We spend hours in meetings. Some of them are really good. Unfortunately, many of them feel like a waste of time, something we all have very little of. The following 7 tips will help ensure that your meetings are valuable and productive.
1. Know what you want to decide
If you don’t have a decision to make, consider whether you really need to hold the meeting or whether there might be a better way to accomplish what you want. If you’re just looking to share information, is email or video a better way to handle it?
2. Right people/right type of meeting
If you know the issues to be decided, the participants should flow naturally. The type of meeting should also reflect the decision(s) being made. If you’re looking to design a new process, this is a different meeting than passing a new product through a well-defined Phase Gate process.
3. Roles, roles, roles
Some of the roles that need to be made explicit when attending a meeting might include an owner, a facilitator, a timekeeper, a challenger (devil’s advocate), and a note taker. Other roles can be found by looking at Belbin’s team role theory. The type of meeting and the culture of the group meeting helps inform the roles needed.
4. Schedule is king
Directly linked to the decision/desired goal of the meeting, there is no stronger tool in a meeting than the agenda as it sets the direction of the meeting. Getting input from participants before the meeting, but once goals have been set, can be very helpful in overcoming potential resistance and helping to set expectations.
5. Next steps: must have them
Without explicit next steps, nothing will get done. We all came out of the meetings and commented that there were a lot of good discussions, but nothing will come of it. Posting decisions and action items after each meeting will introduce a bias for action.
6. Pre-work – a pain but worth it
Depending on the type of meeting, this could be as much or as little as reviewing the proposed agenda and responding with comments. We are all busy, so meeting with previous work is considered a hassle. It’s like exercising, you know it’s good for you and helps you trade more efficiently.
7. Tracking
Next steps evil twin. Without follow-up to ensure that decisions made are implemented or next steps are taken, meetings will become a farce that no one will take seriously. With follow-through, people will realize that what is being said is serious and that things will actually get done.