I wrote something a while ago about running effective meetings, for me this is the holy grail of how meeting should be organised, whilst it’s not all black and white and even establishing a rigid process like this can be counter productive, a lot of the ideas here are really just about respecting peoples time, and not being wasteful. So I thought I would share my thoughts. I’d love to hear about ways that you run effective meetings, or even if you think any of the ideas presented here are actually counter productive for you.
Meetings can bring the biggest negative impact on productivity to teams when they start to take up more of the week than focused work. When meetings are not executed in the right way, people can have a negative view on having to attend, and the value that the meeting should have given is lost.
Before you meet Link to heading
Do you really need to? Link to heading
Meetings can be costly, you are taking away people’s time and breaking their focus, and moving them away from whatever context they might be working in during that time.
The first question to ask yourself before scheduling a meeting is does this meeting really need to happen? Perhaps the desired outcome can be achieved using collaboration tools, a messaging platform or even good old email, consider using these options in the first instance, they are far less intrusive and allow people to respond in their own time.
There are also other benefits to taking this non meeting approach in that the topic and comments are all documented for you as a byproduct, without additional work.
Who should attend? Link to heading
Decide who should attend the meeting, make sure that people involved in the meeting will get value to be able to contribute effectively. If it’s likely some member of the meeting will be “zoned out” during the whole session, consider booking separate sessions to cover relevant topics.
Too often the approach is to invite everyone that might be relevant without being sure, consider marking people as optional if you are not 100% sure they can add or take value from the session.
Should I attend? Link to heading
Just because you were invited to a meeting, don’t just accept and attend if you are unsure of where you can add value or take value. In these cases you can speak to the organiser.
Meeting Agenda Link to heading
Any meeting that has more than three attendees should have a clear agenda, it makes it much easier for people to decide if they are needed, or prepare materials.
Set the style of the meeting Link to heading
What kind of meeting are you booking
If it’s a presentation perhaps you can share information to set the context of the presentation, for example if the presentation a proposed product change you are planning to make, perhaps you can provide information about the current state of the product, and/or reading materials that exist within the company. Identify in the agenda how interaction should be, is it OK to ask questions at any time, should there be breaks in the delivery of the presentation for questions, or should attendees save them for the end.
If it’s a discussion around a problem area we are looking to find solutions for, make sure to clearly describe the problem, link to any materials that can help set the context, provide and solutions that have already been considered, this will help to avoid wasted time and allow people to come with ideas ready to discuss.
If it’s a ceremonial meeting, make sure any information required is readily available, and encourage your attendees to prepare their notes in between the ceremonial meetings, for example when you run a product Retrospective, attendees should be gathering their notes throughout the week(s), so that are not just trying to think back. If you plan to do a sprint review, make sure the stories that need to be discussed are accessible.
It can also be good in the meeting to set the time expectations for any segments of the meeting, this is essential for good moderation.
Who will chair, moderate and minute the meeting Link to heading
Identify the person chairing the meeting, also identify a moderator, the chair will be expected to introduce the meeting and confirm the agenda at the beginning.
The moderator will be expected to keep the meeting on track, according the style of meeting set in the agenda, for example if a discussion is going off track or losing the attention of the group, it should be documented and deferred for later. If people are asking questions at the wrong time, they should be noted for the appropriate time.
If the meeting should be minuted, also identify the minute maker.
Provide Materials and Consider the time of booking Link to heading
When booking the meeting in the calendar provide materials early, if you have documentation, presentations, questions to consider, problem statements, or anything else that can help attendees to get in the right context and consider their contribution ahead of time provide them.
Consider how long your attendees need to be able to digest the information provided, don’t provide a meeting booking on a Monday night for a meeting on Tuesday with materials that take time to digest!
Identify the outcome Link to heading
What are we expecting to gain from having this meeting, it could be potential solutions to a problem and next steps, a new way of approaching work, a decision need to be taken, an answer to a question or anything really, but make sure when booking you have considered this, and provided it on the agenda. It can help you also to qualify if the meeting is worthwhile.
Be Prepared!!! Link to heading
All attendees of the meeting should be prepared prior to the meeting.
For the chairperson, presenter or otherwise leading the meeting, think about who is in the meeting, what level of context they might have. Try to remember that you likely have been thinking the subject matter through for some time, but your attendees might be new to it, try to think of the path you want to go through in the meeting so that you can try to keep on track.
If you have a presentation, use the presenter notes option on google slides or keynote to put your thoughts, if you are just reading the slides verbatim, then probably you don’t need a meeting for that!
For attendees, ensure that you have read the agenda and any materials that will help you get straight into the valuable parts of the meeting, if there are decisions to be made, try to form your ideas / opinions with what context you have, so you can contribute effectively
Be on time Link to heading
In fact be a little early, it’s a good policy to be at the meeting a couple of minutes early (online or in person).
Give yourself a short time to gather your notes / thoughts and try to get in the right frame of mind for the meeting, if you have something urgent you have to take care of, or there is something that will cause you to be distracted during the meeting, potentially apologise and don’t attend, moving a meeting close to the meeting time is extremely bad practise!
During the meeting Link to heading
Introduction Link to heading
The chairperson should recap on what the meeting is about, re-iterate the format and when to ask questions, as well as the desired outcome from the meeting.
Moderation Link to heading
Moderation is a fine art, getting it right takes a bit of time and practise. Some basic however can go a long way.
The moderator should look for times during the meeting where the rules are not being followed (when to ask questions for example), where conversations are going off track (we have seen many times where two people end up dominating the time with a one on one discussion that does not add overall value in the meeting context) or when segments of the meeting are not falling with the allotted time.
When conversations are going off track, it’s best to request that conversation is deferred to later, take the point down as an action point or note that can be addressed either at the end of the meeting, outside of the meeting or at a later meeting.
If segments of the meeting are running close to the allotted time, the moderation can bring attention to that, and try to move on, ask if attendees can all stay in meeting a little bit longer, or potentially sacrifice a later segment of the meeting and book another meeting to continue. This really comes down to subject matter and common sense, again moderation is not just a set of rules that should be followed to the letter.
Minutes Link to heading
The minute maker should take down the key points discussed during the meeting and and conclusions from discussions.
Actions Link to heading
During the meeting if any actions are taken for attendees (or non attendees) this should be captured clearly and assigned to the correct person
Post meeting Link to heading
Follow-up Link to heading
After the meeting, where relevant minutes should be sent out to all attendees, likewise for action points.
Summary Link to heading
Use this to structure your meeting:
- Does this meeting really need to happen?
- What is the desired outcome?
- Who should attend?
- What is my role in this meeting?
- What kind of meeting will it be?
- Provide the relevant content before hand
- Who will chair and moderate the minutes?
- Be prepared
- Be on time
- Follow up