Meetings Part V: “That’s a Wrap!”

Posted on August 3, 2014 by John F. Dini

You’ve just run a great meeting, or at least you thought it was great. You stuck to the agenda and got through all the items on it. You reached consensus on action items, and have assigned responsibility with acknowledgement for each one. You are confident that everyone is leaving with clear direction and new enthusiasm. What could be better?

Happy meetingA good meeting does all the things above. A great meeting makes them stick. There are a few more things that help make that happen.

Ending on Time: I’ve never been much of a fan of inviolable time limits on meetings. If you are being productive and discussing substantive issues, it should take as long as it takes. None the less, people have other things on their schedules. If a meeting goes over the time limit, make sure to discuss it with the group before adjourning. Did we go off topic?  Was this a one-time event or should we be scheduling a longer time slot in the future?

Assign Parking Lot items. Things that are put aside during a meeting should be worth discussing, just not at this gathering. What is going to happen with them? Subgroup or follow up gatherings should be scheduled before adjourning. “I’ll get with you later on that” too often turns up at the next meeting as “We still need to discuss that, but we haven’t had a chance.”

Set a deadline for distributing minutes or notes. Action items should be distributed by a specific time, and the sooner the better. A meeting is for the purpose of determining actions, assigned responsibility and creating accountability. Sharing the results, especially with non-attendees, is part of the process. It helps prevent communication or activity based on what someone thinks he or she heard.

Evaluate the meeting. Reader Malcolm Webster says that the best meetings he’s attended had a once-around-the-table at the end to comment on the effectiveness of the gathering. The comments were included in the minutes.

Watch the “Meetings after the meeting.” Does one subgroup rush off to continue the discussion? That may be because they want to get started right away (increasing the importance of distributing written notes), but it also could be a sign that they haven’t completely bought into the decisions that were made.

Business meetings aren’t just a necessary evil. We are social mammals, and some behaviorists estimate that up to 85% of our in-person communication comes from facial and body expressions. The free exchange of ideas, done in a structured and supportive environment, is far more powerful than trading emails or memos.

Try putting all the techniques in the last five columns to work in your next meeting. I’d love to hear what the results are.

In business, everyone is either a Hunter or a Farmer. Which one are you? Take the quiz. www.hiafw.com  book

 

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One Response to Meetings Part V: “That’s a Wrap!”

  1. Frank Benzoni P.E. Retired says:
    August 4, 2014 at 8:37 am

    Great articles – all (5) – worth reading and keeping

    Appreciate the detail and direction of each – Great writing – Good Job – Well Done

    Frank B.

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Meetings Part IV: Action!

Posted on July 27, 2014 by John F. Dini

Meetings are for the sole purpose of making decisions. Sharing information is important, but there are many far more efficient and cost effective ways to do it.

As an aside, unnecessary meetings are frequently excused by “But if I send a memo, no one reads it.” That is a management problem that won’t be solved by meetings. Important information is better communicated in writing. If it isn’t worth reading, it shouldn’t be distributed. If it is, the recipients have to read it.

meeting sillouhetteThe disconnect comes either when people perceive the memo to be valueless, but don’t want to hurt the sender’s feelings by saying so; or when someone who needs to know the information has to be spoon fed because he or she doesn’t accept the responsibility for staying informed. The answer to both is the same. Address the behavior, not the means of communication.

Decisions made in meetings are too often lost, dropped, or poorly implemented. Again with the help of my readers (especially Ed Bierschenck and Jim Marshall), here are some tips on developing effective action plans.

Get verbal acknowledgement from the entire group. Make sure everyone is on the same page. We often gloss over this because we know one person still holds an opposing opinion. That is unacceptable. Once an action has been agree upon, everyone must support it whether they fully agree or not. (See my post “We’ll Just Agree to Disagree.”)

Define responsibility by asking the person assigned to execute or lead the task to repeat back what he or she understands the goal to be. Write it down for the meeting notes in the words of the person responsible, not those of the highest ranking person in the room.

Set a completion date. If the ultimate goal is further out than the next scheduled meeting, set a concrete interim objective for completion.

Document goal progress at every meeting. If it’s worth spending the money to bring people together for a decision, it is worth following up. If the task is on track you can skip any detailed explanation, but variances from budget or schedule should be explained.

