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Running Effective Meetings
A lot
of people hate meetings. They have too much experience of long meetings
that meander on forever and never seem to reach any conclusions that can
be acted on.
Team members may resent meetings because they are already working to
deadlines and the last thing they need is an ineffective meeting that
takes up their precious time.
However, a well-run meeting can actually save time. It can make sure
that everyone is working in the same strategic direction. And a well-run
meeting will serve as a way to either solve problems or to deal with
issues before they become problems.
To keep a meeting on track and productive, you need to plan ahead.
Consider what issues you want to deal with. Set the issues out in an
agenda and circulate the agenda for comment and modification before the
meeting.
You can also consider having two-minute conversations with each
participant before the meeting. This will help ensure that everyone
understands what you broadly expect the meeting to achieve.
Somebody needs to chair a meeting. The chairperson’s role is not to
dominate discussion. Rather, they need to keep the meeting on track and
to elicit the best opinions from the participants. If you decide to
chair a meeting yourself, you should restrain your impulse to declare
too strong a position on any issue.
Try to use the meeting as a problem-solving tool – a way to shed new
light on issues and generate unexpected viewpoints. A well-run meeting
can arrive at conclusions that no individual would have reached by
themselves.
Intervene where you sense that the meeting is going astray. Find tactful
ways to step in when people are repeating themselves or missing the
point. Try to remain positive, recognizing the good points that people
have made.
Also make sure that some participants do not stifle ideas by shouting
people down or hogging the floor. Actively seek views from everyone and
make sure they get a chance to speak without suffering excessive
interruptions.
As you are the ‘boss’, be aware that you can kill off a discussion by
expressing your views too early. Hold back on a decision until all
viewpoints have been discussed and then be clear about why you favor one
viewpoint over another. Show respect for all viewpoints, so that people
will feel they have contributed something even you resolve against
following their advice.
You not only need to keep a meeting on track. You need to make sure that
it is not going on any longer than it needs to. Be aware of how much a
meeting can cost. Try estimating the average hourly pay rate of the
people who need to be at a meeting. Then add up how much it will cost
you to have them all in one room talking for an hour. You could easily
find that a meeting is eating up over $500 per hour.
With this in mind, include time limits for each agenda item. This will
encourage people to make their points succinctly. And if a meeting runs
ahead of time, don’t hesitate to finish early.
You can also try to build up a momentum in the meeting. Try scheduling
the most straightforward issues at the beginning so that participants
get into a rhythm of dealing with agenda items and then moving on.
Ask yourself if everyone needs to be present for all parts of a meeting.
If some people need to be present for only half the time, try blocking
issues together so that they can come in when needed and leave when they
have made their contribution.
This strategy can be undermined if people show up late. So be clear
about the importance of punctuality. As people don’t react well to
public reprimands, talk to stragglers in private.
Finally, appoint someone to take minutes. Minutes should focus on the
way agenda items have been resolved and they should be circulated soon
after a meeting. This will help reinforce the conclusions you arrive at.
It will also help ensure that decisions are implemented.
Useful Web resources include:
Meeting Wizard - Effective Meetings; Tips & Tricks
About.com - Meeting Management
Anatomy of Great Meetings
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