Effective Meetings and Recapturing Time in 10 simple steps.

Meetings... Before I started consulting in 2003 I remember getting to work, opening my calendar and finding that I had up to 6 overlapping meetings assigned between the end of the day yesterday and that morning.

Meetings are critical because they are simply a cross functional collaboration to discuss a topic and we want that, in fact we want a lot of that, but....the meetings should be critical to accomplishing the annual objectives of the organization or to address something that has occurred that could threaten the obtainment of those objectives.

Step 1: Organize an effective meeting (I know right) to improve meeting protocol throughout your organization. The impact will be both freeing up a massive amount of time and act as a living example for everyone what an effective meeting looks like. Step 9 will walk you through what "good "looks like.

Step 2: Document all the time spent annually on recurring meetings. On yellow sticky notes, write down every recurring meeting you have, the frequency, who is required, and the length of that meeting. After step one there is an ocean of notes stuck to the wall. Then add up all the time all those people spend annually in reoccurring meetings (both preparing for the meetings and time present in the meetings). Just this step will be mind blowing.

Step 3: Document all the time spent annually on ad hoc meetings. On Blue sticky notes, write down all the "ad hoc" meetings that someone decided needed to happen. Same protocol, post them on the wall with the recurring meetings and add up the hours.

Step 4: Add up all the time spent by everyone in your organization spent preparing for and participating in meetings. You will find data similar to that reported by themuse.com 35% of middle management time is spent in meetings and 50% of senior management time is spent in meetings. 37 Billion dollars annually lost on unproductive meetings in the US. Gone! No working, supporting, coaching, leading and all of the other things they were hired to do in the first place. "Ready for the fun part? Because here comes the fun part!" - Super Troopers

Step 5: Combine required recurring meetings with the same attendees. As a team, discuss which of the recurring meetings have the exact same people in them and could be combined into one meeting. Take all those post it notes and put them on top of each other. You will already have freed up a lot of space on the wall and recapture a lot of your management's time.

Step 6: Eliminate employees that really aren't required to be there in person. As a team, review all the attendees and identify who doesn't need to be in those meetings because the information could be accessed from other sources or existing meeting members. Cross those names off the list.

Step 7: Schedule status meetings carefully to cycle employees in and out as needed. Eliminate any status meetings that could be done where the work is being done. Of the people remaining, how many of them had to be there for the entire meeting. Production status meetings for example. An area supervisor sits for 40 minutes waiting for their turn to provide status on their area which at that point is likely badly outdated anyway which is why production status should be reviewed in the process which eliminates the meeting all together! Real time status, interaction with the employees actually doing the work, good for culture and all that time given back to the supervisors. If the meeting has to take place but the attendees are not required for the entire meeting, carefully schedule and facilitate it! Example: Karen comes at 3:10pm, provides and update for 5 minutes and then leaves. 45 minutes of her time in the past now turns into 5 minutes in the future.

Step 8: Stop scheduling meetings if the issues could be resolved through a simple discussion. Of the Ad Hoc meetings how many of them could be eliminated by getting out of a chair and just going to have a face to face discussion with someone or picking up the phone and making a call. Take all of those notes off the wall and stack them on the conference table. A lot more wall space was just created.

Step 9: Run great meetings following highly effective meeting structure. Develop a structured meeting facilitation process and enforce through a robust auditing system. What is meeting structure? Meetings should be called because they either are critical to the annual objectives. The exception would be to address opportunities that arise throughout the year that were not identified during strategic planning or problems that put the organization at risk and require the use of a cross functional problem solving method like DMAIC, A3, 8D, .... All meeting should have a minimum of three assigned roles (Leader, Scribe, Facilitator). The scribe is responsible for releasing a structured agenda a minimum of 24 hours prior to the meeting so that everyone knows why the meeting is taking place and what the expectations for each person is. The role of the leader is to ensure the team accomplishes the goal of the meeting outlined in the agenda, and the crucial role of the facilitator is to monitor and enforce good team dynamics. Ensure everyone has an equal voice, that the Leadership Principles of the organization are enforced, and is well versed in conflict resolution and keeping the group from getting sidetracked on issues out of scope. The result of the structure is punctuality, a prepared audience, shorter meetings, meetings that end on time, focused attendees, and conclusions that result in comments like, "that was a really great meeting!". Over time, people look forward to coming to meetings instead of dreading them because the value of them has increased so dramatically.

Step 10: Calculate the savings and celebrate getting back the equivalent of 15-30% of your management work force! The result will be recapturing a huge portion of your workforce time. The remaining meetings will actually be so much more productive and focused that people will enjoy coming to them because everyone recognize it was warranted, well organized, everyone was prepared, the facilitator ensured everyone had an equal voice and no ideas are lost because the scribe is the singular documenter of everything that comes out of the meetings. Actions agreed upon during the meeting actually get done because the scribe publishes the notes in a RACI format so that everyone knows who is Responsible, Accountable, should be Consulted, and should be Informed prior to any changes being deployed. A simple solution to a chronic problem in almost every organization!

For information on this feel free to contact us or attend one of our conferences . If you believe in this content, please share it and spread the word! Get your time back!

Jason Rice, CEO, Master Solutions, LLC