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Effective Meetings Guidelines
Contrary to many people's expectations, the need and
frequency of meetings has not diminished with the "electronic age". In fact,
evidence suggests that we are spending more time in meetings each year and that
participants are becoming increasingly frustrated with the output of these
meetings.
PSA Training and Development have produced the
following suggested guidelines for effective meetings. They are provided for
anyone to use. All we ask is that if you share these with others, that you
credit PSA Training and Development as the originators.
1. Should we hold a meeting?
Why are you calling a meeting? What is the
purpose and objective(s)?
Does it meet other participants' needs as
well as your own.
Is a meeting the best way to achieve your
goal?
Are you having this meeting because you always have
done?
Could an alternative means be used, phone,
email, video conference?
What would happen if you did not hold this meeting?
2. Preparation
Invite ONLY the people who REALLY need to attend or
really want to be there. Meeting effectiveness has been proven to decline with
increasing numbers of participants - try to keep the numbers below 12 where
possible.
Distribute at least three days in advance a
meaningful agenda.
Meeting subject
Meeting purpose
Meeting outcomes
Location
Attendees
Start time
End time
Items for the agenda listed in order of importance
Agenda to have times against each item
Agenda items to identify clearly the objective and
outcome required
Any preparation work, pre-reading or analysis
distributed with the agenda.
Short highly focused meetings are normally more
effective that lengthy ones. Make the agenda achievable in the time available.
Meetings that look like they will last more than 90 minutes either need
splitting up or a break incorporating in the running order.
Attending the meeting
Complete your preparations before hand -
avoiding back to back meetings may help to carve out the opportunities to
prepare for forthcoming meetings.
Arrive on time and start the meeting
regardless of latecomers. Don't penalise the prompt by making them wait.
Get straight to business. Don't fill the first ten
minutes with 'catching up' chat. Save this for the end of the meeting.
Chair or item sponsor to introduce each
agenda item - including the subject, the purpose and the expected outcome (a
decision, a recommendation, an action point etc).
If you can't give the meeting your full attention
you perhaps ought not to be there.
Speak one at a time and don't cut across each other.
Challenge the idea or concept rather than the
person.
Everyone is responsible for ensuring that
participants stay focused upon the overall meeting and each agenda item's
purpose - don't let people wander onto 'pet' subjects.
Staying on time is everyone's responsibility - not
just the chair.
Summarise frequently to keep on track and to ensure
that everyone has the same understanding.
Allow people to leave after their input has
been made or topics have been addressed. Don't create 'meeting hostages'.
Allow people to arrive after the meeting has
commenced if their section is towards the end and the earlier parts do not
concern them.
Summarise action points to ensure actions are
understood by all present.
Consider the use of an action log rather than
taking full and in depth minutes.
Finish on or ahead of time. If the meeting
ends 20 minutes early, don't feel compelled to drag it out to the expected
finish time.
Take time to review the meeting process
before participants leave. How well did we handle this meeting? What could we do
to improve for the next time?
