How to Keep Meetings from Sucking the Life Out of You
Ah, meetings. In the business world, we love meetings, don’t we? We love them so much that sometimes we have meetings about our meetings! Sound familiar? True, meetings get a bad rap…but they can bring a lot of value if they are done right. So let’s talk about some ways to keep meetings from sucking the life out of you:
Have a clear agenda – If you call the meeting, make sure that everyone knows what the meeting is all about. How annoying is it to get a meeting titled “Discussion” and have no clue what is going to be discussed? All that does is create tension or result in the attendees not coming prepared or in the right frame of mind. When you are up front about what you want to accomplish, not only does it allow people to prepare, but it also increases the chances that the meeting will stay on track. When tangents pop up, you can say something like, “That’s a great thought! Let’s table that until we get through the agenda items, and then we can come back to it.” Bonus points if you write the thought down so the other person knows you are not just blowing them off.
Choose your attendees carefully – Ever been in a meeting where far too many people were invited? There are lots of reasons that we include all the people: we don’t want to offend or leave anyone out, other people have FOMO (fear of missing out) and insist on being invited, we are not sure who needs to be there so we invite everyone, or my personal favorite – if we invite everyone, then no one person is on the line for decision making. Don’t get me wrong – there are times when it makes sense to have everyone there. Just think about what you are trying to accomplish in the meeting, who needs to be there to get it done, and who does not need to be there.
Choose the timing carefully – When you are scheduling a meeting, you are taking up time that the attendees could be using to do something else. Be respectful of their calendars, and try to pick a convenient time. Resist the urge to cram the meeting in as soon as possible, unless it truly is urgent (and not much is truly urgent). Don’t be that person who schedules same day meetings. Don’t be that person who takes the last remaining half hour in someone’s day. Don’t be that person who schedules a meeting at 7:30am when the attendees don’t come in until 8. If you must do one of these things, then give a courtesy call to the attendees to apologize for the inconvenience and explain the urgency. Also, consider the time of day that will be most conducive to the topic. For example, you should avoid scheduling training on a dry topic immediately following lunch (unless you want to put people to sleep). Most people lose energy and focus as the day goes on, so consider the weightiness of your topic and how much mental energy will be needed when you pick the time for your meeting.
Level set once the meeting starts – The facilitator of the meeting plays a critical role here. Take the first few minutes of the meeting to do the following: 1) make sure everyone knows each other, 2) reiterate why you are meeting (the agenda), what you want to accomplish, and how much time you have to do it, and 3) provide background information if needed. You will be shocked at how much more productive the meeting will be if you start it off this way.
Summarize next steps – This is the step that is most often missed, and it creates a huge accountability deficit. At the end of the meeting, summarize any decisions that were made and any next steps that need to happen. Here is the most important part: for any next steps, make sure there is a clearly identified owner and a timeline for completion. Skip that part, and you are signing yourself up for all the next steps, or things will stall because no one knows how to prioritize what you just discussed.
Regularly assess recurring meetings – Recurring meetings can be a good thing. Everyone knows the schedule and has a general idea of what to expect. But oftentimes what starts off as a good thing loses steam and effectiveness over time. Here are some warning signs that you may need to reevaluate the meeting series: 1) attendance is spotty 2) no one speaks up (or one person does all the talking), 3) you never make any decisions or accomplish anything, 4) no one asks questions, 5) everyone agrees all the time, or 6) no one has any updates (or they repeat what was said in the last meeting). If you find any of these to be true, it doesn’t mean you should cancel the meeting series. Just take a look at the elements of the meeting to see if any of them need to be tweaked (attendees, location, time, frequency, agenda, etc.). Sometimes a little change to the format is all it takes to reignite creativity and get things moving again.
Beware of hallway meetings – Have you ever found yourself sucked into a conversation when you were just trying to walk down a hallway? Often what starts as a quick conversation between two or three people morphs into an impromptu standing meeting. Not all hallway meetings are bad, but we need to challenge ourselves to catch the subtle moment when a conversation shifts from casual discussion to this-really-should-have-been-a-meeting, and then put the brakes on to make sure you do it right. Does anyone else need to be included in the conversation? Do we have enough time to do this topic justice? Will I remember what I need to do by the time I eventually get back to my desk? Are we distracting others by having this conversation here? If the topic or outcome is significant enough, make sure you are considering these questions and being intentional about the structure of the discussion.
As you read through this list, you might have thought that none of this is rocket science – and you would be right! But if it was that easy, then why do we have so many ineffective meetings? Next time you are in a meeting that makes you feel as if you are losing the will to live, think back over this list and see which element is missing and how that impacts the effectiveness of the meeting. It is probably best not to interrupt the meeting to point out the flaw (particularly if you are not the one who called the meeting), but you can ask guiding questions to try to get it back on track, and you can model good meeting etiquette when you are the one calling the shots. If effective meetings are not the norm at your workplace, then it might also be worth having a meeting about meetings (yes, I just said that!) to openly talk as a team about ways to make it better. Grumbling about crappy meetings is not going to change anything. Don’t be that person. Go make it better!