Simple Ways to Manage Effective Meetings

By improving the way meetings are run, you can cut down the length of time they take and be more productive in them. If you are not in charge of the meeting you can make suggestions for improvement.

What is a meeting for?
No meeting can be run effectively unless everyone has a clear idea about its purpose. Before you chair any meeting, decide what you want to achieve at the end of it. Usually meetings should result in some course of action being suggested. If you have called the meeting, what are you going to ask people to do at the end of it? Are you going to ask them to do something in particular? To consider and report on suggestions made at the meeting? To write reports? To give a talk at the next meeting? If you are attending the meeting, ask for clarification of these points at the start. If the discussion strays, remind everyone what the meeting is supposed to achieve and guide the discussion back to the point.

Whatever the purpose of your meeting, you should be clear about what you hope to achieve. You should also make it clear to all the participants both beforehand and at the start of the meeting exactly what you expect to achieve by the end and what you expect of them. Nobody attending should have any excuse for being unaware of what the meeting is for. Aim to accomplish three things in any one meeting.

The agenda
An agenda keeps a meeting on track and minds focused. Resist the temptation to add anything else that just occurs to you. Try to keep the agenda as short as possible while making sure that everything relevant has been included. Leave out anything that can be dealt with elsewhere or by other means. For example, if members need to be informed about the contents of a document, distribute copies beforehand with instructions that they are to be read before the meeting. Some information documents can be sent to people, with a list of names, on the 'tick when read and pass it on' basis.

The agenda should be distributed well in advance of the meeting to give everyone time to note the date in their diary and to prepare for it. Everything on the agenda should contribute to achieving the purpose of the meeting. If other people want to add items, do not let them unless the items are relevant. If they are concerned that their opinions will not be taken into account, arrange to deal with them on another occasion, perhaps by personal interview.

A good agenda should:
- explain any formalities clearly (such as the order of speakers, time limits on discussions)
- state where the meeting is to be held, the time and date and names of people attending
- mention any relevant business from previous meetings
- specify the subjects under discussion and explain what the meeting should achieve
- specify who will be leading discussions or presenting items on the agenda
- list the items in order
- state a firm starting and finishing time.

Chairing a meeting
A good chairperson can make or break a meeting. If you are in the chair, try to be a firm and effective chairperson. If participating, support the chairperson's efforts to keep the meeting to the point and within the time limits.

A chairperson should be someone who is accepted and respected by other members. Naturally, they should arrive on time and follow the administrative procedures correctly. They should also have done some preparation because they need to know enough to guide the discussion and to steer the meeting to a decision. The chairperson should introduce everyone and allow everyone to have their say while at the same time keeping the discussions to the point and controlling them so that no time is wasted. They should make sure that anything agreed is recorded and that procedures for follow-up are adhered to. At the end of the meeting, the chairperson sums up - the meeting should end on time.

Chairing a meeting is not an easy job but you should try to chair a meeting or two if you can. This will not only give you experience of the difficulties of keeping meetings short and relevant, it will also enable you to keep them from becoming time-wasting sessions.

Set time limits
If meetings drag on, then you are not setting time limits. These are vital to keep meetings on course. Everyone likes to have their say at meetings and a good chairperson will allow them to do so in turn. But some people repeat themselves and start straying from the point. Politely bring ramblers to an end. Announce at the start of the meeting how long you will be allowing for the meeting itself and for each person to speak. If people disagree, remind them how much their time is costing the company and that you would prefer it to be spent on more productive work rather than meetings.

Action, action
The main purpose of your meeting should be to suggest certain courses of action. One of the first jobs of a new meeting is to find out how many of these actions have been carried out. Use checklists to monitor progress. Do not confine this to the next meeting, send reminders to attendees between meetings to find out what progress has been made. Aim to ensure that the actions are carried out as far as possible before the next meeting.

Time and place
Choose the time and place for your meeting carefully. It is no good insisting that everyone turns up at a time when you know that they usually have other commitments. Holding meetings at unusual times, such as before normal work starting time when you know that people have to travel long distances, is going to leave you with members who are resentful, tired and disinclined to contribute in a meaningful way.

Choose a time when most of the people will be able to attend. Give plenty of warning so that either the time of the meeting can be changed if not enough people can attend, or people can make arrangements to be there.

Make sure that the place you choose is convenient too. If people have to travel to an inconvenient location you will find that attendance is low. Cold, uncomfortable meeting rooms are not suitable, either. If you have no choice about where you hold the meeting, at least try to ensure that it is warm and fresh. Try to make it as comfortable as possible and provide ample desk space. Also provide the basics - pens/pencils, spare paper, water and glasses, perhaps coffee/tea/soft drinks and refreshments.

Taking a break
Most people like a break in meetings, if only to go to the toilet or stretch their legs. Unless there is a pressing reason, one or two short breaks of a few minutes is all that is required. Refreshments can be taken during the discussion. A good chair will allow this but ensure that the break lasts only a few minutes. Longer breaks tend to become a social occasion and it gets more difficult to recall people to the table. As a participant don't abuse short breaks.

Any other business (AOB)
Any other business (AOB) is one of the most time-wasting parts of any meeting. You can race through the agenda with speed and efficiency only to find that AOB is used as an opportunity by members to speak about irrelevant subjects at length.

In most cases, AOB is entirely unnecessary. If the item was important it should have been submitted for the main agenda. Otherwise it can be dealt with by memo, phone calls, other staff or not at all. A good chairperson will disallow discussion on most AOB on these grounds.

If AOB is considered to be a necessary part of the meeting, it should not be put at the end of the agenda where it increases the danger of dragging the meeting out. It should be put at the beginning with only ten minutes allocated for it. That way there is a defined time limit, with the pressure of the main business of the meeting to follow to focus minds. Define exactly what kind of subjects, if any, can be raised under AOB.

Deal with interruptions
Meetings take much longer if they are constantly interrupted. The best way of handling interruptions is to deal with them as far as possible beforehand. Take these precautions:

- ask your secretary to deal with phone calls and callers
- deal with outstanding calls and visits beforehand
- warn potential visitors that you will be unavailable
- have strategies in place for emergencies so that your staff can deal with them.

If you are interrupted during the meeting, immediately direct the person to your secretary or a designated member of staff. Delegate one person at each meeting to deal with any interruptions.