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. A study showed that 72% of professionals believe that setting clear goals is a key factor in enhancing productivity, while 67% having an agenda is essential. 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

Hindle (1998) defines a meeting as two or more people coming together at a prearranged time and place to resolve problems or make decisions. Formal meetings are held at definite times, at definite places, and usually for definite durations to follow an agreed-upon agenda (Meeting, n.d.).

All companies require meetings to relay information and make important decisions and they are one of the most frequently occurring activities in many professions. Meetings require an investment in the form of man hours, for example if a one hour meeting has 5 attendees five working hours are “spent” on the meeting. To make this investment worthwhile the meeting must be both well-planned and well-executed creating an effective meeting. If well-executed meetings can offer a platform for generating ideas, detecting and solving problems, assigning tasks, communicating and seeking consultation, generating work products, monitoring performance and enhancing interpersonal relationships (Hindle, 1998; Hood, 2013; Sellers, Valentino, & LeBlanc, 2016).

Research from numerous sources indicates that the amount of time spent in meetings is steadily increasing (e.g., Elsayed-Elkhouly, Lazarus, & Forsythe, 1997; Mosvick & Nelson, 1987; Rogelberg, Leach, Warr, & Burnfield, 2006; Tobia & Becker, 1990), and the current trend of more teamwork in the workplace is likely to accelerate this trend. Despite the large amount of time spent in meetings are the satisfaction regarding meetings dramatically low and perceived as a waste of time or an unpleasant experience. The OECD (2017) survey indicated that the most common barrier to productivity was “wasteful” meetings (57% of respondents).

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. The guidelines are meant for meeting leaders and provides guidance on both the preparation and execution of the meeting.

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. The guidelines are meant for meeting leaders and provides guidance on both the preparation and execution of the meeting.

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” 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. An article from Harvard business review set a list of guidelines to follow when crating an agenda to ensure engagement with the participants and maintain high productivity throughout the meeting. The key takeaways from the article were to always seek input from your team to ensure the reflects their current needs and that the topics discussed affect all participants of the meeting and require the whole team’s effort to solve. Another tactic to improve meetings is to 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.

Additionally they recommend starting every meeting by reviewing the agenda to account for modifications. And end the meeting with an evaluation of the meeting process to make every meeting a learning experience and thereby continuously improve team meetings.

Decision making in small groups

A big part of meetings is making decisions and how the team come to an agreement can be crucial for the team work. Making sure everyone feels heard and part of the discussion is essential for teamwork. If team members do not feel ownership of the idea they are far less invested in the success of the project. Knowing the different techniques for decision making will aid in choosing the optimal method for the group and the specific situation. In Communication in small groups (10th edition) 7 techniques for making group decisions are identified. They are:

1. Decision by an expert in the group
2. Decision by an expert outside the group
3. Averaging individual rankings/ratings
4. Random choice
5. Majority rule
6. Decision by minority
7. Decision by consensus

Which of the 7 to use can vary greatly depending on the circumstances. Majority voting is the most commonly used method which is efficient for fast decisions, however it can lead to dissatisfaction among the minority. First and second option are both for cases where one person is an expert in a specific field which leads to their voice carrying a lot of weight in the discussion. The pitfall with both of these techniques is fully transferring the decision to the expert and thereby removing the group from the choice. The decision by minority method should be avoided as they mostly cause disagreements and lower quality outputs. If a member is trying to force a minority decision with strategic language quickly restate the chosen method for decision making to get the discussion back on track. Averaging scores or random selection are both fast decision making methods which should mostly be used in case of being stuck on a decision, it is not a recommended path for important choices. As a group it is desired to strive to reach decision by consensus in most cases. This is only achieved when all group members can support a course of action though they do not necessarily agree it is the best course of action. Decision by consensus is characterised by being a longer process that requires more time and effort than the other types in return the decisions are of higher quality. The process requires group members to express their point of view, listen carefully to all opinions and finally combine and/or eliminate alternatives until agreement is reached. Focus must be on listening to the concerns of all members in a balanced way. Creating a group environment where no member is scared to share an opinion going against the consensus of the group. Research by Randy Hirokawa shows that groups that follow explicit procedure make more effective decisions. It is recommended to include in the agenda how the group are to reach a decision, voting, expert opinion, discussion, etc.

Application

Environment and Equipment

Online
Pro	Con
Everyone can work on the same document at the same time Can work from anywhere Allow others control Can have discussions across countries	Can be less engaging Easy to accidentally interrupt people Internet connection can limit interactions Technical issues can occur more frequently Harder to read peoples emotions
In person
Pro	Con
Opportunity for dynamic engagement Improves social interactions Easier to understand people's emotions	Typically one person in charge of updating documents/slides Can sometimes be a struggle to find the meeting room Side bar conversations are more frequent
Combination
Pro	Con
Will allow for people out of office to still participate	In person attendees may forgot people online Brainstorming activates using whiteboards in the room will have limited vision for online attendees

Limitations and reflections

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.”

Annotated bibliography

Beebe, S. A., & Masterson, J. T. (2020) Communication in small groups (10th edition). Pearson: An amazing book for all matters related to communication in small groups, the 9th chapter especially as it specifically tackles making decisions and solving problems.

https://www.youtube.com/@alexanderlyon: YouTube channel run by a communication coach discussing vital topics for leadership and communication skills. Provides sources in the video description for further reading on each topic. Recommended for readers which would like an in depth explanation on the topic communication guidelines seen above or wish to improve general communication skills.

Management and Leadership Skills for Medical Faculty and Healthcare Executives — 2020, pp. 81-89: A short walkthrough of essential knowledge for effective meetings.