One thing most businesspeople agree on is that they hate meetings.
Jim CastigliaBut love them or hate them, they should be an engine of productivity. I always poll clients about meetings, and they almost all report that they are a waste of time. I’ve written in this publication before about meetings, but I think a strong follow-up should be useful to you.
And, since meetings should strongly support productivity, why does everyone, almost across the board, hate them?
Assessing Your Meetings
Let’s do an assessment; pick the correct response:
- Objectives of our meetings are: ill-defined, vague, imprecise, clear, sharp
- Meetings start on time and end on time: rarely, sometimes, regularly, always
- Participation is: narrow, inconsistent, enthusiastic, broad
- Recognition of team members’ contributions is: pathetic, negligible, generous, lavish
- In our meetings, we search for solutions, not scapegoats: rarely, often, constantly
- Meetings produce decisions, with effective follow-up: rarely, occasionally, rigorously
- Meeting evaluations are conducted: never, rarely, sometimes, frequently, always.
These are some questions that may begin to help you start to power up your meetings.
Strive to make the best use of this opportunity to get your people together, hear and decide the best ideas to solve company and/or departmental problems, build camaraderie, bonding, harmony, and trust, create organizational synergy, and as a leader, influence attitudes, reinforce culture, and strongly steer direction. Imagine if you could accomplish all this.
Eliminate Unproductive Meetings
Why work hard to eliminate unproductive meetings? Because:
- They waste money — billions of dollars are lost annually
- They waste people’s individual time — this is the biggest complaint I hear, and
- They waste organizational, collective time; more than 15% of an organization’s time is spent in meetings.
In fact, some surveys have found that executives consider more than 67% of meetings to be failures. Wow! Talk about profits flying out the door.
Here are some guidelines for highly productive and effective meetings going forward.
Logistically: Filling Roles
Fill the following four roles:
- Meeting historian: this person keeps the minutes for the meeting
- Meeting conscience: this person allows people to talk and participate fully
- Meeting gatekeeper: this person keeps the meeting on track
- Meeting timekeeper: This person ensures the meeting starts and ends on time.
Note that one person can take on two or more of these roles. Just make sure the role is covered.
Here are five questions to ask for any meeting or if you’re invited to one, from Stephen Kaye, Ph.D., author, speaker, and certified professional facilitator:
- Where is the agenda? A meeting without an agenda is like a journey without a map. It will always waste your time! Don’t just list topics. Describe the issue(s), the approach for resolving them, and a time budget.
- What is the goal? Is the chair seeking an agreement, solution, or plan? Knowing the objective gives participants a head start on effective participation. DO NOT have meetings “just to talk about something.” You will accomplish very little and once again waste people’s time.
- What is my role? Make sure your participation adds value to the meeting. Avoid meetings where you have a superficial role, such as to find out what’s happening. Instead, ask for the minutes. If you’re needed for only part of the agenda, attend only that part of the meeting.
- How should I prepare? You should know about any research, surveys, reading material, etc. required to participate effectively. Ask about expectations for the other participants because this could influence your preparation. Attend only if you can prepare adequately, or suggest another time for the meeting.
- What should I bring? Should you bring a laptop? Will you be asked to give a presentation? Should you bring reports, data, or other information? Make sure you have enough time to obtain the tools and materials needed for effective participation.
Participate at a Much Higher Level
Can you see how answering these five questions can dramatically help you have and/or participate at a much higher level?
I remember reading the 1984 book Managing, by the legendary CEO Harold Geneen. He built the first international conglomerate, ITT (International Telephone and Telegraph) and grew the company from $766 million in sales to over $22 billion with a 10% growth rate for 58 consecutive quarters,
He would host meetings every month — one in Europe and one in New York — attended by all the presidents of companies under the ITT umbrella, which included Avis Rent-A-Car, Continental Baking Company (Wonder Bread, Hostess Cakes, and Twinkies), and Sheraton Hotels. These multi-day sessions were high-level problem-solving events. These are the meetings that helped ITT grow.
Effective, productive meetings can help your organization grow, regardless of its current sales volume.
If you have any questions, contact me. I love supporting seasoned owners and their executive teams in maximizing the value of their organizations for the long term.
Jim Castiglia is the founder of Business Street Fighter Consulting, supporting entrepreneurial business owners in their desire to grow and maximize the value of their businesses. You can reach him at email, jvcastiglia@icloud.com, or text me at 949.338.7141.
