How can you identify potential risks and ensure success in meetings?

Key rules for good meetings: 1-Make sure the meeting is necessary 2-Invite relevant meeting members that will address or contribute to the problem to be resolved, not more not less. It is called One Pizza Meeting! 3-In advance, set the agenda and meeting expectations 4-If there is any material, send in advance 5-Lead the meeting to extract from each one pieces of solution to the problem 6-Listen all participants! Quiet people also resolve problems with smart solutions, give them space to expose themselves 7-Manage the timing to assure your audience is 100% in the problem resolution 8-Before end, remember everyone the key points discussed including the next steps with WHAT, WHO, WHEN 9-Listen, watch, contribute and congratulate!

Listening carefully, with both your ears and eyes is critical for identifying risks. Non-verbal actions such as facial expressions, eye movements, head shaking, and leaning away could be potential indicators of a objection. If one or more people show these signs, you might want to decide in that moment to say something proactively to continue to control the conversation. Either address the concern before the objection is raised or state that questions related to the topic may be addressed offline after the meeting has concluded.

In my experience I have received appreciation when the objective/s have been clarified before the meeting together with the purpose. During the meeting I aim to share the proper information, involve by asking questions and inspire by preparing best practice and bench mark examples or sources for appropriate/relevant comparisons for reaching the objective of the meeting.

Few hints: 1. 30 minutes max. If it needs more it is a workshop. 2. In case a decision is needed: one pager report with clear goals and requests. 3. If someone will not operate, decide, or sponsor on the subject, this someone was not supposed to be at this meeting. 4. If your calendar is stuck on meetings, it could mean you are not being able to handle the job. In general, the full and rushed calendar does not infer you are a senior or hard worker profile. Rethink it (especially project management professionals)!

One of the common risks is actually the post meeting followup. So alongside the critical question of what do you want to achieve with the meeting. Ensure that you know who will follow up on the the action items or conclusions agreed upon in the meeting.

I like to ask “what do you hope to achieve” when appropriate, it often focuses the mind for the less experienced in producing an answer and if one is not forthcoming, well, makes the point and draws issues to a timely close

?? Identify Risks: Lack of Clarity: Ensure agenda and objectives are clear. Engagement Issues: Encourage active participation. Conflicting Interests: Acknowledge and address differing views. Technical Problems: Test tools and platforms beforehand. Off-topic Discussions: Steer conversation back to the agenda. Inaccurate Info: Validate data shared in advance. ??? Mitigation Strategies: Advance Communication: Share agenda and expectations early. Relevant Attendees: Invite only essential participants. Defined Roles: Assign specific tasks for efficiency. Prepared Materials: Distribute key documents beforehand. Meeting Norms: Set and enforce ground rules. #EffectiveMeetings #RiskManagement #LeadershipTips

The real risk is that after the meeting, your stakeholders are wondering why you called a meeting. Here's an example of what to do wrong: Call a meeting, then half way into the meeting your key stakeholder (one responsible for the success of a project) gets up to leave because he/she has another meeting. What went wrong? You didnt identify that the key stakeholder had a conflict with time. Therefore, the rest of the team wasted their time by attending a meeting that had no conclusion.

Risks are manageable to certain extent but it’s better to avoid them if the negatives outweighs the positives ! it could lead to disastrous outcomes .

On Meetings: * Have a specific purpose at open and conclusion at close * Don't fill time to get to the meeting length. If conclusions are drawn in 5 minutes for a scheduled 30 min meeting...meeting is over * If problems are introduced by participants, suggested solutions are a requisite * Have fun, it's only a meeting!

To drive progress & avoid conflicts in a meeting: 1. Use Active Listening: Encourage open dialogue and ensure everyone is heard and respected. 2. Focus on Issues, Not Individuals: Address the problem, not the person. Avoid personal attacks & stay solution-oriented. 3. Seek Common Ground: Identify shared goals and interests to build consensus. Encourage participants to propose solutions collaboratively, fostering ownership and buy-in. 4. Take Breaks: If tensions rise, take a break, cool off, and regroup. 5. Celebrate Agreements: Focus on the wins. 6. Document: Record decisions and action items to hold everyone accountable. 7. Follow Up: After the meeting, ensure action items are executed and any conflicts are monitored for resolution.

At the core for all this is to apply the principles of the triangle of trust consisting of authenticity, empathy and logic. Your entire interactional behaviors must stringently follow these principles. And also I would argue for going one step further when it comes to ?flexible“ as I would - based on my experience - even stated to be ?agile“. Many times when running meetings or workshops I had to - on the fly - adjust the agenda as the group needed it not knowing it. Only with this agility I could ensure to reach the defined objectives. In this context I refer to my latter comment on distinction between content- and meta-level. In my book ?Template-based Management“ (Springer 2021) you can read and learn all about this.

One thing I find helpful is to take the agenda, add estimated times and ask upfront if there are additional items. In the board committees, some agenda items go longer than others and we summarize what next steps are and move on to the next topic. Sometimes, we push an item to another meeting. But, we stick to the time allotted and agreed ahead of time. Everyone knows our culture so we appreciate keeping timely meetings as a courtesy to each person who may have other commitments.

