Leading and organizing meetings effectively - 6 tips
"Another meeting." You often hear this sigh in companies - because most meetings run aimlessly and without structure. That's why participants often perceive them as ineffective and superfluous.
This is the everyday work of many managers and project staff. No sooner has a meeting ended than the next "meeting" is on the calendar. And as soon as it's over, another meeting is scheduled. Many managers spend more than half of their working time in meetings. The situation is similar for project managers.
This "meeting-itis" has causes. The more closely a company's employees work together, the greater the need for coordination. And the faster the corporate environment changes, the more frequently the management team has to agree on new solutions to problems. But many meetings could be eliminated without replacement if the remaining ones were made more effective. In addition, their duration could be shortened if they were not sometimes as unstructured as coffee meetings. Therefore, as a reminder: Meetings are work sessions in which specific goals are to be achieved - in as short a time as possible. They should be structured accordingly. Here are a few tips.
Tip 1: Create an agenda and define goals
That seems self-evident. But it is not. Often at meetings, as soon as the invited people are in the room, one participant says, "Let's get started. I still have to ..." And because this is similar with the others, everyone jumps to the first topic that comes up. They wildly debate it without clarifying it in advance:
- What do we need to discuss?
- What are the most important/urgent issues?
- What goals do we want to/can we achieve?
- Which approach makes sense?
The conversation is correspondingly unstructured. Therefore, create an agenda at the beginning of each meeting. And discuss the procedure and draw up a schedule for orientation.
Tip 2: briefly review the "tops" in advance
This is often forgotten - especially when others have already taken place before the meeting. Then the leader of the meeting usually assumes: Everyone is clear about what we are talking about. And he is completely surprised when a participant suddenly says, for example, "I thought we were talking about the topic today ...". Therefore, at the beginning of a meeting, go through the tops, i.e. agenda items, with the participants. Make sure that there is agreement on the content and objectives, and change the agenda if necessary.
Tip 3: clarify the order of topics
This is necessary because the topics are often interrelated. For example, it is unnecessary to debate investments if the financial report shows: Our cash register is empty. But even if the topics are not related, you should clarify with the participants: In what order do we discuss them? Because, based on their position in the company, those present attach different importance to them. That's why, if you don't agree on what should be discussed first and what later, there's a risk that some participants will be angry because "their" topics are discussed at the end. And they are completely annoyed if "their" topics are only dealt with in a fast-forward or even postponed at the end because time is running out. Their motivation to implement decisions after the meeting is correspondingly low.
Tip 4: Use media and fix intermediate results
In many meetings, such presentation media as flipcharts, (moderation) boards and projectors are only used, for example, to inform participants about the results of interim work meetings. However, when it comes to working out proposals and discussing their advantages and disadvantages, the media sit unused in the corner. The result: endless debates in which the same arguments are presented over and over again. Be it because the interim results were not recorded or the participants do not have the connections "in front of their eyes".
Tip 5: Record who does what and by when
Time often runs out at some point in meetings, and participants increasingly look at their watches. As a result, action planning is done in a hurry, because everyone thinks: The others will already know what needs to be done. As a result, much of what everyone thinks will be done at the next meeting is not. This is also because, without an action plan, it was not possible to check in the meantime whether the necessary initiatives had been taken. As a result, the mood at the next meeting is lousy right from the start. Because everyone thinks: Now we have to debate this again.
Tip 6: Give and get feedback
Because time gets out of hand at many meetings, participants scatter at the end like a startled herd of cattle. Neither are they praised for their work, nor are things pointed out to them that did not go optimally. In short, there is neither a summary of what has been achieved nor a "maneuver critique. As a result, everyone returns to work and quickly forgets what was discussed in the hectic pace of everyday life. And at the next meeting, it's "the same procedure as...".
To the author: Dr. Albrecht Müllerschön is the owner of Müllerschön Managementberatung, Starzeln in Baden-Württemberg (Internet: www.muellerschoen-beratung.de).
