Leading Effective Meetings

The Agenda

In this article on how to run effective meetings I will be starting with the following agenda. 

1. Establish Open Frame

a). Setting the context.

b). The problem and cost of poorly run meetings.

c). The process and ground rules for running effective meetings.

2. Conduct Pre-Meeting Admin

Setting the agenda, write each item as an outcome with nominated presenter.

a). Order agenda according to two criteria

i. From short and simple to longer and complex

ii. From stand alone items to related items

b). Invite only people who can contribute

c). Send agenda out to enable preparation

d). Specify start and end times

e). Get confirmation from participants

2. Apply Framing

3. Applying the specifier questions

4. Challenging for Relevancy

Reducing fluff and verbosity (e.g. "considering the significant conditions in the global economy, we require long term solutions..." ”What conditions specifically”? ”Significant, how specifically? “Why” invites excuses. Recommend “What for?” instead.

4. Backtrack and paraphrase for Memory

Review what has been covered. This role is assigned to someone else - so delegates have to pay attention

5. Handle Impasses

What to do when the meeting gets stuck.

6. Review the Meeting

Leader reviews what was discussed and what actions are to be taken, by whom and when.

Introduction

Meetings are an integral part of the business of successful companies. However, meetings have a notoriously unpopular reputation among managers and employees for being “inefficient, boring and full of conflict”.

Statistics unearthed by the 3M Company while researching its “meetings efficiency calculator” show that chief executives spend 69% of their time in meetings, and 35% – 70% of the typical professional’s time is spent in meetings – half of which is said to be wasted time.”

Leaders spend 50% of their day in formal meetings and another 20% in informal interactions and complain consistently about not having enough hours in the day to achieve results. Thousands of salary dollars are tied up in meetings each year. (Conservative estimates indicate three quarters of a million dollars are spent for every 100 employees).

Here are some of the key patterns that meeting facilitators can use to improve the outcomes of meetings significantly and reduce the costs of poorly run meetings:

Pre-meeting Preparation

Before setting up a meeting it’s important to consider whether a meeting is the best way to achieve your intended outcome. 

To make that decision it is useful to consider the outcomes and then consider the following questions for each outcome:

• What evidence will you accept that the outcome has been achieved?
• What is the intention for that outcome?
• What are the future consequences (benefits and costs) that are likely to arise if the outcome is achieved?

Consider and create a list of agenda items. Each agenda item should be tied to a specific outcome and written in the form of an outcome. Once again for each outcome, note the evidence criteria for recognising when it has been achieved and what is the intention and potential consequences. 

When the outcomes for the meeting and the agenda items have been developed you are ready to consider who to invite to the meeting.

It is important only to invite people who can make a relevant contribution to one or more of the agenda items. 

Just before the meeting

It is useful for the meeting facilitator to arrive at the meeting room before the other participants so that you can meet and establish rapport with each participant as they arrive.

Rapport is defined as “gaining and maintaining the unconscious attention of the other person”. It is the foundation of relationships both professional and personal and is an essential prerequisite for effective interpersonal communication.

There are two different ways for establishing rapport with others. One approach is to mirror the other person’s non-verbal behaviour deliberately. To do this you would mirror the person’s posture, gestures and voice qualities. The problem with this approach is that it takes conscious effort and creates ‘cognitive load’. This means that most of your attention is taken up with rapport and your communication risks becoming “wooden”, like a bad actor. 

A natural approach is simply to be interested in the other person and in what they have to communicate. When people establish rapport through interest they automatically, unconsciously and subtly mirror the other person. Creating rapport through a state of interest leaves your conscious attention free for important matters. These include the business of running the meeting and framing and calibrating the responses of the participants.

Setting general frames

At the beginning of a meeting the facilitator sets the frames for the meeting. A meeting facilitator might say as their opening frame; “Thank you very much for being here today, my intention for calling this meeting is X”.

