A poorly run meeting is a uniquely painful experience that can suck momentum and productivity out of your day. The real impact of poorly run meetings is often not considered. A meeting that lasts an hour and includes 6 people is negating 6 hours of productivity. If a 6 person meeting’s value isn’t equal to or greater than 6 hours of productivity then it’s not worth holding. That basic calculation needs to be considered whenever you book a meeting into your team’s calendars and it means that those of us who lead team meetings have a massive responsibility to make them productive and efficient or to cancel them. Team meetings, when well run, can provide an opportunity to energise the team, clarify priorities, find alignment, discover creative ideas or to solve problems. In this blog post, we will explore some of the best practices and strategies to lead a successful team meeting.
Before scheduling a meeting, establish a clear and specific purpose. As Priya Parker highlights in her book, "The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters," specificity is essential for a successful gathering. The purpose of the meeting serves as a lens through which all decisions, including attendee selection, are filtered. It ensures everyone is aligned and focused on the intended outcomes.
You need to spend time deciding on the purpose of your meeting. The agenda, attendee list, pre-reading and pre-meeting comms all need to vary depending on the meeting’s purpose. If you want to generate ideas then it’s useful to use a ‘workshop’ style agenda where you give people the opportunity to think individually and then share ideas. If the meeting’s purpose is to make a decision then it’s worth restricting the number of attendees to those who are crucial to the decision being made.
It’s easy to feel that spending time clarifying the purpose of your meeting is a waste of time but the real waste is scheduling a meeting and not putting enough thought in to make it productive.
Once you’ve defined your meeting’s purpose it should be straightforward to nail down the agenda. Prioritise important topics and allocate time accordingly. Focus on meaningful and impactful discussions that align with the meeting's purpose, avoiding unnecessary distractions.
Ideally a week in advance of the meeting let the attendees know what the purpose of the meeting is, what the agenda will be and what preparation they need to take care of. At the start of the meeting set the ground rules. Clarify whether attendees are welcome to carry on doing other work and using their laptops and phones or whether you expect everyone to be present and actively participating.
Doing necessary work in advance of the meeting is critical to making it a good use of time. If the purpose of the meeting is to make a decision and data is likely to be relevant to that decision then you need to have the necessary data available to participants so that they are properly informed.
Your role when leading a meeting is to keep the meeting on track and to ensure the meeting achieves its original purpose. If you haven’t run many meetings before it may feel uncomfortable to be leading the conversation and pushing back if the conversation is straying off-topic but usually attendees will be grateful that you’re protecting their time and keeping the meeting on track. If the conversation strays into topics that weren’t on the initial agenda then politely bring attendees back to the pertinent point.
The Law of Triviality states that discussions tend to spend an excessive amount of time on minor, simple issues while neglecting major, complex ones. The main cause of this is that the more general and minor the issue (such as what food should be served at the company lunch) the more likely everyone in the meeting is to have an opinion on it whereas if a topic is complex and detail rich (such as which analytics software we should use) less of the attendees are likely to have an opinion because they don’t have the prerequisite knowledge. Your key role is to focus the meeting on the priority issues on the agenda and ensure everyone has the information they need to participate.
Empower your team members by involving them in leading discussions related to their areas of responsibility. By doing so, you leverage their expertise and provide opportunities for growth and development. Allowing team members to take ownership of relevant topics enhances engagement and promotes a sense of ownership within the team. Keep an eye on anyone who isn’t participating in the meeting and be sure to ask their opinion. It’s also important to consider how much of the meeting you currently spend speaking. If you’re leading the meeting and spending the most time talking then that’s usually a problem. Make sure you’re asking questions and giving other people the opportunity to input.
The follow-up actions after a meeting are as important as the meeting itself. Clearly define actionable items, assign responsibilities, and set deadlines. Emphasise accountability by bringing up these actions during individual meetings (1-2-1s) and team standups.
Holding team members accountable ensures progress and creates a culture of responsibility and achievement. If you haven’t done this previously then it might feel uncomfortable to do this at first but actually most people want to be held to high standards and they prefer to work in an environment where people do what they say they’ll do.
Once your meeting has finished, seek feedback from participants to gather insights on what worked well and which areas can be improved . Consider conducting quarterly updates to assess the effectiveness of meeting practices, adjusting and refining them as needed.
Leading effective team meetings requires careful planning, purposeful execution, and a commitment to follow-up actions. By defining clear purposes, encouraging active participation, prioritising preparation, and holding individuals accountable, you can transform meetings into valuable opportunities for collaboration, decision-making, and idea generation.
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