30 Apr Making Meetings Meaningful

I think it’s safe to say most professionals do not like meetings. Last week I even started a new idea for my calendar, “No Meetings Thursdays.” I’m going to try to keep my calendar free of meetings on Thursdays so I can get my work done.

 

Which is why I (and I suspect, most people) don’t like meetings. Most meetings aren’t productive enough to make it worth my while to take me away from my “real work.”

 

If done well, meetings are engaging, inspirational, creative and productive. The meetings have meaning. Do you go to many meetings that sound like that? I don’t.

 

Sadly, many meetings end up being boring, tiresome, routine and a waste of time. Ever walk out of a meeting and ask, “Now, what exactly was the point of that meeting?” Yeah, me too. It’s no wonder meetings get a bad rap.

 

But meetings ARE a necessary part of work. There are many situations where there is no question it is most efficient and effective to have people in one room, video conference, or conference call and to brainstorm, discuss, update and/or create.

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Since I can’t go through my career completely avoiding meetings, I now follow a few rules to ensure if I have a meeting, it is, at least, meaningful. I try to implement these rules at meetings I schedule, and even those when I am there as an attendee:

 

How to Make Meetings Meaningful

 

1. Have an Objective

There must be a clear objective to a meeting before I am going to schedule my time and that of my team and/or colleagues. The first question I ask myself is, what is the point of the meeting? What do I/we want to accomplish? Once I know that, I ask myself, is there any other way to accomplish this efficiently and effectively without having a meeting? If there is, then that’s the first plan of attack. If not, then I’ll create a meeting AND share the objective of the meeting with all the attendees. I want them coming to the meeting understanding what we are all there to accomplish. When the meeting starts, it’s time to reiterate the objective. If am at a meeting, and I’m not sure what we are there to accomplish, I ask at the beginning so I can be sure my participation is supporting the objective.

 

2. Create an Agenda

Many may feel having an agenda for every meeting is overkill. However, in my experience, having an agenda keeps the meeting on point and on track. When a well-meaning colleague starts to send the meeting down a rabbit hole, it’s great to have an agenda to point to and say, “Interesting question, Bob, but we’ve got a lot to cover on the agenda, so let’s table that for another time and get back to the matter at hand.” In a more formal meeting, I’ll create an agenda and distribute it before the meeting, asking for input from the attendees. In a presentation-type of meeting, I’ll include the agenda at the beginning of the presentation. In an informal meeting, I may not have a written agenda, but I’ll verbally review my agenda at the start of the meeting. I find it’s also beneficial to ask the meeting attendees if they have any requests to add to the agenda. If it’s not my meeting and no agenda is presented, I try to ask the meeting chair what the discussion topics will be to assist all of us in the group in understanding the flow and format.

 

3. Set a Start and End Time and Keep to It

There’s nothing worse than going to a meeting that’s scheduled for an hour and turns into one that is two or three hours. Not only does that mess up the rest of my schedule for the day, I’m not likely to remain focused and productive when I’m wondering when the meeting is going to end and what I’m missing from my schedule as it runs long. As part of my meeting agenda, I include the start and stop time, and I try to keep to it. Bonus points to me and the attendees if the meeting ends early! If the meeting time is up and there is good discussion that may be worthwhile to continue, I will acknowledge the scheduled end time has arrived and state that I understand if anyone has a commitment, they need to address and request anyone who can continue the discussion to stay. That way, I respect the time of the participants and request their continued participation rather than demand it by continuing the meeting with the assumption everyone can and will stay on.

 

4. Make it Interactive

A meeting that doesn’t include discussion by its participants is more of a lecture than a meeting. I don’t know about you, but I sat through enough lectures in college. Make a meeting engaging and interactive and you have my attention! A good chair understands that not everyone is comfortable speaking up in a group forum and will ask questions or request input from everyone in the meeting, not just those who enjoy speaking up. Ask questions or request feedback from specific individuals to get them more involved in the discussion. I like to ask, “What’s missing, or what am I not thinking about?” to find out if there are any issues we’ve overlooked.

 

5. Circle Back to the Objective

Just as it’s important to state the objective at the beginning of the meeting, I like to make sure to check in on the objective mid-way through the meeting. Are we, as a group, addressing the objective? If we got off track, I still have the opportunity to bring the meeting’s focus back to what we are trying to accomplish.

 

6. State the Key Takeaways

A good meeting doesn’t just end without sharing with the group the key takeaways. This step is a critical one for reinforcing the meeting’s mission, acknowledging the outcomes, getting everyone onboard, and providing direction for what’s next. A simple summary along the lines of, “The objective of today’s meeting was to (state objective). Thanks to your participation, we determined X, Y, and Z.”

 

7. Summarize the Action Items

Don’t let your participants leave the meeting without knowing their individual action items and those of the other meeting attendees. This is another important step for making the time spent at the meeting meaningful. If everyone just departs with no action items, what was the point? And how are any of the items discussed going to continue to be developed without a plan? I like to reiterate each action item that came from the meeting and the person or department to which it is assigned, with associated timelines, to wrap up a meeting. I then follow up with an email to all participants with the assigned action items and their timelines, so we are all on the same page when it comes to expectations and follow-up items. Including the meeting notes with the action items, with a request for input on any inconsistencies noted by participants, is a good practice to minimize any miscommunication.

 

You may view meetings as a necessary evil, but they can be extremely productive and beneficial to a company, project or department. The key to making the most out of meetings is to structure them to ensure they are meaningful for the project and participants.

 

What is your experience with work meetings? I’d love to know what your meetings are like and if you have some great tips to share.