Running effective meetings

Effectively run meetings enable managers to accomplish more in a shorter amount of time, with the added benefit of group involvement and buy-in.

But running meetings can be time-consuming if they lack focus, the right members, or practical facilitation tools.

On the other hand, they can also be an extremely efficient way to get things done quickly, support building a team environment, and enable collaboration among key people to produce a better outcome than working independently.

If you are responsible for running meetings and aren’t sure how best to create an effective meeting experience, here are a few key steps to successful meeting management.

Attending each of these steps will enable you to create a well-organised, productive meeting experience repeatedly.

Meet for a purpose

Most people will tell you they’ve been to one too many meetings that seemed (whether accurate or not) to have no purpose.

Be sure to call a meeting only if you have a clear reason for doing so.

It doesn’t matter what your reason might be.

If you need information from the group, set a clear agenda with key questions ahead of time, especially for members who need a bit of processing time to contribute meaningfully.

If you want to share information, draft an outline of your key points, and circulate it in advance.

If you just want to get the team together to allow for bonding time, then organise it in an interactive environment (order pizza, etc.).

Communicate your purpose/agenda

Now that you’re clear on why you’re meeting, you need to make sure everyone else is clear on what their role is and what’s expected of them.

Be sure to let all attendees know how long the meeting will be, where it will be, and what information will be covered.
Be sure to let them also know what the goal of the meeting is – what deliverables, outcomes, etc. are expected so that they can come prepared.

Just because you’ve called the meeting doesn’t mean you’re the only one who has to do the talking.

Plan for others to participate. Sharing relevant information ahead of time will allow people to prepare, making the meeting considerably more efficient.

Supporting materials

Ensure everyone comes prepared with the appropriate supporting materials.

If this is an information gathering session, people need to bring forms or tools for completion. A presentation? Be clear that you expect slides/handouts, etc..

Whatever will support communication of the key points, gathering the required information, or structuring the discussion should be included to create a stronger sense that everyone’s time is being well spent.

Everyone present for a purpose

Each individual invited to the meeting must be there for a reason.

This might seem like a no-brainer, but not everyone has to stay for the entire meeting. Create efficiency by having people report, attend or present on an as-needed basis, releasing them when the meeting is no longer relevant to their position and involvement.

Meetings cost money in the form of time. Consider each team member’s role and what it is you’re expecting them to contribute.

Do they have key information, skills, experience that you can leverage in the meeting, and then respectfully allow them to return to the work you pay them for?

People feel more useful when they understand the important role you’d like them to play in the meeting. They also appreciate not wasting their time if the rest of the meeting is out of their sphere of influence.

Assign meeting management roles

Before you begin a meeting, assign meeting management roles. Some specific meeting facilitation roles might include:

• Scribe or minute-taker: to record key information and take minutes of the meeting
• Flipchart recorder: to capture key points and questions visually on flipcharts
• Timekeeper: to keep everyone to their allocated time and on agenda
• “Devil’s advocate:” should the group tend to agree to all suggestions on a frequent basis passively, it might be helpful (and fun) to assign someone to play devil’s advocate purely to create healthy debate and discussion.

Outcomes/agreements captured and reviewed

Before you end the meeting:

1. Review the agreed-upon action items and the parties responsible for each item as discussed during the meeting.
2. Never leave an action item without a completion deadline.
3. Use the three “W” system for accountability: What, Who, and by When.

Next steps defined

Make sure people agree about the timeframes for action items – you need to gain commitment, so you can hold them accountable.

Let them know they will be held accountable for meeting those deadlines (as I can teach in our accountability workshops) and will be expected to report on their progress towards longer deadlines in the next meeting.

It is not acceptable for someone to attend a subsequent meeting and make an excuse for not meeting the agreed deadline.

Set an expectation that if the deadline looks like it will not be met, that the person responsible for it either negotiates an extension with you prior to the next meeting or asks a colleague for help to complete the task within the timeframe.

If someone should show up with a “sorry, I didn’t have time to complete” excuse, ask them to leave the meeting right then and there to work on the task instead of attending the meeting. The expectation is that the task will be finished within one day of the agreed deadline.

You’ll only ever have to do this once for people to know you mean business and that deadlines are set for a reason!

Allow deadlines to slide and there’s no recovering. Even those people who need to meet deadlines because it’s important to them will start to slacken off, asking themselves why they’d bother when others are clearly given permission to get away with it.

The environment you set determines how people will behave.

Recognise and appreciate

Every individual’s time is precious.

So, be sure to thank meeting attendees for their participation and contribution.

Motivate participants by letting them know, after the meeting, just how helpful their contribution was during the meeting.

This creates higher engagement in subsequent meetings and ensures a willingness to attend and contribute.

Reflect and improve

To ensure continuous improvement in your meetings, spend some time reflecting. Identify what went well, and what didn’t play out as well as you anticipated.

Learn from your experience and design ways to improve for next time.

Seek feedback from others in the meeting too, to gain different perspectives.

Take group communication and execution to the next level

If you’re really serious about helping people meet more effectively, and deliver on work more efficiently, understanding their preferred work styles and allowing them to understand each other’s preferred work styles is invaluable.

Not everyone thinks the same way. Not everyone likes to work the same way.

Some people like to talk things out, while others think things through. Some people prefer to brainstorm the big picture and tackle each challenge as it arises, while others need to plan for each potential challenge in advance.

When team members have low awareness of each other’s preferred work styles it can lead to friction. And friction is not conducive to execution.

Your effectiveness as a manager is directly related to the depth of your insight into how your team operates. Our complimentary one-to-one talent strategy session is a great way to gain deeper insight.

Following these ten steps will ensure you run effective, timely meetings. More importantly, they will ensure work gets done, and gets done without interpersonal friction or blown-out deadlines.