More on meetings …

I was talking to a client yesterday who manages a team of 40 people and every quarter (ish) they have a big team meeting. It’s an important meeting as it’s the only chance for the whole team to get together – a lot of the team work away on client sites. Unfortunately a lot of the team think the meeting’s a waste of time or useless or a bit informal or what’s the point anyway? I would guess there are other people who would moan they never see anyone and never know what’s going on if the meeting didn’t run.

Are you involved in big meetings like that one?

Running a ‘big meeting’ is tricky. The challenge is to run a different kind of a meeting - one where everyone who attends will take away some value. That doesn’t mean that everyone has to be happy throughout the whole meeting – it’s enough that everyone takes away one good thing… and you know what, there’s nothing wrong with asking people at the end of the meeting to think about what value they’ve gained. Ask them to provide some feedback. I suggest the following questions:

• What was the best thing you gained at this meeting?
• What was the most useful thing you did at this meeting?
• What would you do differently if you were running this meeting?

Ask people to focus on the positives and then ask for their ideas for improvement.

If you have a good facilitator then run a workshop as part of the meeting – to work on a key skill (eg. communication) or to solve a common problem (eg. lack of parking). There are lots of resources to help do this sort of thing… ask your training people, or look on the web, or post a comment below with your meeting details for some suggestions.

If you don’t have a good facilitator – then develop one (yourself or someone else). If you don’t run the meeting, then offer your suggestions to the person who does.

Big meetings still need to follow the basics though - here’s a free tip sheet on how to cure some of the most common problems with waste of time  meetings.

Too many of us attend ‘waste of time meetings’ or spend seemingly endless hours listening to meaningless conference calls - and have you ever called a meeting or arranged a conference call where it felt like no-one was really engaged?

What a waste! Of time and of effort – and what’s even worse, it’s demotivating - which helps no-one. It directly impacts on:

• Effectiveness (working on what we’re meant to be doing) – if people would rather be elsewhere or don’t see the point, then they’re not working on what matters and that’s ineffective (see blog on effectiveness)
• Efficiency (doing things well) - meetings and conference calls can take too long – especially if people arrive late or unprepared or the meeting is not facilitated well – so lots of time is lost during the meeting.

Think about what happens to someone when forced to attend a meeting that seems to be a waste of time:

one that seems to be irrelevant - or the conference call where other attendees keep dropping out (‘someone just came into the office’) or were typing away (clearly not paying attention and don’t know how to use the ’mute’ or ‘silence’ on their telephone)

What does the bored attendee do when they regain their freedom? Work hard? I don’t think so!

What’s the answer?

1. Always have an agenda. If it’s your meeting or call - write one or delegate the task to someone.  If you’ve been asked to attend a meeting or call - ask for the agenda and if there isn’t one – don’t go. Don’t attend meetings without an agenda.
2. At the start of the meeting or call, review the agenda – make any changes and agree the end time.
3. Make an action list during the meeting. Yes do minutes too if required – but always do an action list – it helps focus on outcomes and keeps people interested. 
4. At the end of the meeting or call review and agree the action list
5. Arrange the next meeting or call and confirm the list of attendees (allow existing attendees to drop out if they don’t see the value).

Remember meetings and calls are only one method of communication and working. Choose the most appropriate method.

Stop the waste of time meetings and calls! Start today and pick up your free tip sheet here now.