Telephone Excellence by Mike Mitchell

Do Your Meetings Meet Your Expectations?
By Mike Mitchell

We’ve all sat through meetings that wasted our time, haven’t we. Chances are that we have actually facilitated some of those meetings. I used to attend a weekly meeting of the IT staff which almost always centered on activities other than telecom. Although the information shared around the table was important to the rest of the IT managers, it was generally not that important to me. I often thought that since my contribution to most meetings could have been wrapped up in about five minutes, I could give my report and leave. No such luck. I sat there for the next hour and a half listening to problems with servers, software licenses and similar non-telecom issues.

Several years ago when I was an Instructor in the Telecom Department at a local college I had a revelation that changed my way of thinking about time. During that quarter I had 20 students in my class. Each one attended my class for four hours a week. It suddenly dawned on me one day that not only did I have the responsibility for the way I used my time, but I also had the responsibility for the 80 hours a week of my students' time. This changed my thinking forever about my responsibility for the time given to me by other people. The same perspective on time and responsibility can be applied to our meetings.

In their excellent book Communicating at Work Drs. Alessandra and Hunsaker have identified ten guidelines for conducting effective meetings which I’ve listed below.

Need: Only hold meetings when there is a definite need. Think about other means of gathering or exchanging information. Would an email be sufficient to accomplish your goal?

Purpose: Define your objectives and expectations for your meeting. Notify the participants of your expectations before the convening your meeting.

Attendees: Invite only those people who can contribute or need to be involved.

Agenda: This helps the facilitator and participants stay focused. It should be written and distributed to all invitees at the beginning of your meeting.

Meeting Room: Chose a room conducive to having a good meeting. It should be free from distractions and have the necessary equipment for any presentations.

Start and End on Time: Respect the time of others. They have entrusted their time from their daily schedule to you. You are responsible for their productivity during your meeting.

Stick to the Agenda: Encourage discussion but focus on your expectations

Encourage Participation: If someone doesn’t have anything to contribute, perhaps that person didn’t need to be invited to your meeting. Remember this for your next meeting.

Balanced Discussion: Allow alternative suggestions and opinions but stay focused on your objective and in control of the discussion.

Summarize the Meeting: Before dismissing the meeting, summarize the discussion, including specific action items and the person responsible for each. Follow-up your meeting with an email or memo to each participant so that everyone has an ‘official’ written copy of the outcome and accomplishments of your meeting.

By running an effective meeting, you will get a reputation as an effective leader. You’ll find that your invitees will be more willing to participate in your meetings and more willing to help you with your projects. Be as respectful of your co-worker’s time as you are of your time. Remember, your meeting participants are giving you something that they can never recover, their time.

Mike