Beating the Meeting Blues
Meetings are often regarded as a
necessary evil. If they are not held, stakeholders complain they were
either not informed or not part of the decision making process. But when
they are held, they frequently disintegrate into time wasting sessions
that leave the participants frustrated and bored.
There are some well documented ways
to ensure you do not fall into the trap of holding meetings for the sake
of meetings, and that you do keep important meetings on track and
focused on outcomes.
Before you start
Decide if the meeting is really
necessary! Sort out in your mind what you hope to accomplish and how you
could measure a successful outcome. You might be able to use alternative
means to achieve the same results by addressing the issues through other
informal means such as emails, or even a chat over lunch or a coffee.
Who should attend?
The required outcome from the
meeting should drive the decision about who needs to be in attendance.
Ensure you provide a copy of the proposed agenda with the meeting
notice. If the meeting is likely to involve a large number of
participants, then consider ways to divide them into smaller groups of
four to eight people for short periods to discuss set topics. This can
be a better way to get individuals to generate new ideas, than expecting
them to fight for attention against a large audience.
Remember that physically our bodies
start to get restless after 90 minutes of sitting. With this in mind,
plan breaks or at least suggest people take a few minutes just to stand
up and stretch before continuing the session. Breaks have the useful
side effect of allowing people to air issues informally they may not
want to raise in the public forum of the meeting.
If your attendees have to travel,
consider this when scheduling the start and finish times.
Always have an agenda
One if the best ways to keep a
meeting on target, and ensure no items of business get overlooked, is to
create an outline and an agenda. This should be prepared in advance of
the meeting. Define key issues, topics and expectations of the meeting
in the outline. Schedule the most critical items early in the agenda. It
is preferable that those invited to the meeting receive at least a
tentative agenda a few days in advance. Make sure extra copies of the
agenda are available at the meeting.
Logistics
Particularly for larger group
meetings, audiovisual equipment can only enhance your presentation and
simplify information that is being presented. However they can also be
effective even for small weekly team meetings.
For formal meetings the type of
audiovisual equipment required to make presentations needs to be
considered in advance as well as the size of room and number of people
attending. Check all equipment. It is surprising how often a piece of
equipment that worked perfectly well yesterday simply fails to operate
when you start your session. One handy hint is to make sure the
computers and equipment (projectors, Internet access) are compatible.
At various times there are other
issues you might need to consider. These would include proper lighting,
size of the room, acoustics, telephone access, temperature, ventilation,
comfort and position of seating, writing materials, restrooms, coat
racks, parking, name tags, refreshments, extension cords and location of
electrical outlets.
It is worth considering your meeting
spot. Physical location and surroundings are very important to a
productive meeting. Who you are meeting with, for what purpose and how
many are likely to attend are the key considerations here.
If you are meeting with clients, a
conference room may be ideal. If you are meeting with your staff to
brainstorm and share ideas, think about having your meeting at an
off-site location. Even an outdoor space may be effective for an
informal setting, but consider possible distractions, and whether people
need spots to write and make notes.
Beginning the meeting
Be punctual and take notes. Unless
you have a compelling reason, don’t start the meeting late. If people
form the impression that your meetings start late, they will have no
incentive for arriving on time in the future.
Taping a meeting can assist in
preparing summaries later. Or designate a note taker for the session.
The person responsible for the
meeting preparation should arrive early and coordinate the setting up.
If food and beverages are being served, ensure that all communications
with caterers are well planned, and the attendees informed of these
arrangements.
Always have water, tea, and coffee
available to attendees. These days many people prefer skim milks,
decaffeinated coffees, and caffeine free teas such as herbal teas.
In session gather input
and keep focused
The meeting facilitator is
responsible for leading the group and promoting participation. Reaching
decisions can be complex and challenging. It is important that
participants who wish to speak and express their views have an
opportunity to do so. It is also vital to proceed carefully, take note
of concerns and opinions, and consider alternatives.
Well conducted meetings allow all
participants to be part of the decision making process. Naturally
conflict can arise in meeting discussions. Don’t react negatively and
regard it as inherently undesirable. If handled sensitively it can lead
to innovation, positive change or agreement when discussing an issue.
Agree to action
If the purpose of the meeting is to resolve an
issue, when a decision is make, reinforce the decision by identifying
who is responsible for the follow up (often called the champion). Set
all deadlines attached to the decision.
Winding up
Leave 5-10 minutes at the end of the meeting for
winding up. Don’t be tempted to skip this portion of the meeting. You
should cover:
- evaluation of the meeting to ensure that
objectives have been met;
- review assignments, and set the time for the
next meeting. Ask each person if they can make it or not (ensures
their commitment);
- confirm with participants that meeting minutes
and/or actions will be reported back in at most a week (keeps the
momentum going).
Always end
meetings on time and endeavor to end on an upbeat note.
Don’t
forget…..follow up!
Hard as it may be to believe, it is
the case that even if you do everything right and then fail to follow
up, the meeting will not be a success.
Those who know a little of the
psychology of the brain and the way it learns and stores information
will see the point. Human minds discard a lot of information every day.
If you want to make sure your brain realizes the need to actually store
information long term, then you need to reinforce it within a short
period after the event.
So send out a summary of ideas and
discussion topics that were gathered during your meeting. Prepare a
follow up action list and check that all deadlines are being met. Then
ACT on the decisions that were made.
People will be prepared to attend your
meetings because they will see effective outcomes.
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