Looking forward to that next meeting? Neither are your employees. Poor meetings suck time and energy. A typical front-line supervisor devotes 21 hours a week to meetings. That’s 21 hours filled with serious opportunities for improvement. Here are five keys to leading better meetings:
1. Set an agenda. Starting a meeting without an agenda is like leaving on vacation with no destination. “Because it’s 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday” is not a valid reason to meet. Your agenda should clearly state the purpose of the meeting.
It’s not enough to list a subject as your agenda, such as “this year’s budget.” Attendees need to know what they’re there to do. Is it to get updates? Share information? Give input? Make decisions? The agenda is the map for your conversation. It’s what allows you to get back on course when you find yourself stuck in a tangential rabbit hole.
2. Have a strong facilitator. Leading a meeting well is harder than it looks. Good facilitators are skilled at managing the content (what’s discussed) and the process (how it’s discussed). As the leader, you may be so invested in the subject matter that you’re better served to appoint someone else to facilitate, so you can fully immerse yourself as a participant.
3. Start and end on time. Nothing drains morale like waiting for the leader to show up to start a meeting. As the leader, you set the tone. If you model or tolerate lateness, that’s what you’ll get. When you start or end late, you fill a reservoir of resentment from those who bothered to show up on time and now feel their time is being wasted.
4. Appoint timekeepers and scribes. Being the leader doesn’t mean doing everything yourself. When you delegate roles at meetings, not only do you share the load, but you empower others to take responsibility for the quality of the overall meeting.
It’s amazing how many good ideas get discussed in meetings but never get written down. A good scribe, who can capture the essentials of what’s being said and done, is worth their weight in gold.
5. Leave time for next steps. If you don’t have an action plan in place, your meeting will have been a giant waste. Don’t assume everyone is leaving the meeting on the same page. Great leaders make their implicit assumptions explicit. As you wrap up, review the meeting’s content and clarify: Who will do what by when? Get it in writing, and follow up accordingly.
