Effective Meetings in 7 simple steps

Effective Meetings in 7 simple steps
Barry Tomalin

7 simple steps to effective meetings that will change the way you workPeople spend up to 60 percent of their working day in meetings, but all too often they leave feeling overwhelmed and confused. Sound familiar? Meetings that involve the wrong people or are badly organised are a waste of everyone’s time, so whether you need to learn from scratch or re-evaluate your techniques, this is the book for you.Follow our 7 simple steps to more productive, efficient and successful meetings. With expert advice on everything from using informal meetings to your advantage to dealing with technical hitches during conference calls, this book contains everything you need to transform the way you spend your working day.

Contents

Step 1: Organise people, places and times (#u93cc3143-ad9e-5a82-b563-f08bdabb4e98)

Step 2: Prepare useful documents (#u734fda59-ef65-5b6e-996b-23c6a0e9cbe1)

Step 3: Participate with impact (#litres_trial_promo)

Step 4: Host virtual meetings (#litres_trial_promo)

Step 5: Use informal meetings wisely (#litres_trial_promo)

Step 6: Adapt to meeting dynamics (#litres_trial_promo)

Step 7: Run efficient, effective meetings (#litres_trial_promo)

Keep Reading (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

Step 1 (#ulink_68786f89-1a2e-51f0-92bc-cabedd51b586)

ORGANISE PEOPLE, PLACES AND TIMES (#ulink_68786f89-1a2e-51f0-92bc-cabedd51b586)

‘Did we make a decision in there?’ —US executive after a meeting in the UK

Five ways to succeed

Be clear why the meeting is necessary.

Only relevant people should attend the meeting.

Book meeting rooms and facilities early.

Keep to an agreed date and time.

Send regular reminders to delegates.

Five ways to fail

Be unclear about the purpose of the meeting.

Don’t check and chase up attendance.

Don’t check layout and organisation of the meeting room.

Don’t send out invitations.

Ignore the paperwork (agenda, minutes).

Welcome to the world of meetings. This is the activity which will take up the majority of your time at work. Up to 60 per cent, in fact. An estimated four million hours are spent in meetings every day in the UK alone.

So now you’ve realised this is likely to be your major work activity you need to know how to organise your time. The best way to do this is to use the time-honoured framework of five W’s and an H: Why, What, Who, When, Where and How. Let’s start with Why.

Why so many meetings? Good question. Meetings are like tribal gatherings. Work groups share a practical and emotional need to get together and discuss things and to exchange information.

You may not have much choice about which meetings you attend, but even meetings you think are irrelevant may be useful. You get the opportunity to observe how meetings work. Remember, don’t just focus on the topic, focus on the mechanics of the meeting (how it’s constructed and run) as well.

Meetings are the lifeblood of any organisation. They are the way information is shared in the group. They are the prime way of giving the work group a sense of belonging. This is why it’s worth:

limiting the number of meetings

having more focused meetings

having shorter meetings.

Let’s unpack each item on that list.

Limit the number of meetings

Attend four two-hour meetings back to back and you’ll know why you need to limit the number of meetings. Your whole working day has gone – and you haven’t done any desk work yet. So you’re already behind. In addition, by the end of the fourth meeting, what you discussed in the first meeting is a distant memory.

If you’re lucky enough to be able to choose which meetings to attend, consider these criteria. Prioritise meetings which:

directly concern you

have information you need to know about

cover responsibilities you have to report on

contain people you need to meet or talk to

deal with things which interest you or you can learn from.

For all the rest, take a view.

Get a copy of the meeting invitation and the agenda. Does it meet one of your criteria above? If yes, try and go. If not, ask your line manager if you need to attend.

Learn to discriminate. Decide which meetings will be important or helpful to you. For the others, explain your workload to your line manager and ask if you can be absent. Ask yourself constantly: ‘What is my purpose for being here? Could I use this time better, doing something else?’

Most meetings can be summarised over the coffee machine. If you miss a meeting, ask a colleague: ‘Did I miss anything important?’