Meetingscan be time consuming, frustrating and if you take in account the cost of yourtime, expensive. On the other hand effective meetings can generate ideas,commitment, resource and build strong teams.
So, how can we make meetings more successful?
Simply, put effort into three things:
Attitude
Outcomes
Structure
Each on it’s own can help make a meeting more productive and to some extentpull in the others; however working on all three can make meetings surprisinglyeffective and fun.
If all the participants have a positive attitude and are genuinely interestedin their own and others success then it is likely that an atmosphere is createdthat will lead to successful outcomes and give the space for a structure todevelop. It’s worth considering individually what would be best attitude foryou to achieve the outcomes you want.
If all the participants know that if the meeting goes well they will achieve anoutcome that’s important to them; they will naturally be motivated to move thevarious discussions forward. On an individual basis it’s always worthconsidering what would have to happen at a meeting to make it worth your while.
If a meeting has an agenda where every participant knows they will have achance to be heard; that the agenda items are allocated time slots relative totheir importance; with the important, contentious issues first, attendees arelikely to become more positive and outcomes are likely to be further clarifiedand achieved.
Common reasons why meetings go wrong:
No control, structure or summaries
Too many people / the wrong people / meetings too long
Implied and or vague objectives
Hidden agendas
Ego’s getting in the way of outcomes
‘Instant’ solutions are sought without being given the time to think throughthe implications
Some ideas of how these can tackled and managed:
Elect a chair and timekeeper to manage the meeting on an ongoing basis
Plot the outcomes, structure and likely timeline of the meeting beforehand sothat the right people can be invited for the appropriate length of time
Options can also be brainstormed with participants being asked to report back lateron the implications of various course of actions.