"This meeting could have been an email.” <Insert meme of Michael Scott from The Office here.>
Good meetings can energize attendees and drive a productive culture. Bad meetings can drain the life out of the attendees and the organization. Meetings are generally synchronous and can be in-person, virtual, or hybrid. Meetings in and of themselves require presentation skills, and you may give informative or persuasive presentations within them. In this section, we'll discuss general but valuable information about meetings, and in Chapter 14, virtual meetings will be expanded upon.
When should you hold a meeting?
Every meeting should have a goal: to share information, discuss/debate problems, solve problems, or serve the social purpose of getting the team together. You may want to have a meeting if the task takes more than one person, if you need buy-off, if there are potential misunderstandings or reservations, or if there are multiple interdependent parties that may produce better results when able to bounce ideas off of each other. Meetings are particularly useful when you need a chance to present different perspectives or generate solutions through a brainstorming session that builds multiple ideas together, which may not have been possible without coming together. Meetings can also be a chance to share experiences, share wins, share knowledge, grow as a team, enrich as a team, and improve team functions (Adler, 2019).
Tactics for Effective Meetings
You want an efficient and effective meeting but recognize that group communication, by definition, can be chaotic and unpredictable. Here are some ways to help you prepare for the meeting and complete a meeting successfully.
Before the Meeting:
Send out the last meeting’s minutes fairly soon after the meeting.
Send out a reminder and the agenda for the current meeting at least one day in advance.
Make sure the participants know their roles and requirements prior to the meeting.
During the Meeting:
Start and end your meetings on time.
Have an agenda of topics being discussed. Add notes to these topics if background information is needed.
Encourage participation and keep the tone positive. You can do this by asking questions for clarification and building on the responses of others.
Keep the discussion on track. If you are leading the meeting, don’t hesitate to restate a point to interject and redirect the attention back to the next agenda point. Draw a clear distinction between on-topic discussions and those that are more personal, individual, or off-topic.
Review assigned tasks and any milestones coming up.
Communicate your respect and appreciation for everyone’s time and effort.
Clearly communicate the time, date, and location or means of contact for the next meeting.
After the Meeting:
Send out meeting notes, follow up on tasks, complete your own tasks, and build the agenda for the next meeting.
Death by Meeting
In the book Death by Meeting, Lencioni (2004) discusses four types of meetings. The four types of meetings include the Daily Check-in for brief alignment and updates, the Tactical Staff meeting for resolving near-term issues, the Adhoc Topical meeting for discussing long-term strategic topics, and the Quarterly Off-Site Review for comprehensive assessments and planning. Through these types of meetings, there are three strategies that emerge:
Focus on a specific topic: Clearly define the critical issue that will be discussed during the strategic meeting. Avoid trying to cover too many topics to maintain focus and depth in the discussion.
Prepare in advance: Encourage participants to come prepared with relevant information, data, and insights related to the strategic topic. Preparing in advance helps facilitate a more productive and informed discussion during the meeting.
Fully embrace conflict: Encourage healthy debate and differing viewpoints during the strategic meeting. Conflict can lead to better decision-making and innovative solutions. Embracing conflict allows for a thorough exploration of ideas and perspectives.
Lencioni's (2004) text is written as a fable to demonstrate the ways in which to have a purposeful meeting, centering around the theme that meetings are like movies. Similar to how movies need conflict to engage audiences and hold their interest, meetings require a level of conflict or tension to keep participants actively involved and invested in the discussions. Just as movies set the stage with high stakes and tension early on to captivate viewers, effective meeting leaders should introduce challenging or controversial topics at the start to create genuine drama and prevent disengagement, ensuring that participants remain focused and committed to resolving issues throughout the meeting. On with the show meeting!
What are your thoughts or feelings on meetings? How does this affect your perception of them?
Have you ever been to a really great meeting? What made it so great?
Have you ever been to a really bad meeting? What could have made it better?
Do you find it hard to plan or execute a meeting? Why?
Attribution:
Content for the ''Tactics for Effective Meetings' section was heavily modified from
Business Communication for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
References:
Adler, R. B. (2019). Communicating at work: Strategies for success in business and the professions. (12th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.
Lencioni, P. M. (2004). Death by meeting: A leadership fable. . .about solving the most painful problem in business. John Wiley & Sons.