'I hate meetings'

The same can be said about meetings. Everyone complains about them, but no one does anything to make them better.

Meetings are the most debated, disliked and ridiculed aspect of corporate life. Everyone hates them, hates going to them, hates reporting about them, yet they still persist. We despise them, yet we still go to them. And no one does anything to change them.

Yet meetings are among the easiest things to fix. Here are the “Seven Haves”, a fool-proof way to ensure better meetings.

 

Have an objective

Every meeting should have a purpose, a reason for being. “The purpose of this meeting is to agree sales goals for next year.” “The purpose of this meeting is to decide whether to implement a new IT strategy.” “The purpose of this meeting is to determine whether to expand to a new office”.

Note the use of the words “agree”, “decide”, and “determine”, not “discuss”, “debate”, “consider”. Meeting must have actionable and measurable goals in order not to be a waste of time.

 

Have a leader

Every meeting must have one person who is in charge. This person must have the power to call the meeting, manage the meeting, direct the course of the meeting, and make the final decision. This person needs to be able to involve everyone so that everyone’s opinions are heard, yet be able to cut off discussion when it meanders and is no longer relevant to the topic at hand. 

 

Have an allocated time

The meeting should have an end time. “This meeting will conclude at 11 o’clock” is an effective way to manage debate.

 

Have an agenda

The meeting leader must write an agenda. The agenda should be distributed prior to the meeting. For important meetings this could be a week in advance, for less important issues 24 hours should suffice. The agenda should list the various discussion points, and who in the meeting should lead each sub topic. The last item on the agenda should be “decision and next steps”.

 

Have relevant attendees

In a perfect world, everyone attending the meeting should have a role to play. They should be on the agenda. If their name is not on the agenda as leading a discussion point, then their presence in the meeting should be questioned. Everyone attending must have a reason for being there, and should be expected to contribute to the discussion and take part in the final decision.

 

Have someone take notes

Ideally this should be the meeting leader; if not, this should be someone who sits next to the meeting leader. Every time a decision is reached the meeting leader should recap the decision, and then instruct the note-taker to record it. The meeting minutes should be circulated within 24 hours of the meeting. The minutes should not record every comment that was made; they should merely record the decisions that were taken. If a decision cannot be taken then minutes should record the agreed-upon process, next steps and responsibilities of those who will follow issue after the meeting.

 

Have an agreed decision

At the end of the meeting, all decisions should be recapped. The leader should refer to the initial goal of the meeting, and ensure that a decision has been reached. If a decision cannot be reached, action steps and responsibilities must be assigned to ensure the decision can be reached later. Everyone must leave the meeting knowing exactly what they must do going forward. The next meeting date (if necessary) should be agreed. 

To the “Seven Haves” we can add one “Don’t Have”. Don’t have the meeting if the decision can be reached in another way. Sometimes, a few phone calls are all it takes to reach a resolution. The meeting should only be a last resort. The Japanese have a curious, yet often effective way to manage meetings. They only hold a meeting after the decision has been reached. The purpose of the meeting is not to reach a decision, but to decide how the decision is to be implemented.

However, if you decide to hold the meeting by following the seven “Haves” listed above, you can ensure that your meetings will be infinitely more productive, and people can spend more time complaining about the weather.

 

Eric Rosenkranz (www.ethree-asia.com) assists both existing companies as well as start-ups to develop their long-term strategy and achieve success in their business.

 

Follow his “Creating Success” series in the Hi! Managers column every fourth Friday of the month”.