Framing sets the boundary conditions for the meetings. In any interaction between two or more people framing is the art of setting the boundaries or constraints for that interaction. It defines the presuppositions, terms and conditions for the interaction. It sets the context.

Once the boundary conditions are set we can track whether what is happening inside the meeting stays within the frame, because if anything goes outside the frame we challenge it for relevancy.

In the frames for the meeting the facilitator sets the intention for the meeting; what is expected of the participants during the meeting, time frames and the running of the meeting. This way participants know what they are there for and the outcomes to be achieved through having the meeting.

Clear framing at the beginning of a meeting is essential for a meeting to be effective. 

Specifier Questions

The linguist John Grinder has developed a model for giving and receiving information when in meetings. You can use this model straight away, with rapport, after reading this article. The instructions are very simple.

“What, specifically”, is asked in response to nouns, both abstract and concrete that could be clearer. “How, specifically” is asked in response to unspecified and unclear verbs. Grinder recommends starting with the nouns. A single question may not be adequate, but with repeated questioning, the desired specificity is obtainable provided the subject knows the answers.

Use specifier questions on nouns and verbs wherever there is a need to know.

The cues for challenging non-specific nouns and verbs include:

• Identifying one or more vague or under specified nouns and/or verbs in someone’s language
• Identifying a need to know more accurately, specifically or exactly and/or to teach clear thinking and articulate description
• Identifying and implementing the level of rapport maintenance necessary to achieve the above

When all the above conditions are met, ask “What (noun) specifically” and “(Verb) how, specifically”. Keep cycling until you reach a satisfactory conclusion.

The Relevancy Challenge

Too often when running meetings someone will make a comment that is irrelevant to the agenda item under discussion. If the comment is not challenged for relevancy the meeting may go off track.

If the facilitator has already framed the context for the meeting and has presented an outcome and intention for the agenda item, it is a simple matter to challenge the comment for relevancy. The meeting has already been framed and the facilitator is indicating through the challenge that the meeting will continue to run within the frames that have been set.

To make the challenge the meeting facilitator while in rapport with the participant asks “how is your comment relevant to this agenda item?” If the participant can demonstrate that the comment is relevant then it can be added to the discussion. If the comment is not relevant to the current agenda item yet relevant to the overall outcome or intention for the meeting, it can then be added as further business to be discussed at the end of the meeting or arranged to be discussed at a future time. 

When challenging a comment for relevancy I point to the agenda item on the flip chart or slide. This emphasises that we are working to a specified agenda.

Backtrack

At the end of the discussion for an agenda item the facilitator chooses one the participants to do a summary review of the key discussion points, the next steps and assigned responsibilities for those next steps. 

I frame at the beginning of the meeting that I will select someone at the completion of each agenda item to review and summarise. This supports meetings where delegates pay attention to every agenda item just in case they are selected for the backtrack summary. 

Handling Impasses

What can we do if a meeting gets stuck? Sometimes an impasse is reached between two or more people which ideally we want resolved. 

There is a relationship between a person’s state, their thinking and their behaviour. When a person is fixated on a particular position there is an accompanying state and pattern in how they use their physiology. If an impasse is reached and not resolved, one useful strategy is to interrupt the meeting and have the participants engage in some type of physical activity to get a change in their physiology and breathing pattern. This will change their state and thinking. The meeting can then be reconvened and that agenda item explored again. 

Review the Meeting

Near the end of a meeting the leader reviews what was discussed and what actions are to be taken, by whom and when. The meeting facilitator checks that participants are congruent in their agreed tasks. 

Summary

This article is a summary of the patterns I teach and coach in depth for leading effective meetings. With training, coaching and of course practise leaders and managers run more effective meetings and the results are greater efficiency and better productivity. Over time effective meetings have a positive influence on the morale of staff and the culture of the organisation. 

About the author: Chris Collingwood is the managing director of Inspiritive Pty Ltd., a Registered Training Organisation (RTO #21178) that specialises in developing, training and coaching specialised programs for increasing people's expertise and expert performance. Leading Effective Meetings is one of their offerings.