Preparation is the key to holding a successful meeting.
The goal of any meeting is best summed up in this anonymous definition: to allow ample time to get the work done in a timely fashion, but no more.
Meetings might not be as dreaded in business today if meetings were held to that standard.
The people who most dislike meetings probably are those who see meetings as taking them away from their opportunity to make money.
"The worst people to drag to meetings are salespeople," says Nancy Thompson of The H.S. Group. "They like to get out and about; they like to generate their own activity. Getting salespeople into meetings is like herding cats."
Affinity Health System, which has 4,000 employees, takes meetings seriously. So seriously, in fact, that Affinity’s Training and Development department has created a presentation, "Effective Meeting Management."
"The bottom line is that we want to deliver in our health care promise in all things we do, so being efficient in meetings is important to delivering that health care promise," says Mark Kehrberg, M.D., Affinity’s chief medical officer.
Being efficient begins with question number one.
"The first thing you need to know is whether you really need the meeting," says Kehrberg. "The real question is why bring a lot of people together at one site, which is terribly inefficient to have a meeting."
"Meetings are almost like a necessary evil, but they can be bearable."
One key to holding a successful meeting is to plan the meeting, which Kehrberg calls "incredibly important" — what the meeting is about, what must be accomplished, and who can help you accomplish what you want to accomplish.
"You’re really helping identify what your objectives are, who needs to be in the room, setting objectives, and putting together an agenda for the meeting," says Richard.
One way to determine that you’re not meeting often enough: "You can tell just in communication and the ability to move projects along — they suffer," says Thompson.
On the other hand, a sign you’re meeting too often may be "when your meetings are not productive and you have nothing to talk about," says Thompson. "Some meetings are productive and you look forward to them. You can see that you’re meeting too often if people start to fail to show, or you can tell with their body language, or they start to doodle, or they start playing with their BlackBerrys.
"You have lack of participation — they’re in the room, but they’re not in the room with you."
The first tip to a successful meeting begins at the beginning — start and end on time.
Staying on task requires laying out the tasks to be covered in a meeting in advance.
"I personally will not run a meeting without an agenda," says Thompson. "Will I set the agenda aside sometimes if there’s some really good brainstorming going on? Yes."
To keep meetings moving, specific time frames can be set for each agenda item. In some Affinity Health meetings, a timekeeper is assigned to let the leader know when time is up, so a decision can be made to move to another subject or stay on that subject, Kehrberg says.
Once in the meeting, says Richard, "We set some ground rules — cellphones need to be shut off, sidebar conversations aren’t allowed — and it’s up to the facilitator to fulfill that role."
"I think people being respectful to each other at meetings is huge — number one, be on time, and being prepared," says Thompson.
Pre-meeting preparation is obviously important for those making presentations at meetings. But it’s also important for those who are reticent about contributing to meetings.
Thompson suggests giving more introverted meeting attendees advance notice if they’re supposed to contribute. "You’ve got to give them a heads-up and let them think about it" compared with more extroverted participants, says Thompson.
"You need to know how to bring out and assist each of them members of the team to contribute," says Kehrberg.
Meeting participants then should be left with a list of action items and deadlines.
Anyone who has attended more than one meeting knows that the best laid plans of meetings can go awry based on the actions of the participants.
Two common problem areas are getting stuck on one agenda item, and having your agenda hijacked by a meeting participant.
"I don’t think you can avoid that, but you’re really talking small-group communication right there," says Thompson. "If you’re trying to lessen the number of people getting off track, having times [for specific subjects] on an agenda will help. You have to bring people back to the agenda, and you have to do it diplomatically."
Planning also helps to avoid toxic meetings, says Kehrberg, by identifying the "people who attend who undermine the process, who make meetings difficult. The leader sets the agenda, the tone and the schedule at the start — that’s really the key.
One strategy to deal with those who consistently undermine the process is to hold post-meeting counseling in private. Those who improve have their positive behavior reinforced; those who don’t, says Kehrberg, "Someone who gets a persistent negative reputation isn’t asked back to meetings."