The sign of a great meeting isn’t the meeting itself. It’s what happens after that meeting. Save at least the last five minutes to summarize what you learned, articulate what was valuable, commit to what you are going to do as a result of the meeting, and clarify how you will assess the success of your next steps.
“The Magic of 30-Minute Meetings,” Harvard Business Review. February 22, 2016 as quoted in HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter. Harvard Business Review Press. 2016.
There’s [a] group of people who are scheduled in back-to-back sessions all day long, every day of the week. I speak, of course, of students. All the way through school we’re taught in 50-minute blocks, a schedule that lets us get to our next class on time. The buildings even have bells to remind the person running the meeting, er, class, to end on time.
Why is it, then, that when we graduate, they take away our bells, replace them with an irritating “doink” sound signaling “15 minutes until your next meeting” and assume we can now teleport to the location of same? What could cause such madness? In two words: Microsoft Outlook…
By default, Outlook sets up meetings that are 30, 60, 90 or 120 minutes long. There’s no room for “travel time,” a few minutes to compose yourself and answer a couple of emails, or even a moment in the “little business persons’ room…”
Next time you’re faced with scheduling a meeting, consider booking a 20-minute or 50-minute session. See what you can accomplish in that time, and if you can still get to your next meeting. You may just start a new trend in your organization.
“The 50-Minute Meeting,” Harvard Business Review. August 6, 2009 as quoted in HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter. Harvard Business Review Press. 2016.
…there are only three functional purposes for having a business meeting:
1. To inform and bring people up to speed.
2. To seek input from people.
3. To ask for approval.
Use this as a filter to determine why you are having a meeting and explain that purpose to your audience. Your meetings may often cut across multiple objectives but forcing yourself to clarify the agenda into these three purposes can result in more effective meetings.
“The Key to Shorter, Better Meetings,” Harvard Business Review. June 23, 2009 as quoted in HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter. Harvard Business Review Press. 2016.
End the meeting with a plus/delta. If your team meets regularly, two questions form a simple continuous improvement process: What did we do well? What do we want to do differently for the next meeting? Investing five or ten minutes will enable the team to improve performance, working relationships, and team member satisfaction. Here are some questions to consider when identifying what the team has done well and what it wants to do differently:
To ensure that your team follows through, review the results of the plus/delta at the beginning of the next meeting.
“How to Design an Agenda for an Effective Meeting,” Harvard Business Review. March 19, 2015 as quoted in HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter. Harvard Business Review Press. 2016.
Make the first topic “review and modify agenda as needed.” Even if you and your team have jointly developed the agenda before the meeting, take a minute to see if anything needs to be changed due to late breaking events. I once had a meeting scheduled with a senior leadership team. As we reviewed the agenda, I asked if we needed to modify anything. The CEO stated that he had just told the board of directors that he planned to resign and that we probably needed to significantly change the agenda. Not all agenda modifications are this dramatic, but by checking at the beginning of the meeting, you increase the chance that the team will use its meeting time most effectively.
“How to Design an Agenda for an Effective Meeting,” Harvard Business Review. March 19, 2015 as quoted in HBR Guide to Making Every Meeting Matter. Harvard Business Review Press. 2016.
