goals: These are the results you want to obtain by the end of the meeting. Write out your goals before the meetings. They should be so clear, complete and specific that someone else could use them to lead your meeting. Also, make sure they can be achieved with available people, resources and time. Specific goals help everyone make efficient progress toward relevant results.
3) Challenge Each Goal: Ask, "Is there another way to achieve this?" For example: If you want to distribute information, you may find it more efficient to phone, FAX, mail, E-mail or visit. Realise that a meeting is a team activity. Save tasks that require a team effort for your meetings.
4) Prepare An Agenda: Everyone knows an agenda leads to an effective meeting. Yet, many people "save time" by neglecting to prepare an agenda. A meeting without an agenda is like a journey without a map. It is guaranteed to take longer and produce fewer results. Note, without an agenda, you risk becoming someone else's helper (see tip #6 below).
5) Inform Others: Send the agenda at least a day before the meeting. That helps others prepare to work with you in the meeting. Unprepared participants waste your time by preparing for the meeting during the meeting.
6) Assume Control: If you find yourself in a meeting without an agenda walk out. If you must stay, prepare an agenda in the meeting. Collect a list of issues, identify the most important and work on that. When you finish, if time remains, select the next most important issue. Note: You can use a meeting without an agenda to recruit help for your projects.
7) Focus On The Issue: Avoid stories, jokes and unrelated issues. Although entertaining, these waste time, distract focus and mislead others. Save the fun for social occasions where it will be appreciated.
8) Be Selective: Invite only those who can contribute to achieving your goals for the meeting. Crowds of observers and supporters bog down progress in a meeting.
9) Budget Time: No one would spend £1,000 on a ten pence pencil but they often spend 40 employee hours on trivia. Budget time in proportion to the value of the issue. For example, you could say, "I want a decision on this in 10 minutes. That means we'll evaluate it for the next 9 minutes, followed by a vote."
10) Use Structured Activities In Your Meetings: These process tools keep you in control while you ensure equitable participation and systematic progress toward results.
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12 New Tips For Effective Meetings
1) Ask everyone to arrive five to ten minutes early. This gives everyone time to socialise, obtain coffee, or organise materials before the meeting. It also ensures that everyone is present at the scheduled starting time. Make this part of the agenda.
2) Discuss sensitive issues with the key participants before the meeting. Use this as an opportunity to listen and gather information on the issues. From this you will understand the different views, needs and histories. This information can help you prepare the agenda and conduct the meeting. In addition, you may be able to facilitate solutions or strategies for solutions before the meeting. In either case, the result will be a more efficient meeting.
3) Plan small meetings that focus on a single issue. People work more effectively over short periods of time (such as 45 minutes). This also allows you to match experts with issues for more productive meetings.
4) Only invite those who can contribute to at least 50% of the items on the agenda. For meetings lasting more than 30 minutes, invite special participants only to the part of the meeting that deals with their contribution.
5) Send copies of the minutes to everyone who could have been invited for informational purposes. They can read the minutes in a small fraction of the time that they would have been spent in the meeting.
6) When invited to a meeting with a vague (or missing) agenda, ask: what role will I have? Why do you need me? If your impact is minor, refuse to attend and use the time for other work. Meeting planners often attempt to add importance to a meeting by inviting prominent members of the organisation.
7) If the chairperson seems to have allowed the meeting’s intent to drift, ask: “What do you want to achieve?” or “How can we help you?” or “How will we know when we are done working on this?” These questions can help focus the meeting on a goal.
8) If a meeting seems out of control, suggest adjourning and reconvening at a later date. This will allow you to clarify goals, prepare strategies and better understand the issues.
9) Reflect the content of key points. This ensures that everyone has the same understanding of the key point. Although this is one of the chairperson’s responsibilities, it can be filled by anyone else in the meeting.
10) Prepare a list of questions, ideas, suggestions before the meeting. Then you can focus your attention on the discussion in the meeting.
11) Watch the listeners instead of the speaker. Their faces and body language will tell you whether they agree or disagree, which can help guide your participation in the discussion.
12) Work with a sense of appropriate urgency. Life is finite and the discussions in meetings should be the same. Plan a time budget and then use it to guide your meeting. Spend extra time only when an issue warrants it.