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Communicating with Others
A Simple Formula for a More Effective Meeting
If you’re like me, you’ve probably had more than your fair share of meetings.
You and I have endured thousands of meetings: professional, volunteer, religious, ceremonial… many in-person, some on the phone and a lot more online; the list goes on and on. Sadly, at the time you read this article, more meetings are in your future.
I know I’ve sat through thousands of many of those types of meetings, especially the in-person ones. Often, I wondered what, if anything, we were supposed to accomplish at the end of that meeting. Many times, even when there is an agenda in place, an aimless quality emerged where the person conducting the meeting goes off on a tangent or even worse, allows another participant to go off on a tangent.
Here’s some insights that might inspire you to take better control of meetings you are assigned to conduct along with helpful hints that you can influence those in your circle who may be wasting other people’s time with their own meanderings in the meeting. What I share comes after extensive hours of study and observation along with consulting multiple clients and organizations on what has been missing from having a more effective meeting.
What Makes an Effective Meeting?
The key to the following formula is to always keep reducing the elements of the meeting to their simplest forms. That means that if the purpose of a meeting was to discuss two line items on next year’s annual budget, it shouldn’t turn into a two-hour discussion that involves the venue for the next company holiday party, the company’s logo redesign and a smattering of office gossip on who is getting promoted, demoted or fired.
Agendas can have multiple items, but go into the meeting prepared for that possibility. When there is a singular problem to be discussed and it involves the key stakeholders, keep it that way.
A simple question to determine the necessity of the meeting and whether you need to invite certain stake holders is to ask, “what is the problem that is bringing us together?”
After all, why are you having a meeting unless there is a problem to be solved?
Of course, there are more subtle elements that need to be considered such as the setting, necessary attendees, the sensitivity surrounding agenda items and much more. I may add a “bonus” tips section to this article, but to keep the formula pithy and easy to remember, this formula is the most essential part of any effective meeting:
When you are planning the agenda, ask yourself three questions on each agenda and then keep these questions as the main thing during the meeting itself:
What is the most pressing problem that our team/organization is facing?
What are the potential solutions to this problem?
Who is the best individual(s) to execute the chosen solution to this problem?
You’re asking: Really? Is that all There is to it?
Perhaps. However, I challenge you to think about the last couple meetings in which you participated that didn’t follow this pattern of identifying the problem, discovering the solutions and the implementation of the solution.
How did it go?
Did you feel like you were wasting your time?
The Challenge
If you’ve felt like your agenda is bloated or maybe you and your meeting participants are distracted, I invite you to consider whittling everything down to the barest bones you can and only focusing on the above three questions for each agenda item. If agenda items are coming together in a way that means some stakeholders are going to remain completely silent and non-participating out of practical necessity, then it might be good to split the agenda and/or meeting up to prevent wasting more time. As someone is taking notes or you utilize some artificial intelligence notetaking system, commit to each other that you will not deviate from that item to move on to the next one until you’ve completed the three tasks on each item.
Process in Reverse
If you can’t find a person to execute on the solution, table the item, but come back to it soon without deviation. It’s possible the stakeholder withI can give a useful critique, but I don’t see the article text or a link. Paste the article or a summary (or tell me its title and main points), and I’ll evaluate its strengths, weaknesses, accuracy, tone, and suggestions for improvement. If you prefer, specify what kind of feedback you want: fact-checking, editorial tone, structure, readability, persuasion, or suitability for a specific audience. the solution was not in the room, so maybe a quick post-meeting explanation and delegation will do. If you can’t identify which solution it is that you need to implement, make a decision to head in a certain direction and you will discover if you and your team need to pivot.
The one question you must spend your time on most of all is the first question. If you’re unwilling to identify the key and most pressing problem inhibiting your organization’s success, be prepared to flounder at best and fail at worst. Resist that urge to procrastinate; action precedes clarity.