How do you ensure that your meeting is effective? My 3 simple rules.

Meetings have always been one of the most polarising issues in business.

In principle, most everybody agrees that we make better decisions, are more innovative, and become more engaged and productive when we are included. In practice, meetings are too often mismanaged and end up delaying decisions, consuming too much energy, and alienating engagement.

Digitalisation has amplified both the benefits and the disappointments with meetings. On the plus side, online meetings increase access (swift booking without searching for meeting rooms or travels), improve inclusion (no more excuses for selective exclusion of decentralised employees), and allow prompt responses to emerging issues (by quickly and efficiently chartering a dedicated task force). On the minus side, the number of easy-to-book meetings has escalated, and many of us end up having back to back meetings all day, with no time (other than overtime) to actually doing our job.

So why do we resort to meetings so often that we get literally sick of them, fatigued, exhausted, less productive and less engaged? How do we make sure that we only have really effective meetings and avoid those that are simply a waste of time and energy?

To improve the effectiveness of your meeting, I suggest to follow three simple rules:

FIRST RULE: When deciding to invite to a meeting or to accept the invitation to a meeting, consider the following: is a meeting the best format for your purpose? and are you crystal clear about why you think a meeting / your participation to the meeting is needed? There are only 3 types of reasons for an effective meeting (spoiler alert: sharing info with only one person talking, while all others are just listening, is not one of them; send your report or powerpoint instead; or record a video; if it is not interactive, it is not a meeting!)

• To make a decision or to solve a problem: be clear which is the problem/decision and invite only those who are actually going to contribute; if you are invited, ask what exactly is expected of you to contribute.
• To brainstorm and gather new insights: be clear about the subject that you expect people to brainstorm about, send info upfront and capture inputs afterwards with a summary; further comments can go via email.
• To build team capabilities: get a team together to exchange learnings, to provide feedback or peer-to-peer mentoring, and to potentially suggest critical areas that might require a separate problem-solving meeting. Note: project status updates are not part of this; project team members must be accountable to keep each other informed of what done, e.g., by email; if there is a problem that requires others to participate in solving or in adjusting next steps/deadlines, this is a "problem solving" case as mentioned above)

SECOND RULE. Make sure that everyone who is invited - including yourself - knows what is expected of them, and can make a well informed decision to either participate to the entire meeting or only part of it, or even skip in case of conflicts with other urgencies, but remain fully involved by receiving a (short) meeting recap.

• If you invite, do not expect that everyone will be able to join (in our VUCA times, things happen fast and people need to make hard choices, often at the last minute); preferably do not keep changing the timings to accommodate everyone, but specify that the missed person's contribution is still expected, either before or after the meeting, in an appropriately defined format.
• If you are invited, make sure to clarify exactly what is expected of you, and if you have to decline (without being defensive) offer what you can to contribute at your best, maybe by sending your inputs upfront, or comments afterwards, and respecting the common decision afterwards.

THIRD RULE: actively contribute to the meeting; every participant shares the responsibility to making the meeting effective, productive, and engaging; everyone shares the responsibility to contribute their best value, including opinions, not only digested facts and logic reasoning.

• If you are the one who invites, allow for an initial check-in to warm up the discussion, e.g., ask everyone to share their intention for the meeting or any constraints (some might need to leave sooner than others, maybe you can adjust the agenda or the flow) and save the last minutes for a quick wrap-up; it is an excellent habit to have your follow-up recap ready. Ask questions and invite inputs from everyone; no matter how tough the problem or painful the decision, irrespective of the subject or the circumstances, you get the best out of people when they feel valued. If at all possible, introduce a personal note, a bit of fun or at least some smiles.
• If you are invited, do not assume that you your part is only valuable when asked by the meeting leader. Take the initiative to enquire and interact with others; listen and focus when others talk, but also demand the same attention when you talk. Interruptions can happen and are at times even beneficial (especially when someone launches in a long monologue), but if you are interrupted, do get back to your point after addressing the interruption; and if you wish to interrupt, do it in a kind and inquisitive manner (e.g., "can you repeat?"; "so are you saying that ...?" or "can you clarify your last point?") and then help the person continue.

FINAL NOTE: do not complain incessantly about your back-to-back meetings; do something to change the situation: do not organise a meeting just because you are stuck and maybe a meeting will give you the info you need; do not accept to attend a meeting just because you are invited.

What are your rules or the actions you take to make your meetings more effective, productive and enjoyable? I look forward to hearing from you.

Laura Lozza,

Managing Partner, Grooa AS

[email protected]