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Look at your calendar.
How many meetings have you attended so far? And how many were relevant?
There are so many never-ending meetings that are not at all relevant for all the invited people. Meetings cost money, are often useless, and sometimes do not even improve relationships.
If you want to be productive, you have to stop meeting madness.
Think less is more. You can’t escape meetings, but you can run them efficiently. Consider implementing proper meeting hygiene in your teams.
The most unpleasant meeting you have ever attended
Think about the worst meeting you ever attended. How was it?
These signs of a poor meeting may come to your mind:
Attendees come late, and others have to wait for them.
There is no specific agenda to be discussed/the agenda is too wide.
It is a recurring meeting that no longer makes sense.
There are too many off-topic talks, chit-chat, jokes, and interruptions.
Someone stole the meeting leader's authority.
Attendees continue to work on their laptops and check their phones.
The meeting overruns and some need to leave.
There are no clear outcomes, specific steps, or decisions made.
The meeting has rounded times of 30 minutes, 60 minutes, and 90 minutes.
Everyone was invited or not.
The list could go on. Could you do better?
1. What you need before a meeting
Meeting organization is often underestimated. It is simple, isn't it? Just book a meeting in Outlook, and that is it.
Well, not quite.
There are three essential elements you need: an agenda, people, and time.
First, you need to know what you want to meet for. What kind of information is to be discussed or presented? The agenda should be specific, to the point, short, and actionable. Do you need a meeting, though? Think twice before you send an invite. Email or a Teams thread might be enough.
Also, don’t fall for the recurring meeting trap. Many meetings are not needed anymore. Do an audit and delete ghosts from your calendar.
Then you have people. Who to invite? Who is relevant to the topic or needs to be aware of that piece of information? Don’t over-invite, but don’t under-invite. The right people make meetings so much more efficient that they should not be taken for granted.
Last but not least, you need time. Be realistic and less corporate. Based on the agenda, you can estimate how long it will take. Don’t just go along with your boss’ suggestion to book it for 30 minutes.
If it is a discussion meeting, multiply the duration by two. If it is a short update, shorten the time. I usually book meetings and cut a short break out of them to have time to consolidate:
Instead of 30 min, I booked 25 min
Instead of 60 min, I booked 50 min
Etc.
Remember:
The longer the meeting, the less is accomplished. — Tim Cook
2. Start on time and finish on time
Last week I met my friend at 2 pm. Ten minutes before 2 pm, she texted that she was already there. She is always ahead of the game! But punctuality is critical to any meeting.
Attendees should be on time, always.
When you write your invitation. Talk about the agenda, but also add a note that the meeting starts on time. See if magic happens.
They often don’t have time to even walk to the toilet between meetings. Start on time, but always inform attendees that this is a ground rule. Using 20 minutes instead of 30 can be of significant help to you. You can’t join later since it is a short one.
Meetings can go on and on.
Time is a precious commodity. Don’t waste it.
What is your agenda? Well, to finish on time.
Never overrun your meetings. Be respectful of others and let them go. Time management is a skill.
3. Have a meeting facilitator
A meeting without a facilitator is no meeting. Take responsibility and run your meeting.
I had cases when others hijacked my meetings and took the lead. Don’t let that happen because you lose your agenda and discussions fall off the rails. Be assertive when needed.
A facilitator guides and ensures that the meeting agenda is followed. A meeting leader can and should put some topics on the parking lot that occur but are not part of the agenda. That’s critical to meeting hygiene standards.
The facilitator asks questions and makes sure that people don’t talk too much.
It is a role that oversees what is happening in the room and can read emotions and decide what the next step is. You need to know how to play with the right emotions to have a productive meeting.
Your meeting authority gives you the power to summarize the next steps and hold others accountable for specific actions.
4. Let positive energy flow
Simple chit-chat and jokes can be super beneficial. I bet you don't like serious meetings. No one likes being told off and pressured.
Keeping your spirits up when faced with issues and heated discussions is not easy. Yet, if you aim to conclude the meeting on a positive note, the outcome will be productive.
I had too many management meetings that positioned us against them. The end was always a waste of time and added frustration.
Humour can break the tension.
No one is flawless. Don’t let others compete. They should always talk together, not against each other. Meeting hygiene is not stiff. It is human.
Here comes into play empathy. Say things as they are, as you feel them, and as they may experience them. It helps you build trust and be understanding.
Without understanding, you can hardly keep positive energy up.
5. Clear steps and closed topics
Why did you meet? What do you want to achieve and why? Explain yourself in the invitation. Expectations are clear.
No surprises.
The beauty of meeting hygiene is in the outcome. Everyone should know what was agreed upon and who was accountable for what.
In the end, you should have a list of topics that are closed and topics that need to be discussed or explored. The goal is to have as much clarity as possible and as few follow-up meetings as possible.
When the outcome of a meeting is to have another meeting, it has been a lousy meeting. — Herbert Hoover
Lastly, show some gratitude. Save yourself a minute or two at the end and thank attendees for their participation. Small things make big outcomes.
Final meeting brush
Meetings should help you achieve something. It is not a breakfast club. Remember this quote:
If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be meetings. — Dave Barry
Make your meetings effective and meaningful. Apply a few meeting hygiene ideas and see that meetings can be productive and fun.
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All You Need Is Meeting Hygiene
Poorly run meetings are one of my biggest bugbears, Ivona. I heard about the practices of a global pharmaceutical company where it was normal for attendees to simply leave the meeting if the topics were not relevant and also if it ran over the allocated time. More companies should empower their people to do this!