How to run a meeting
Download as PPTX, PDF0 likes256 views
Meetings are often ineffective, wasting participants' time. This document provides guidance for running efficient meetings: have a clear agenda and goals; invite only necessary people; distribute materials in advance; make decisions by assigning responsibilities with deadlines; keep minutes; and plan follow-up. The key is to be focused and action-oriented rather than allowing discussions to wander without purpose.
How to run a meeting
- 1. How to run a meeting Special Topics in Industrial Chemistry Spring 2017 Seppo Karrila
- 2. Executive summary • In any organization people spend a lot of time in meetings • Particularly in the academia these meetings are often ineffective, with much waste of time – and the participants are stressed with other work tasks pending… • There are simple ways to improve the effectiveness, we cover some of these
- 3. What kind of meetings are we talking about? • This is about – Meetings with several people attending, at least three… – … with the purpose to make decisions related to projects and other tasks, or monitor their progress • This is NOT about – Select people sharing information in a seminar or lunch talk – Two people meeting to catch up and have a good time
- 4. What are typical goals of such meetings • Monitor progress of earlier assigned tasks • Make decisions to enable further progress • Assign responsibilities and deadlines • Bring to attention alerts, important issues demanding attention while not on agenda • Make a record of decisions, responsibilities and deadlines – Use the record to notify anyone concerned or affected
- 5. Preparation of a meeting • Draft an agenda, possibly including – Reporting due at time of meeting • On tasks or action items in progress, especially any that require decisions, or to make a record and close such task – Decisions to be made – Short announcements of future events – Reserved slot for “surprise” items • Share draft for feedback by e-mail
- 6. Circulate draft agenda well in advance, as an invitation • Those who have roles need to prepare, it is good to remind them even if they should know they have a deadline or checkpoint • Those who request decisions can distribute materials in advance – Extensive materials can’t be read during the meeting, give reading time to those participants who have an interest or a stake in the issue decided – In meeting, only a short summary of key points is allowed • Check availability of participants, the earlier they reserve calendar time, the more likely they can keep that slot reserved
- 7. At start of meeting • Summarize agenda • Make record of who is in attendance • Ask about off-agenda topics, if any • Set time limits for individual topics, to keep meeting schedule – If one topic requires extensive discussion, then it is best to have a separate meeting just for it… and make sure everyone is prepared when that meeting is held – Alternatively, move other items to next meeting
- 8. Life is not a democracy • In companies the decisions are made usually “by your boss”, but (s)he needs to know that you know what you must do – This makes the decisions relatively easy, unless the boss has a fear of responsibility or mistakes • In academia, those who have a budget will make decisions about that budget – Some decisions can be “democratic”, most aren’t
- 9. The indecisive boss • An insecure boss does not want to make decisions and take responsibility – (s)he will wait it over: either a decision is made above him and he can just pass it on, or you are running out of time and you have to decide… and take responsibility – Either way, the boss is “clearly not at fault” if you fail – But if you succeed, he will take the credit, of course • Eventually this game becomes so obvious that the boss acting as a useless middle-man is pushed completely out of the loop
- 10. Assigning responsibilities • When a decision has been made, a “we will pursue…” statement leads to no action – You can have the same discussion and same decisions repeatedly, without any effect • The only way to cause actions is to assign responsibility, with a deadline – Items without a deadline are never done because “there is still time” – Items with a deadline tend to get done just in time
- 11. At end of the meeting • Summarize the decisions made, the assigned responsibilities and deadlines – To check once more that what goes on record, in the meeting minutes, is understood by all participants • If the minutes are ready, e-mail them on the spot – Why wait… • Discuss time of follow-up meeting – When is it necessary to check progress on assigned responsibilities, can a date be tentatively set now?
- 12. How to have a useless meeting • Invite everybody – Not just those who are needed. This way the waste of time is maximized. • Don’t distribute any materials in advance – Have someone read aloud lots of material that requires no decisions or actions • Don’t set any purpose or goals for the meeting – This allows maximal creativity without undue exclusion of complete nonsense
- 13. More opportunities for acting like baboons • Don’t keep time – Allow any topic to run wild until participants leave because they have another meeting or appointment • Don’t make decisions – If a decision accidentally gets made, don’t assign responsibility – If responsibility is accidentally assigned, don’t agree on follow-up and deadline
- 14. To ensure lack or results • Don’t make a record in the form of minutes – This allows forgetting the whole episode on which time of multiple people got wasted • If by chance someone did take notes – Ask for them promising to make the minutes based on them, then forget the whole thing because there are more fun things to do • Why would people come to such meeting? – Because of coffee, snacks, or a free lunch – If the reason is that they have nothing better to do, they should be fired
- 15. Now you know • How to make a meeting efficient and useful • Or how to make it a completely useless waste of time • We discussed this because – Employees spend a lot of time in meetings, that is a cost to the employer and a stress to employees who would have better things to do – Even worse, the higher you get in an organization, the more expensive you are, and the more you have meetings
- 16. The funny things you may note • Everything above is obvious – Despite that you will see baboon meetings with very smart educated people wasting a lot of time • There are whole books written on this – They sell because meetings are a big cost to organizations, and business managers think if they read a whole book they get that much better – After these notes you don’t need to read those books
- 17. Key points summarized • A meeting should have purpose and goals • Only the people concerned should be invited • There needs to be an agenda with timing • Extensive materials are distributed well ahead of time, for reading by those who have a stake – Not necessarily by every participant • Any decisions made are assigned as responsibilities with deadlines • A record is kept and distributed as meeting minutes • Follow-up is planned on assigned responsibilities, to monitor progress