Don't Schedule A Meeting Unless These 5 Things Are True

You know what is getting axed this year? Meetings. Okay, not all meetings, but hopefully all the dreadful ones.

Here’s the thing: bringing multiple people together requires human capital and time. As a people manager, you're responsible for leading meetings, which means you're responsible for ensuring company resources are used wisely. To do this and make the meetings you lead great, the following five things must be true:

Until these 5 things are true, don’t schedule the meeting

You want to be seen as a great leader. Let’s break down these critical components that drive successful team meetings.

1. Attendees know the purpose of the meeting

The goal could be to move a project forward, provide updates, share information, or get input. Whatever it is, write it down. Defining the purpose allows you to share it with attendees, which puts you on the path to achieving the goals of the meeting.

2. The right people are in the meeting

Just as the meeting must have a purpose, so should every attendee. Everyone in the meeting should add value or be an important recipient of information. As companies grow, people move into new roles, projects evolve, and teams change. At some point, you may need to refresh the list of attendees.

Periodically assess who the attendees are, and don't be shy about swapping out attendees for others. Similarly, if you are in a recurring meeting and start feeling bored or wondering what value you bring, it may be time to bow out or suggest someone else take your place.

3. The meeting has an agenda and is well facilitated

Get comfortable asking yourself (and other meeting organizers, for that matter): "Does this meeting have an agenda?" If the answer is yes, great! If not, you need to create one.

Your agenda should include the purpose of the meeting, topics you intend to discuss, and any pre-read or pre-work attendees need to do. If the agenda is more collaborative, send out a shared doc for attendees to submit topics they'd like to cover in advance. Include the agenda in the calendar invite.

Once you're in the meeting, the two most important skills as the facilitator are keeping time and following your agenda. You kick things off, move the discussion forward, and use everyone's time wisely.

If a topic is allocated to be a five-minute conversation but turns into a 15-minute discussion, you're the one to say: "This is a really important topic. How about we schedule another time to go deeper and report back?" You can also add the topic to the next meeting agenda to give it the time it deserves.

Retrieve people from rabbit holes as necessary and ensure everyone gets an opportunity to contribute. If someone dominates the discussion, it's your job to give others a chance to speak.

4. Everyone knows the rules of engagement

We've all been in meetings where everyone has their laptops open, replying to emails or Slack messages, or working on something else. Sometimes this is acceptable; other times, it's a distraction. Does everyone need to have their camera on or is it okay to turn off video? Do you want questions or topics submitted ahead of time?

These are the kinds of rules of engagement that you need to sort out ahead of time and communicate to attendees. Letting them know how to engage ensures everyone is on the same page. You can note this in the meeting invite and provide a gentle reminder when you kick off the meeting.

5. There are opportunities to interact

You want attendees to look forward to meeting. This means attendees need to know each other. Don't assume everyone has met, especially if the meeting includes people from different departments. I like to ensure everyone has been introduced by name and role and knows a little about each other.?

Attendees look forward to meetings because they’re an opportunity to fulfill their need to connect and interact. Meetings are one of the few times people get this chance. Provide space and facilitate that social connection by periodically throwing in a fun icebreaker or a little game.?

Manage your meetings and strengthen your team

The bottom line is, meetings need to be well managed to make them worthwhile. Beyond that, make it human, make it fun, and give people a moment to connect.

All of these lessons and more are part of my ManagerBASICS workshop. Contact me at [email protected] to book a ManagerBASICS workshop for your company. If you’re a manager and your company doesn’t offer a program like this, sign up for one of our upcoming cohorts.