Ending the Scourge of Unproductive Meetings

We've all been there: you've just sat through a 3 hour meeting that never seemed to get to a point and leads to no actions or decisions.  It basically wasted everyone's time and didn't accomplish anything useful.  But what about those rare occasions when we're party to an effective meeting?  It's a night and day difference.  We leave energized and fired up, as well as having a sense of direction and accomplishment.  There are a few easy things that you can do as a facilitator that can turn your meeting from the first kind to the good kind.

Good meetings do not just happen because the key players all get together in one place.  They have to be structured to be successful.  During meeting planning, preparation, execution, and follow-up, think about these criteria:

• The meeting should meet an objective
• The meeting should take up a minimum about of time
• The meeting should leave the participants feeling that a sensible process has been used

Be very clear about the objective and have a good idea about what a good outcome would look like before holding the meeting.  Use this sentence as a starting point:

"At the close of the meeting, I want the group to..."

The last part is your objective.  Also really think about who should be in attendance at the meeting.  Identify your key people and eliminate people who don't have a part to play in this particular project.

Everyone's time is very valuable and limited these days.  A productive meeting is one that is streamlined as much as possible.  Have an agenda with clear start and stop times that drive the meeting activities toward your objectives.  Ask all participants to come prepared to discuss their portions of the meeting or with any questions they have about others.

If your participants don't feel that any thought has been put in to a meeting, they are far less likely to be engaged.  This will stall the whole thing and leave people feeling that it was a waste of time.  Show the group that there has been a sensible process utilized by sending them the agenda BEFORE the actual meeting date.  Ask for their feedback on the times and the topics, you might be surprised about what they really want to talk about and accomplish.

During the meeting, there are some things the facilitator needs to handle to ensure that everything keeps moving smoothly.  Make sure no one person is dominating the conversation.  If that happens, make a point of asking others for their input.  At the end of each agenda item, summarize the discussion and ask for confirmation from other participants.  Make note of other items that are off topic but that need further discussion.  Watch the participants' body language for clues on when to take a break.  If you don't take those clues, you will lose their attention and the momentum of your meeting.  Keep the group on topic and make a list of tasks generated with the names of who is assigned to them.  When closing the meeting, summarize the next steps and let the participants know that you will be sending out a written summary.

The written summary is a critical follow-up piece to a successful meeting.  Collect any notes that were taken, and use the agenda as your guide for writing the summary.  The summary should include what was discussed, things that will be discussed at the next meeting, action items, and assignments.  This will also be the road map for your next meeting on the same topic.  You will be able to go directly to the action items and hold the assignees accountable.

Sometimes meetings are not in person affairs, but web based collaborations.  All of the same rules listed above apply, as well as a couple of extra considerations.

• Multi-tasking is a no-no during a web conference - Your attention should be on the meeting just like it would be at an in person session.  Don't take phone calls, check emails, or social media.  If participants are not paying attention the meeting will take longer and be less productive.
• Remind all participants to choose a quite location for the meeting - Sitting through a web meeting at a noisy cafe is a bad idea.  You'll miss important information and others will be able to see (and possibly hear) everything that is being discussed.  Ask participants to use their offices or some other quiet location for logging in and taking part.  You, as the facilitator, should also observe this rule.
• Get to know your platform beforehand - The day of your meeting should not be the first time you log on to the system and try to navigate the tools.  This is a time waster and lowers the confidence your participants have in the meeting.  A few days before, run a test meeting with all of your facilitators.  Figure out any glitches and how to solve those during the test meeting.
• Clearly define the roles of the facilitators - Often during an electronic meeting, there are multiple facilitators: someone presenting, someone running the question board, someone driving the screen, someone taking notes, etc.  Have the responsibilities of the different facilitators clearly defined during your test meeting.  This will give a more professional appearance to the meeting.

Meetings can be tedious and pointless, but they don't have to be.  With a little forethought and attention, they can be a useful time for your business or organization.