Effective meetings

Abstract

A crucial part of managing any project is meetings and effective knowledge sharing. If the goals and tasks are not properly communicated among all team members there is no chance of having a successful project. It is obvious that meetings are essential to the success of any project, however there are also several studies showing how excessive meetings reduces productivity and dampens the enthusiasm of the team members. The risk of information dumping is especially important as the key information can get lost in the process. An effective meeting have some key ingredients to ensure high productivity and satisfaction of the participants. The most critical of these are the meeting agenda. Studies show that … better with plan. Understanding the goal(s) of the meeting is the best tool in keeping all the participants aligned throughout the meeting. It also helps setting realistic and tangible goals to ensure a natural conclusion to the meeting. Communication is another key factor for a successful meeting, without proper communication all discussion breaks down and no constructive progress can be made. This article will describe the core factors necessary for an effective meeting, the application and reflections while also stating the relation to project management and how it can be beneficial for project managers.

Background

The goal of running effective meetings is desirable to all companies in all situations, there is a magnitude of literature in the subject in varying degrees of helpfulness. This article hopes to establish a base of reasonable practices that can be applicable to all types of meetings. It is important to note that case to case considerations are always recommended. Useless, boring and ineffective meetings appear to be a global norm across and businesses and industries. According to an article by zippia, the average employee spends around 31 hours per month in unproductive meetings, it is estimate that up to 71% of meetings are considered unproductive by participants. The article also notes that the most common reason for unproductive meetings is a lack of clear objectives or agenda. It is estimated that 37 billion is lost to unproductive meetings in the US alone equivalent to approximately 300 thousand work hours per year. Having more effective meetings are a goal many companies strive for and many have claimed to have the secret recipe for good meetings. This article goes through the most common advice across the many meeting experts.

Big idea

There are many types of meetings, generally defined by their purpose. An emergency meeting differs from a status report meeting, for example. Though different types of meetings require vastly different skillsets and mentality there are some commonality. In this article the advice will be directed mostly at business meetings that are held face-to-face however, the advice should be applicable to online scenarios, the limitations of the techniques and what situations they should not be practiced will be discussed in the limitations section. An effective meeting is not an unobtainable goal by any standard it should be possible with only a few clear guidelines in place. The goal of this article is to provide the reader with a checklist of good practices to bring into any meeting to ensure efficiency and structure.

Identifying bad meeting behavior

The first step in creating a good meeting culture is identifying exactly what makes a meeting bad in the first place. In the book “Management and Leadership Skills for Medical Faculty and Healthcare Executives — 2020, pp. 81-89” they identify a list of hallmarks for ineffective meetings. The list includes:

• Participants showing up late/leaving early
• Lack of focus and irrelevant conversations that are not addressed
• Long silences (seen as showing lack of preparation or uncertainty)
• No clear agenda
• No acknowledgement of the meeting going beyond the set time
• An unwelcoming environment where different opinions are be dismissed
• People focus on specific details of an issue that does not concern all or most of the meeting participants
• One person is allowed to dominate the conversation

If one or more of these identifiers are observed regularly it is a sign there are problems with he current meeting culture. It can be difficult to pinpoint the exact causes that make a meeting boring for the participants. An easy step for a project manager to reduce waste time in meetings is to ensure that all participants has a specific goal for participating in the meeting. For example for a designer the goal of a client meeting could be to specify… As a manager it is always important to consider why this specific person will benefit from this meeting, this will also reduce the “useless” meetings that people often complain about.

Creating an agenda and setting goals

The first step to an effective meeting is an agenda. An agenda provides a structure to keep the meeting on course and is one of the simplest yet most powerful tools for an effective meeting. To set a good agenda the starting point should be the goal of the meeting. Identify the specific goal(s) the team wish to accomplish with the meeting and create an agenda as a roadmap to achieve these. Creating a good meeting agenda is a discipline by itself and requires practice, below is some general guidelines. Many experts agree that 60 minutes is the maximum for most meetings to remain productive. Staying approximately within this timeframe will help keeping the participants engaged. The meeting should generally follow the table with possible adjustments to the minutes allocated to each point.

It is important to remember that the agenda is not an absolute law which should be followed to the minute. It provides a guideline for what should be discussed but focusing too much energy to sticking to the agenda by the minute will be counterproductive. Let your team know if the purpose of the discussion is to share information, seek input on a decision, or make a decision. And indicate on the agenda who is leading each discussion so they can prepare.

Limitations and reflections

The base of an effective meeting is making a specific list of goals that the meeting hope to achieve. In cases where there is no basis for setting up such a list … Efficiency is crucial in the workplace but too high efficiency in certain areas can have negative long term effects. Idle chitchat during meetings is a part of socializing within the group and shutting this down in the spirit of efficiency can lead to worse teamwork in the long term. It is important to give people an outlet for both frustrations related to the work and completely unrelated topics as well. Studies show that “Small talk contributes to employees’ positive emotions and sense of well-being, belonging and connection. The positive effect of these small regular exchanges builds working trust and good relations.”