Celebrate accomplishments. Something important enough to discuss, decide and track is important enough to warrant some acknowledgement when completed. A small “removing from the list” ceremony serves three purposes. It recognizes the accomplishment. It maintains focus on the entire list, especially items that have lingered too long, while it also helps identify routine tasks that are being “puffed up” into meeting goals. If one person is going from meeting to meeting with a pattern of goal/completion, goal/completion, goal/completion every time, they are just doing their normal job. (Example: My goal is to get the monthly newsletter out before next month’s meeting.”)

Next week: the last installment on post-meeting activities. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.

In business, everyone is either a Hunter or a Farmer. Which one are you? Take the quiz. www.hiafw.com  book

 

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Meetings Part III: The Meat of the Meet

Posted on July 20, 2014 by John F. Dini

We will presume that you’ve started your meeting with the proper preparation, as discussed in last week’s column. Now it is time to get into the business of the meeting, the meat of the meet as it were. This week, we will discuss participation.

Who needs to be at the table? If decisions are to be made (and that is what meetings are for) then the authority of those attending should be roughly equal. If someone sends a subordinate to take notes and report back, the time of those who came prepared to make a decision is wasted. Consider a rule that says “If you can’t attend a previously agreed-upon meeting, the rest of the participants can make the decisions without you.” standing meeting

Why do you need a table at all? If the agenda calls for a meeting of 30 minutes or less, meet standing up. It keeps folks from getting too relaxed and wasting time.

No serial dialogue. That’s when the chair talks with the first person, then with the next, then with the next. That isn’t a meeting, it’s reporting. Every discussion should involve everyone present. If a topic isn’t relevant to one or more attendees, it should be handled in a different meeting.

Just because it impacts you… It has become standard practice in business to say “You are going to be discussing things that affect my job (or my project, or my department) so therefore I have to be in attendance.” No…you…don’t. Unless you are part of the decision making process, a copy of the meeting notes or minutes will serve nicely.

Presentations aren’t meetings. Sitting through a PowerPoint in a darkened room doesn’t put anyone in a creative or collaborative mood. Besides, having one person make their case to begin with sets an expectation of arguing for or against the presentation’s conclusions. Present relevant background information ahead of time; not everyone wants to absorb it at the same rate.

Put it in the parking lot. It’s a great device to cut off irrelevant conversation without being rude. Agree to keep a list of items that come up and which need to be discussed, but aren’t on the agenda for this meeting.

Hand signals? This one is from David Cunningham in Colorado. Agree on some hand signals that allow all participants to call a question or point out irrelevancies. David suggests a hand slash across the throat to cut discussion, for example. I’m not sure about that one. Where I grew up, it probably wouldn’t have been a great way to communicate, but obviously David isn’t Italian.

bookIn business, everyone is either a Hunter or a Farmer. Which one are you? Take the quiz. www.hiafw.com
 

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One Response to Meetings Part III: The Meat of the Meet

  1. David Basri says:
    July 20, 2014 at 2:15 pm

    One more item for the “meat of a meeting”. Punctuality. A company I was with in the ’80s charged $1/minute after 3 minutes. The money went in a jar (literally) and when there was enough we all went out for a round of drinks after work. This policy did not hurt anyone financially, but it had a huge positive impact on punctuality.

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Meetings Part II: Start Right

Posted on July 13, 2014 by John F. Dini

Thank you to everyone who posted or emailed their suggestions for productive meetings. Please keep them coming!

By far the most frequent suggestion was to have a written agenda. That is as good a place as any to start.

Distribute an agenda. This should be done in advance of the meeting, and be copied to all invitees. It should include the beginning and ending time, and define who is responsible for each segment of the meeting. If an invitee has no responsibilities on the agenda, you can legitimately question why he or she is attending.

Identify a leader. Someone has to be the chairperson or leader of the group. “Let’s all get together and discuss it” is a poor use of time. Even an all-out brainstorming session should have someone responsible for keeping conversations on track and moving along. It’s best to acknowledge the leader’s scope and role at the outset. Too many meetings are ruined by a higher-ranking employee who chooses to ignore the authority of the facilitator.

meeting overheadBegin with the end in mind. The meeting chair should state the objectives of the meeting to start. What do you expect to walk away with? Are you making decisions for implementation, or is the meeting only to choose a direction that will require further research before moving forward? If there is no actionable decision expected, and a meeting is simply for exchanging information, use email instead.

