Ralph Rajs, a consulting partner with The Table Group, shares tips for how to unfrustrate your meetings and improve team morale.
Meetings get a bad rap. People constantly complain about meetings, here are a few of the most common gripes:
- “Meetings are a waste of time and money.”
- “There are too many meetings.”
- “Meetings are boring.”
- “That meeting could have been an email.”
- “We never get anything accomplished.”
Do any of those complaints sound familiar? I agree with all these meeting indictments if you put the word “bad” in front of meeting in each case. Meetings don’t have to stink and they’re only as good or bad as the person running them. In this column, I am going to give you some strategies on how to unfrustrate your meetings. With this new year upon us, let’s resolve to have more effective and efficient meetings that you and your team want to attend and that are productive for all.
Patrick Lencioni, best-selling author and management guru, has said effective meetings are the single most important strategic advantage a company can have. In the last couple of columns, I have highlighted the importance of building trust with your team in order to have good healthy conflict. The primary place that healthy conflict is put into practice is in meetings. Meetings are where strong teams come together, debate, decide and create strategic clarity for the rest of the organization.
Here are three strategies to immediately see a difference in your meetings.
1. Give people a reason to care why they should attend a meeting.
Preparation and a little bit of a hook or some hype goes a long way to increase interest. The standard agenda that has not changed in three years does not promote engagement. I’m not talking about foot rubs and ice cream sandwiches. I’m talking about adding items like, “We have some very important updates on project X that we’re very excited to bring everybody in on at tomorrow’s meeting.” Or “In tomorrow’s meeting, I’ll be sharing last quarter’s numbers, and we some things to celebrate and some adjustments to discuss.” Preparing a strong meeting and letting people know their attendance and participation is important will go a long way in unfrustrating your meetings.
2. Let people know ahead of time what type of meeting they are attending and where it falls in the work process.
Organizations need to have different types of meetings with clearly identified objectives for each type. The main types are:
- Daily check in or stand up.
- Weekly tactical meetings that are approximately 60 to 90 minutes long.
- Ad Hoc strategic meeting that is approximately two to three hours long.
- Offsite or retreat-type meeting that may be a day or two.
Frustration comes when we mix the focus within a type of meeting. We have all had the experience where someone wanted to brainstorm a new something in the daily stand up and then that five-minute stand-up meeting turned into 25 minutes. Or when you have a great brainstorm session going with game-changing ideas flying all over the place only for someone to ask a super tactical question that kills the momentum?
If it’s a brainstorming creative meeting, identify it as such so all the participants can support the meeting goal. If it’s a tactical meeting where we’re updating progress and identifying any blockers, then this isn’t the time to start questioning why we exist as a company. People have their natural work strengths and those tend to come out in meetings, it’s up to the leader to keep the team disciplined to stay on task.
The same goes for agenda items. Within a weekly tactical meeting, you may have items that are in different stages of work. For example, in the middle of summer when the swim program and camps are in full swing, that may be a very tactical check-in agenda item. On the same agenda, you may also have an item that is further up in the planning process.
3. End the meeting with clarity so all participants feel like their time was productive and the organization is moving forward.
Everyone is frustrated by unclear or ill-defined conclusions to the meeting. Taking a few minutes to review what was discussed, what was decided, who is going to do what and how the information will be communicated to the rest of the organization, is a critical part of effective meetings. The height of frustration is talking in circles for an hour, not deciding anything, only to come back to the topic in the next meeting.
Having productive meetings is a huge strategic advantage for your team. Following these three simple meeting rules, will make your meetings more enjoyable, more productive and more engaging:
1. Set the stage and prepare for a great meeting
2. Clearly identify the type of meeting you are having and the activities associated with that meeting.
3. End with clarity.
Good luck and Happy New Year.
