Blueprint for Successful Meetings
Do you or your team look at the calendar with dread as you see the number of meetings you’re expected to attend each day? How many have become routine status updates or just a complete waste of time? Forbes references that employees find less than 50% of the meetings on their calendar useful, ugh!
Executives at EVERY level of an organization feel this pain. Here we’ll review a blueprint to reinvigorate your meetings, making those moments with your team and colleagues count, creating meaningful engagements that inspire and drives results.
The Gift of Presence in Meetings
Just like being present with your loved ones, being fully present in a meeting is a gift to your colleagues. It’s about giving your full attention, listening actively, and fostering an environment where everyone feels valued and heard. The first step to hosting a meaningful meeting is to embrace this mindset, leaving distractions like phones and laptops to the side. Taking a moment for 5-10 deep breaths before going into a meeting can help re-set your mindset and attention, especially if you’re leaving a difficult conversation beforehand.
Defining the Purpose
Every meeting should have a clear and defined purpose. I’m always shocked by how many meetings just happen because they’re set as recurring on the calendar. Knowing the "why" keeps everyone focused and aligned. Start with a clear objective to ensure that your time together is purposeful. This should also directly influence the meeting’s agenda and goals. All the tips discussed today apply to 1:1 meetings as well.
Before gathering a group together, what are you hoping to achieve? What does success look like? Here are a few samples for consideration:
General updates (can likely be an email or template)
Celebration and recognition
Team building and bonding
Brainstorming or problem solving
Decision making
Reflection and planning
Sharing the agenda and expected outcomes in advance allows participants to prepare, contributing to a more engaging and productive meeting.
Inviting the Right People
Not everyone needs to be at every meeting. Be selective and invite only those who are essential to the discussion. This ensures that the meeting stays focused and that participants are engaged and invested in the outcomes. As you consider who to invite, keep the following in mind and on how they may contribute to the discussion and goals of the meeting. For example, a mix of personalities and styles helps to see an issue from multiple angles.
Level within the organization
Communication style
Area of expertise
Motivation to participate (what’s in it for them?)
Capacity to complete follow-up
Pre-Meeting Preparation
Let's talk about something crucial but often overlooked: preparation. Preparation is the secret sauce that makes everything run smoothly. Sending the agenda with any documents as a pre-read is helpful. Even if the team only has a moment to scan the attachments, you’re still helping to put them in the right frame of mind. The goal is to have everyone ready to hit the ground running when the meeting starts. These two steps of an agenda and pre-meeting preparation are a major difference between a failed aimless session and a successful meaningful meeting.
And here’s a pro tip: Get your team’s feedback in advance. Ask for their input on topics, questions or ideas. This also helps set the expectation for participation and their expertise is welcomed in the conversation.
Facilitating with Empathy and Accountability
You have a critical role to play as the leader and facilitator, as a guide for the meeting, keeping it on track (and on-time), and ensuring everyone has a voice. Here are some tips:
Setting the stage. Starting the meeting with the goals, agenda, and your expectations. How should everyone feel at the end? What should be the expected outcomes? Is everyone in agreement with the goals before you begin?
Ground rules. As the leader, the group looks to you on how to behave. Are you dismissive of new ideas, are you favoring certain voices over others, or do you dominate the discussion? It’s important you lead by showing curiosity, respect and empathy and your team will follow your example. Periodically, ask your team for feedback on the environment to adjust along the way. With each new team member, the dynamic changes so regular monitoring is useful.
Show appreciation and gratitude. To ensure all voices are heard and everyone is clear on why they’ve been invited, vocalize your thoughts. ‘Sue, I invited you here because of your expertise in communications. When you’re ready, I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.” Or “Tom, you’re new to our team, I’d like to understand how you’ve seen other organizations handle this situation and what we could apply.” or “Alex, within the pre-read you requested, I highlighted XYZ so you’d have some time to reflect in it beforehand, do you have any thoughts?” Don’t assume the team knows what you value about them, once vocalized, they will step up to the challenge and shine.
Managing the room. Keep disrupters to a minimum so everyone has a voice, and all ideas can be heard. Using tools like the parking lot to stay on track with topic or helping the group focus on ‘what’s in their control’ is a way to keep the discussion focused. Also, providing timing prompts like, “in 5 minutes we’ll transition to topic X and I’d like to hear everyone’s ideas on it” will give more introspective team members a moment to gather their comments. This allows each communication style to have a moment to contribute. Finally, don’t forget to leave time for questions and group discussion!
Addressing challenges. Obstacles and potential problems will come up, don’t ignore them or show unrealistic optimism. Acknowledge the concern, then gather some data - How often does this challenge occur? How does it impact on our ability to complete the project? Who does it impact most? Sometimes going through this exercise helps the team understand a situation is a one-off and not worth spending 10 minutes of the meeting agenda on, but if determined it’s a major problem, as the facilitator you decide whether to alter the agenda to address it or schedule a separate session to address with the appropriate people in the room.
By balancing empathy with accountability, you can create a respectful and productive meeting environment.
Action Items and Follow-Up
One of the biggest pitfalls of meetings is what happens at the end—or rather, what doesn’t happen. Without clear follow-up and owners, I guarantee you’ll have the exact same meeting two weeks later, everyone leaving frustrated at the lack of progress.
It starts with a recap of the discussion and determining clear action items—the concrete steps needed to move forward. During the meeting, clearly define these tasks. Who's doing what? By when? And what exactly needs to be done? The magic of a meaningful meeting continues after everyone leaves the room.
Assign responsibilities for each action item. Each task should have a designated owner who is accountable for getting it done. This not only clarifies who’s responsible but also ensures no task falls through the cracks. And don’t forget to set deadlines. A task without a deadline is just a wish. Think of it as setting up a roadmap for success and laying the groundwork for accountability.
There are conflicting opinions on meeting minutes/summaries, they can be valuable to ensure everyone remains on the same page and is clear on their responsibilities. Especially with the AI and dictation tools available, it can be as simple as sharing a file after a meeting. Without that technology, rotating note takers is a way to track the team’s progress and discussions as well.
The Power of Reflection
After the meeting, take a moment to reflect. What went well? What could be improved? Gathering feedback from participants can provide valuable insights for future meetings. This continuous improvement mindset helps refine the meeting process over time.
Putting It All Together
Hosting a meaningful meeting is about more than bringing the team together for a weekly update. It's about being present, engaging participants, and driving towards a common goal. By focusing on clear objectives, thorough preparation, effective facilitation, and diligent follow-up, we can transform our meetings into productive, engaging, and impactful experiences.
As always, if you'd like to dive deeper into this topic or seek personalized executive coaching, feel free to reach out for a complimentary consultation using the link below.
Resources
"How to Run a Meeting" - Harvard Business Review
"Tips for Running Effective Meetings" - Microsoft