Start the new year with Better Business Meetings

Do you hate meetings?  What about the people who work with you - are you subjecting them to time-wasting meetings, or delighting them with high-value confabs?  Wouldn't it be great if you could reduce the waste inherent in meetings and increase the value to participants and to your organization?

Here's the approach that has worked for me for years.

First ask why you want to call a meeting

There are good and bad reasons for bringing folks together for a meeting.  For my money, the good reasons include:

• Getting input, ideas and opinions from those who have a different perspective than mine, or different skills, knowledge or experience, especially when I think pulling diverse thinkers together will generate ideas that would not have come out of individual work.
• Making decisions.
• Getting buy-in on decisions already made by others.
• Getting to know one another better.
• Solving problems.
• Thinking through potential problems and contingency plans.
• Hearing from project teams, in order to recognize success and help get resources as needed.

There are also bad reasons to meet, in my opinion.  For example:

• Meeting to avoid taking action.
• Meeting, rather than going to gemba - the place where the work is done or where the problem is occurring.
• Meeting to convey information one-way, with no discussion (just write it if you aren't willing to take questions or discussion).
• Meeting to hear a series of progress reports, where each direct report tells you what she has done while the others sit quietly and pretend to be interested.

Eight keys to meeting success

1. Make sure the meeting has a clear and unambiguous objective.  It helps me to define the desired product of the meeting in writing before developing the agenda.
2. Given the desired outcome, build an agenda that will get you there.  Publish the agenda in plenty of time for attendees to prepare adequately.
3. Select the right people to attend based on what they can contribute to the objective.  If you are trying to get real work done, limit the number to around ten or less.  (If you aren't trying to get real work done, don't have the meeting.)
4. Prepare ahead of time, and make it clear that you expect all participants to come prepared.
5. Allow enough time to accomplish your objective, with a bit of cushion.  Plan for no more than 50 minutes between breaks - folks lose focus after that length of time.  Start on time, even if all attendees are not there (speak one-on-one with late attendees after the meeting).  End on time - or even early.
6. Pay attention to who is talking and who is not.  Take care to draw out the silent ones as much as you can.  They are there because they are important to the success of the meeting, so you need them to contribute.
7. At the end of the meeting, summarize agreements and decisions reached by the group.
8. As soon as possible after the meeting, publish notes.  I usually avoid detailed notes, but always send out a list of agreements, and a list of action commitments (who promised to do what by when).

Eight more tips for success

Lora Banks offered up six tips for meeting success in July, to which I added a couple more.  Have a look.

I'd like to hear from you

• What other tips can you add to help us all run better meetings in 2007?
• Can you add to the list of good reasons for meetings?
• How about the list of bad reasons for meetings?

Thanks in advance for your comments!