Thursday, August 26, 2010

A Series of Discussions on Conducting Better Meetings

Process for Reaching Meeting Objectives

Once the meeting objectives have been defined it is next important that the agenda clearly describes how the objectives will be achieved.  This includes the specific steps to be followed during the meeting to achieve the objectives.
In reviews of our clients' meeting processes we often find that too much time is devoted in their meetings to communicate information to the participants to achieve a common level of understanding.  Meaningful discussions are difficult to conduct if meeting participants are not informed on the relevant issues and background information.  If a significant portion of the meeting agenda is devoted to getting the group to a common level of understanding, it is both a waste of important meeting time and often leaves insufficient time for actual decision-making.  We are all for requisite briefings in meetings to make sure an appropriate level set is accomplished and participants understand the context of the meeting objectives and related decisions.  However, it is the decision making process that is the true value of assembling the group for the meeting and this should comprise the bulk of the meeting agenda.
It is important to achieving the organization’s objectives to make certain that stakeholders in decisions, those responsible for carrying them out and those subject to their consequences, feel ownership in the decisions and are thoroughly bought into them.  For this reason, the manner in which the meeting’s decisions are reached must allow for sufficient participation of the group’s members in both the discussions and decision-making process.  The agenda should expressly reflect this in the agenda items, their description, and the time allowed for each activity.
Meeting participants can be expected to have individual perspectives on issues and often also have their own agendas that they wish to pursue.  It is important to allow for expression of helpful perspectives relevant that are not in conflict with the overall corporate objectives.  However, it is the job of a skilled facilitator to try not to let particular biases, individual agendas that may be inconsistent with corporate objectives, or particularly vocal participants dominate the discussions by encouraging broad group participation and reminding the team when appropriate of the corporate context of the objectives and related decisions that must be taken.
It is important that the meeting’s proceedings, including the discussions, any conclusions, and all decisions be well documented and shared after the meeting with all participants.
As previously stated in early discussions on effective meetings, the agenda should be carefully managed to keep as close as possible to the intended schedule and the meetings should always begin and end on time.  Despite the fact that managers understand the time of meeting participants is extremely valuable, we often find the discipline of starting meetings on time and rapidly moving into the business items on the agenda is absent.  Should you find this lack of discipline in your meetings we strongly suggest addressing it as an urgent priority.  Make it clear to meeting participants that henceforth meetings will begin (and end) on time and they are expected to come on time as well and be prepared when they arrive.

Monday, August 23, 2010

A Series of Discussions on Conducting Better Meetings - Creating a Strategic Agenda

Creating a Strategic Agenda

The first task in organizing an effective meeting is the creation of a strategic agenda with commonly understood goals and objectives that are meaningful and current to the success of the business.  Even the most skilled facilitator cannot overcome a poor agenda.

An effective strategic agenda clearly lays out the goals and objectives that the team of participants is expected to accomplish.  These may include – questions that need to be answered, decisions required of the team, challenges for which solutions are being sought, assignments that need to be made, or some other such matters.

The goals and objectives reflected in the agenda should be sufficiently meaningful and relevant to the success of the business to justify assembling the team of participants and taking time away from their day-to-day responsibilities.  If the subject of the meeting is deemed by the participants to be less consequential to the success of the business than the activities and responsibilities they have left behind to attend the meeting, they will likely not be fully engaged and the meeting will be unfocused and unproductive.

The goals and objectives for the meeting stated in the objective should be sufficiently meaningful and current to the success of the business to justify assembling the team to discuss them at this time.  Assembling the team of participants required for the contemplated meeting will take time away from the day-to-day responsibilities of the participants.  If the goals and objectives for the meeting are less consequential or immediate than those day-to-day activities to the success of the business, the meeting will only be perceived as a distraction and impediment to accomplishing those activities.  While it is clearly important to address important matters on which the future success of the business depends, managers must be careful to balance intermediate to longer term planning and decision making with the urgent and essential current priorities of the business.

A good strategic agenda should address both meaningful and timely goals and objectives.

We generally use the acronym SMART to describe the characteristics of strategic objectives.  SMART objectives are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.  Meeting organizers should carefully examine the goals and objectives for a meeting to be sure they meet these criteria.

We like to see action verbs such as the following used to articulate meeting objectives: 

Analyze
Assign
Develop
Identify
Prioritize
Request
Announce
Brainstorm
Decide
Improve
Reevaluate
Review
Appropriate
Categorize
Delegate
Evaluate
Learn
Refine
Summarize
Approve
Clarify
Determine
Explore
Plan
Teach
Choose
Action

Once the meeting objectives have been determined they should be prioritized.  This allows the agenda to effectively deal not only with the relative importance of each objective but also dependencies and potential conflicts amongst the objectives.  Prioritizing the objectives will often help sequence or order the agenda.

It is also important to remember not to overload an agenda with too many objectives.  An overloaded agenda can often result in over long meetings or a failure to accomplish the objectives within the time allotted for the meeting.  It is important that meetings both begin and end in a timely manner so participants can plan their attendance appropriately and make any required accommodations in their schedules to attend.

Generally, we feel that most good meetings should be not more than two hours in length to maintain optimum focus of the participants while achieving meaningful objectives.  Generally, it is difficult to accomplish more than one or at most two significant objectives and two or three small items within such a time period.  We feel it is better to hold multiple meetings on focused agendas than to overload a single agenda.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

A Series of Discussions on Conducting Better Meetings

What Makes a Good Meeting?

There is probably no one reading this discussion that has not complained about going to poorly run, time wasting, and unproductive meetings.  It seems to many of us that too many meetings are unsuccessful, too long, unfocused, petty, unproductive, led by domineering or disagreeable individuals, meandering, time wasting, boring … the list goes on and on.  In our work with clients we often find that most companies conduct far too many poorly run and unproductive meetings.  Many executives and managers are aware of how expensive and time wasting such meetings are but seem at a loss to know what is required to make them more meaningful and productive.

This series of discussions is designed to help managers plan and run more effective meetings.

So, what makes a good meeting?

·     A strategic agenda with commonly understood goals and objectives that are meaningful and current to the success of the business
·     A clear, agreed process for reaching those goals and objectives that is reflected in the manner in which the meeting is conducted
·     Consistent and well-understood ground rules for conducting the meeting
·     A skilled meeting facilitator / leader / chairperson who conveys to those attending a sense of involvement and empowerment.  It is critically important that those who will carry out the decisions reached in the meeting feel ownership of the decisions and that they are able to do whatever needs doing to accomplish the stated goals and objectives
·     Proper preparation prior to the meeting to be certain
o   The right participants are attending
o   Participants come to the meeting properly prepared
o   The facilitator / chairperson / leader is properly prepared

These seem like quite simple rules.  When discussing them with our clients we seldom get any dispute on these critical elements to a successful meeting.  However, when we ask them to reflect on how often these are carefully observed in their own meetings we generally find that at least one and often many of these elements are missing.

Training an organization to run effective and productive meetings is in many respects analogous to preparing a sports team to excel in competition.  Most managers can be trained to develop a strategic agenda and facilitate or chair a good meeting, although it takes not only training, but also practice and repetition as well to become truly proficient.  However, the more people within a group who have good meeting process and communication skills, the easier will be the task of the chairperson and the more satisfactory the end results of the meeting.

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