Meetings (and the agenda that drives them) should always be arranged in priority sequence. This ensures that important “stuff” is dealt with and lower priority stuff can be handled at a more convenient time, if necessary. Invite only people that are necessary. If some of the people are needed only for a small portion of the meeting then it is better to split one large meeting into two small ones with different group of people invited to each meeting. As meetings become more concise and productive, people learn that being late means they are going to miss a lot of important information.
- If you want a few people to take a collective decision in your meeting, be sure to explicitly call out the decision as the meeting objective.
- If you are not going to take notes, then delegate this responsibility before the meeting begins – and set your expectations as well.
- If you need to write down any notes, be sure to do that before you leave the room. Leaving the room breaks the visual association and may cause you to forget key items.
Tips for good meetings
- Start on time
- Agenda and Invitations to those needed to contribute
- Follow agenda and timing if lengthy meeting.
- Do not recap what you’ve covered if someone comes in late. When you do this, you are reinforcing bad behaviour. Even the President of the company should show up on time.
- Prohibit breakout discussion groups; everyone talks through the chair with good manners
- Follow the rules of order. If there are things that must be decided by vote, it’s also a good idea to know how votes should be conducted.
- Take notes/minutes. After the meeting, recap by email.
- Finish on time (if you’ve worked out your agenda timing well) and distribute Minutes of Meeting soonest.
The practices noted are standard goals for all meeting regardless of discipline or industry. Follow the “in theory” qualifier based on some real world realities which have not been properly considered. Consider for a minute that even the most efficient manager will run into back to back or overlapping meetings. Yes, ending prior meetings on time, elimination of multi-tasking, shutting off the cell phone, and blocking all other distractions could really help. Multi-media, multi-site, multi-cultural, multi-generational and many more multiple realities exist today which must be accommodated. This leads to a greater degree of flexibility and creativity in meeting structure. If specific information is needed in the meeting, ensure that participants know and have it available.
Do not cancel a meeting at eleventh hour. Cancellation of a meeting is not a good practise. If you conduct multiple meetings where you know there’s nothing new to cover, you will be perceived as a rigorous process geek who does not value the time of the individuals on their team. If you (justifiably) cancel a meeting every once in a while, the team will be appreciative.
Problem solving meetings are the most difficult to manage because there is very little control over the agenda or the time required to address each item on that schedule. Adopt one or the other of the available “problem solving” methods and follow it relentlessly; focus and do not wander; and learn how to move things “out of the meeting” when it’s possible. Moving things “out of the meeting” is a delegation technique that assigns problem solving work to individuals rather than discussing them and having them degenerate into one long community argument.
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