State the finish time. Remind everyone (it should be on the agenda) of when the meeting ends. The leader should supply signposts for the agenda, such as how far along you should be at the halfway point.

Engage everyone at the outset. People who are introverted can easily become observers, watching the conversations of those who are more outspoken. Start the meeting with a quick go-around of a minute or two per person. It can be about what they did last weekend, or their favorite TV show. Get everyone speaking, but don’t let it turn into a conversation.

Remind everyone of the expense. One reader wrote that he is irritated by meeting chairs that don’t seem to understand the value of time. He specifically cited his trade organization. Board meetings are led by an association employee, who seems to have little realization that the business owners on the board value their time at hundreds or thousands of dollars an hour. The employee (who is the only person being paid to sit at the table) is clearly unconcerned about wasted or ineffective meeting time. Even if you don’t know the salary of each individual in the room, you can still estimate the hourly cost of the group just to make the point.

Empower the attendees. When discussing the agenda and timekeeping, all participants should share responsibility for staying on schedule. Make it plain that anyone is welcome, or even better — obligated, to speak up if things are falling behind.

Taking  a few minutes at the outset to get everyone focused pays big dividends in greater productivity.

Next week; the meat of the meet. Keep your ideas coming through posted comments or directly to me at jdini@mpninc.com. Thanks

bookEveryone in business is either a Hunter or a Farmer. Take the Hunter/Farmer Quiz and see which description fits you.

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One Response to Meetings Part II: Start Right

  1. David Cunningham says:
    July 15, 2014 at 4:43 pm

    Meetings should end with agreement on the text for, “Actions Arising From This Meeting”. Where appropriate, the actions should include designation of the person responsible for the activity, resources that will be applied, next task review date, and delivery date. Most likely these last details will require time to flesh out but the process of having them called out as line items in the meeting agenda minimizes the risk that nothing will get done.
    Another good practice is to hold “Standing Meetings” where literally all attendees stand. This works well for Monday morning meetings to remind everybody of the targets for the week and quick assessment of any new issues. If the meeting is limited to 30 minutes, it is useful to have some hand signals, (eg throat swipe to cut off a topic needing more time or a different audience), to keep the meeting brief.

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“Death by Meeting”

Posted on July 6, 2014 by John F. Dini

Meetings  are often a painful necessity, but they are a necessity none the less. What makes a “good” meeting?

The saying “Death by meeting” is common enough. Patrick Lencioni authored a book with that title in 2004, but I remember it as being in common use long before that. It describes the pain, boredom and resentment of those who have to sit through unproductive or unnecessary meetings.

Bad meetingBad meetings steal time from more important activities. They are expensive. Take a half dozen $60,000 managers. Add in the cost of their benefits and infrastructure, Put them in a room together for ninety minutes, and you’ve spent between $400 and $500. Coordinate schedules, prepare an agenda, circulate meeting notes, post the action items on the company intranet, and you’ve easily spent $1,000. That’s before any action is taken.

Of course, there is another side to meetings. About 85% of our face-to-face communication involves non-verbal signals. Body language and facial expressions greatly facilitate any discussion process. In a good meeting, team members bond through personal contact. Differences in opinion can find middle ground in minutes, rather than via a week’s worth of emails. Consensus on a course of action allows everyone to leave the room with a clear understanding of group expectations, their individual role, and the next step in the process.

From a morning “huddle” to a three-day strategic retreat, meetings have a purpose and a place in every organization. We are social animals. Humans are the only primate with white eyeballs. Scientists believe that other primates evolved to hide the direction of their gaze, while humans’ evolutionary direction was to emphasize who we are looking at for better communication.

Meetings are a necessity. The challenge is to avoid making them an unpleasant necessity.

Over the next few weeks I’ll discuss types of meetings and ideas for making them more effective. I would love to include your ideas and experiences. Please comment, or contact me using the link in the sidebar.

Take the Hunter/Farmer Quiz to better understand your role in business.

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