THE 5 W'S TO HAVE MORE MEANINGFUL MEETINGS

THE 5 W'S TO HAVE MORE MEANINGFUL MEETINGS

Your employees are complaining that they can never get their work done due to the constant scheduling of meetings. You know how they feel because you are also suffering from meeting overload.

Are these meetings truly necessary? Could they manage without you?

Many firms are starting to acknowledge that meetings are not always the best use of time.

HERE ARE 5 W'S TO HAVE MORE MEANINGFUL MEETINGS.

1. WHO
• Respect people’s time.
• More is not always better.
• If you’re invited, decide if you really need to be there. Can you delegate to someone?
• The more people in the room, the longer the meeting is likely to take.
• Decide on the key players and limit the meeting to the people that really matter.

2. WHAT
• Send an agenda ahead of time.
• Assign time-frames to each agenda item to keep the group on task.
This also makes it easier for the person running the meeting to reign in someone going off track.
• Information needed to make decisions should be distributed in advance with the agenda.

3. WHERE
• Select a convenient location.
• Consider holding a stand-up meeting. Sit down meetings are about a third longer than stand-up meetings.
• Why not have a walking meeting? This is an option preferred by Richard Branson, and Mark Zuckerberg.
• Should you have a video conference? If you do, try to have attendees In a conference room rather than at their desk.
This reduces the temptation to multi-task (because most of us are checking email when we have conference calls!)

4. WHY
There are three main reasons why you should hold a meeting. They are:
• To give or get information.
I don't mean the kind of information that is just as easily distributed in an email.
I’m thinking about details that might be sensitive in nature (like a restructuring, layoffs, etc.)
• To discuss options, make decisions, or brainstorm.
• To build relationships.

5. WHEN
• Avoid creating a crisis by meeting too late in a process.
• Respect participants’ time.
• Check availability of key players before scheduling.
• Start and end on time. ALWAYS.

Did I miss anything?