A clear agenda ( including topics & speakers) and respect timing is the basic + needs to be send with enough tie to aloud people to be prepared. For a successful meeting ambience needs to be under " confidence & respect" in order to aloud critical thinking and as well to hear "out of the box" ideas => defend an idea 5 times before criticize ! Make sure not only the speakers participate but also all attendees, by including in the agenda some interactive time, people love to contribute. Conflicts & disagreements needs to be manage upfront the meeting as the organiser knows all attendees well enough, the discrepancies which may occur the meeting must be handle need to be address separately at breaks in order to not distortion the schedule.

Focus on the purpose of the meeting and everyone should participate exchange ideas and opinions that benefits the purpose of the meeting by being brief and making a sense , finally attendees feedback about the topic and the meeting.

If you implement EOS (the entrepreneur operating system) into your business, rating the meeting is something you do at the end of EVERY meeting. On a scale of 1-10, 1 being this was a total and complete waste of your time and 10 being a state where you couldn't imagine your time better spent, how would you rate this meeting? You rate it based on: - Were the problems/opportunities clearly identified? - Did everyone engage in the discussion in meaningful ways? - Did we create practical solves for each problem/opportunity and assign someone as the point person for the solve? - Was this meeting worth your time? Rating it at the end, and giving reasons why you gave you score dramatically improve your meetings over time.

The foremost factor to improve the meeting performance is to state upfront if the agenda was created by AI or by the leader. Transparency builds trust between people! For example, I have experienced wasted time when using a bot stating I am here to answer your questions and then does not. This result will crush trust.

The best way to implement decisions of a meeting is to decide on deliverables and people responsible for those deliverables before the end of the meeting. Timelines should be decided for the deliverables and follow up be done as per the timelines

Gather Feedback: After meetings, ask attendees for their input. What worked? What didn't? ??? Self-Reflect: Analyze your role. Were you clear, engaging, efficient? ?? Document Outcomes: Summarize key points, decisions, and action items. Share with the team. ?? Track Progress: Regularly check on assigned tasks. Are goals being met? ?? Celebrate Success: Acknowledge contributions and milestones. This boosts morale and commitment. ?? #EffectiveMeetings #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement #Teamwork

Para evaluar y mejorar el rendimiento de las reuniones, implementa una retroalimentación regular. Solicita opiniones de los participantes sobre la efectividad y relevancia de la reunión. Evalúa la puntualidad y el logro de objetivos. Utiliza encuestas o sesiones de retroalimentación anónimas para obtener comentarios honestos. Analiza las métricas de participación y la consecución de acciones posteriores. Identifica patrones y áreas de mejora. Ajusta la estructura y el formato según la retroalimentación recibida. Considera la introducción de nuevas herramientas o tecnologías para mejorar la colaboración. Mantén una mentalidad de mejora continua y adapta las prácticas en consecuencia para optimizar el rendimiento de las reuniones.

Three easy and quick recommendations that can make a huge difference are: 1) Put a box at the entrance of the meeting and ask everyone to put their cell phones in it. Also ask them not to bring other electronics unless absolutely needed. 2) Make sure everyone understands that the meeting needs to start on time. I used to literally close the door and do not allowed anyone to come in late. Another alternative is for anyone late to bring coffee to all participants the next day or contribute to a charity fund. 3) Most meetings last way longer than what they should. Sometimes you may be better off using high tables with no chairs to have your meeting. I guarantee your meetings will be shorter.

Evaluate if you need a meeting in the first place. If yes, ensure the right people are invited. Send out the agenda and what is the outcome expected out of the meeting. Makes for shorter meetings. Start the meeting by setting the stage: objectives, desired outcome. Have people picked out to keep the meeting on point: not let discussions go off on a tangent, keep the time and take notes End the meeting with clean action items, owners and timelines Send the MOM so everyone is on the same page Schedule followups

There’s often the risk that a meeting topic may be “explosive” because of some unspoken but very real dynamic. Perhaps it’s feedback you expect will make recipients needlessly defensive. Changes that might send some spiraling into concern. Or results that, on the surface, may spark upset. The best thing to do is to ‘name it and tame it.’ A latent dynamic often loses its power to disrupt when you explicitly bring it into the open & acknowledge it *before* discussing the topic. Use phrases like… “I have no desire to trigger you here because you have no need to be upset, so please hear this out for 1 minute before you react…” “This topic sometimes makes people feel [example] but that’s not necessary in this situation…” Then get to it.

The biggest challenge for every meeting is to commence and conclude it in time. If that’s achieved a lot of risk will be mitigated and efficiency achieved in the system.

Gather Feedback: After meetings, ask attendees for their input. What worked? What didn't? ??? Self-Reflect: Analyze your role. Were you clear, engaging, efficient? ?? Document Outcomes: Summarize key points, decisions, and action items. Share with the team. ?? Track Progress: Regularly check on assigned tasks. Are goals being met? ?? Celebrate Success: Acknowledge contributions and milestones. This boosts morale and commitment. ?? #EffectiveMeetings #Leadership #ContinuousImprovement #Teamwork