Confession time: My meeting methods stink. I have too many meetings and the ones I do call are not always as meaningful and efficient as they could be.
Meetings are such an important part of doing business, but they can be expensive when it comes to lost opportunity cost; confusing if not run well; and perceived as a total waste of time by attendees.
I have had to challenge myself to think differently about my approach to meetings – both the ones I host and how I participate in the ones I attend. Here are a few of my personal strategies that I am working on to improve my own meeting methods:
1. Define the Purpose: Every meeting must now have an agenda – period. Agendas not only force you to focus on the primary objective, they give all invitees the opportunity to prepare so that meetings can be more than just information sessions and updates.
Meetings should take place when you are ready for a decision to be made or an action to occur. Everyone should leave the meeting knowing exactly why they went in the first place and what they should do after they leave. Sticking to a clear agenda also minimizes the possibility of someone “hijacking” your meeting and taking it down a tangent that was not intended.
2. Do Your Homework: The people presenting or hosting the meeting are not the only ones who need to prepare. If you call a meeting, be clear about what the attendees are expected to do beforehand, and give them ample time to meet these expectations. Include documents and complete information for them to review in advance so that the meeting time can be spent making decisions. If you are a meeting attendee and are unsure of what you should do to prepare, ask!
3. Don’t Fill the Time Just Because You Have It: My husband and I lived in a very small condo with space constraints, so nothing came into our house unless we knew exactly where it would go the minute it came through the front door. This served us well until we moved to a house that was double the size of our condo and we slowly started adding a vase here and a new tool chest there.
Similarly, we have a tendency to want to fill the time if a meeting ends early. If a meeting that was scheduled for 30 minutes ends in 15, we should all celebrate that we just gained an extra few minutes instead of trying to fill up the time just because we are all together. Stick to the agenda, prepare appropriately, and then bask in the glory of a meeting finished early.
4. Ditch the After Meeting: For companies that tend to have a lot of teleconference meetings, one thing that often happens is the “after meeting.” This is where some of the attendees (usually those in the same physical location) end up discussing items from the meeting that just ended without all the key players present. I am guilty of having started such after meetings myself in an effort to seek clarity on an issue only to find myself having unraveled everything that had been decided on the call.
I once had a colleague who would be completely silent during the entire call and as soon as the boss was no longer on the line, he would voice his dissenting opinion. That is the danger of the after meeting. It undermines the decision-making process and intent of the meeting and can create a rift in the team – neither of which is productive.
I am not perfect when it comes to meetings. Just today I had one that lacked the clarity I aspire to and it forced me to think hard about how to avoid repeating that mistake. I still have meeting agendas that get hijacked by others but the only way to get better is to hold each other accountable and agree that there is value in doing it differently next time.
Is it easy? No. Is it worthwhile? Definitely.
Running a business takes a whole lot of people and our time is shared in a lot of directions. We have to maximize every opportunity we have together so that we are all effectively working on the business and moving ever forward.
Kim Garcia is Director of Marketing for PSA Security Network. To request more info about PSA, visit www.securityinfowatch.com/10214742.
