I walked into a friend’s office. His phone was on speaker and a voice kept going on and on. After a while, he put the phone on mute and when I asked why he did that, he said ‘they keep repeating the same thing every week besides nothing ever gets done as a result of these meetings’. I am sure you have seen or even done same in the past if you work with a large organization which requires several people on the conference call. Later that day, I flashed back to weekly employee meeting for a big organization I used to work for. At first, we were always excited to attend because ideas were always flowing but soon, the number of people attending these meetings began to dwindle. Rather than investigate why people pulled back, management did what they always do when commitment drops, they make more rules and force everyone to come. At this point, you might as well have a meeting with Zombies, because disinterested employees will give you the least acceptable input and wait for it all to end. Here are tips to make your meeting be successful
- What is in it for them? People are motivated when they see the end goal. It does not have to be money, it does not even have to be to their personal benefit but they want to see their input adding value. Remember that every human being wants to matter. They want to feel as though their ideas are helping move the organization forward. Creatively put the benefit of this meeting in your intro and let them know what’s in it for them or the organization’s bottomline. That is your way of getting them hooked
- Decide on the number of people who will have impact on the desired outcomes of the meeting and invite them. No more, no less. Too many people who have no business there, means nothing gets done because people feel as though it’s a fight for significance while too few people, means you will not get adequate feedback from those who matter.
- Always have an agenda/purpose. You have probably been in meetings where you start at point A and end at point Z, yet at the end of the day, nothing concrete is achieved because a lot was said but nothing was agreed. One of the ways to get agreement is focus on the things you have listed. Meetings without agenda will likely go wildly off tangent because people will keep sharing ideas that pop into their heads.
- When you list specific items ahead of time, you time each item, so if you write down 10mins to brainstorm on sales, then you want to spend about that time. You don’t need to carry a timer around and freak everyone out. Just do it mentally. Nothing is more annoying that a time wasting meeting. It is unproductive because people zone out mentally. That makes, everything you do from that moment forward is a waste of time.
- Do not use meetings to share information. Use bulletin boards and other means to share information. This allows everyone focus on the major objectives.
- Be Open to Constructive Dissent. Leaders recognize that they are not always the most knowledgeable in the room. People love meetings where they are allowed to share their opinion. If you are a leader, let your people know you are fine with them having a difference of opinion. If the conversation involves ideas, solutions, or suggestions, don’t stop it. If it involves complaining, backstabbing or blame-game without any immediate pointer to how the problem can be mitigated, put an end to that point politely by stating that we are here to solve problems not point them out. As a leader, you cannot be too focused on hurting people’s feelings in a meeting. That is not your job. Remember confrontation can be good because when you let it flow, details which people are hiding become revealed.
- Have follow-ups for the next meeting. The most effective meetings end with a list of things to be done before the next meeting. This means when structuring meetings, you ask yourself what do we intend to accomplish? By the end of that meeting, you should be able to assign tasks to various individuals. Remember people love to go to meetings when they have a feeling that their input counts and the discussions are being acted upon. You also want to create accountability by being clear as to who is expected to do what by next meeting so there is no confusion.
- Ask for their feedback about the meeting- Ask if there is anything that needs to be discussed but not touched upon. Then be quiet. Usually most leaders go on speaking at this point. However, being quiet allows people quickly decide if they want to share their burning issues and once they sense, you are giving them the floor and undivided attention, they will speak.
Photo Credit: Huffington Post