The Perfect Meeting
The Perfect Meeting
I spend much of my time designing and facilitating meetings for companies large and small. And I am often asked why it takes such a long time to design an effective meeting. After all, most company meeting agendas are put together by an administrator in a few minutes (or at most, a few hours) and the only reason it takes that long is that individuals have to be chased for their input, rooms have to be booked and plates of sandwiches ordered.
Most of these meetings follow a pro-forma agenda which may date back to a time when most people sitting round the table worked elsewhere. The objective of the meeting is to get through as much information as possible in the time available.
Typically each person around the room will present their update to the chairperson. There may be an opportunity for a short discussion about this information but then everyone must move swiftly on.
By the time delegates get to “any other business” they are hoping no one has any – introducing new business at this point will mean the meeting runs over and it has already been such a trial that no one wants to stay in the room any longer.
Your own meetings will probably have some or all of these elements. And I have excluded many other common problems.
Meetings like this are bound to be wateful and expensive.
• Information is shared silo-style. The meeting does not build bonds.
• Because most of this information is new to the other people sitting around the table they feel the need to give a top-of-the-head response, so usually they are critical.
• Most of the information being shared by other members of the team is irrelevant to anyone else except the chairperson. Or the significance of the information to everyone else is not spelt out. It is possible to switch off until it is your turn to present.
• Proper discussion and inquiry cannot occur because individuals have not been given time to absorb the implications of the information before they are required to give an opinion. They cannot check the data, provide researched counter-positions or consult other people because their response is required immediately.
• There is little space for fresh thinking and ideas. Any “brainstorming” feels like criticism of the person who was presenting their update. They have spent time pulling their report together only to have it pulled to pieces by people who have not sweated blood over the issue.
• The agenda is rarely put together in order of strategic priority. It may be “first come, first served” or simply move around the table in order of who sits where.
• And because of the haphazard nature of the discussions, firm decisions are rarely taken and action does not follow. Most subjects are referred on to the next meeting in the vain hope that next time the result will be different and the meeting delegates will feel ready to agree on a way forward.
Yes, it only took twenty minutes to prepare the agenda but the meeting was largely a waste of time. Think of the cost to your organisation of senior people wasting thirty to fifty percent of their time...not to mention to lost opportunity costs.
There are many issues that I address when putting an agenda together. But the top three questions I ask are:
1. What is the purpose of this meeting?
2. Is a meeting the most effective way to address this purpose?
3. What must we get from the meeting in order to feel it met its purpose?
Top tips:
Most meetings that are used for “information sharing” could be scrapped completely. With new technology, information can be communicated in a number of ways. Questioning the assumption that a meeting is the best forum could be the most valuable change your organisation makes.
By the time delegates arrive at the meeting they should have read the pre-material, know the questions they will be asked to consider and exactly what is expected of them in the meeting. Discussions and decision-making should be kept apart, allowing delegates time to think before making a commitment.
And finally, agendas should be put together based on a pre-agreed set of priorities – urgency does not necessarily equal importance. There must be enough time for non-urgent but vitally important subjects to be addressed fully.
Given that 30-50% of meeting time is wasted, the up-front investment of having an expert look at your meetings and redesign their structure will pay off very quickly…within weeks or even days.
