How can we make work meetings more effective?

DO WE HAVE TOO MANY MEETINGS, OR ARE WE SIMPLY NOT MAKING GOOD USE OF THE ONES WE HAVE?

Meeting overload has become a common reality in many organisations: calendars packed with meetings and the feeling that there is less and less time to actually get work done.

But perhaps the problem isn’t just the number of meetings.

The way we work has changed too. Our work is increasingly cross-functional: we need information from other people, we need to discuss decisions and bring different perspectives into the conversation.

In this context, we still need meetings. The question is when they are actually worthwhile and how to make sure that the time we spend together helps us move forward.

Maialen Oregi, director of Manahmana, recently spoke about this in an interview with Enpresabidea. Drawing on that conversation, we have brought together a few key ideas for designing better meetings.

WHEN IS A MEETING REALLY NECESSARY?

Not everything needs a meeting.

If all we need to do is share information, an email, a document or another communication channel will probably do the job.

A meeting makes sense when we need to do something together: bring in different perspectives, make a decision, solve a complex problem, develop a proposal or coordinate work involving several people.

So, before sending out an invitation, we can start with a simple question:

Why do we need to be together?

If we don’t have a clear answer, perhaps we don’t need the meeting either.

WHAT SHOULD WE DEFINE BEFORE SCHEDULING A MEETING?

A good meeting starts before we enter the room.

There are four things worth clarifying:

• What do we want to achieve?
• Who needs to be there?
• How much time do we need?
• How are we going to work?

Deciding who needs to take part is particularly important.

If someone who is needed to make a decision is missing, we may end up having to meet again. If we invite people who don’t really need to be there, we are taking up time they could spend on something else.

There is another important question too: why do we need each person to be there?

Do we expect them to contribute ideas? Help make a decision? Challenge or build on a proposal? Knowing what is expected of us also changes the way we participate.

WHY DO THE FIRST FEW MINUTES OF A MEETING MATTER?

We rarely arrive at a meeting with a completely clear head.

We may have just finished answering emails, completing a task, speaking to someone or even attending another meeting. And yet, we often jump straight into the first item on the agenda.

But being physically present in a meeting doesn’t necessarily mean being fully present.

Taking a few minutes at the beginning can help us leave the previous task behind, understand why we are there and focus our attention on the conversation ahead.

And if we want people to participate, it makes sense to invite them to do so from the very beginning.

We don’t need elaborate exercises or half an hour.

Sometimes, five minutes is enough.

A question. An image. A quick round. Something that allows everyone to enter the conversation before moving on to the content.

MANAHBOX: 97 CARDS FOR STARTING MEETINGS DIFFERENTLY

For years, we have used images and questions to open the meetings and sessions we facilitate.

That experience led us to create Manahbox: a box of 97 cards designed to help teams and organisations start their meetings in a different way.

We might use an image to connect with the topic we are going to explore, ask how each person is arriving at the meeting or pose a question that helps the team get to know one another better.

It isn’t about adding an activity for the sake of it.

It is about making sure that, before jumping straight into the agenda, the people in the room have arrived too.

Find out more about Manahbox here. 

HOW SHOULD WE END A MEETING SO THAT IT ACTUALLY HELPS US MOVE FORWARD?

The end matters just as much as the beginning.

Before finishing, it is worth returning to the purpose of the meeting and making a few things clear:

What have we decided?

What is still outstanding?

Who is going to do what?

What happens next?

Because an effective meeting isn’t necessarily the one that finishes sooner.

It is the one that fulfils the purpose for which we came together.

THREE QUESTIONS TO IMPROVE OUR MEETINGS

If we had to start somewhere, we could begin with three questions:

1. Do we really need this meeting?

2. Are the right people in the room?

3. Do we know what we need to leave the meeting with?

Perhaps the aim isn’t to eliminate meetings from our calendars, but to restore their purpose as spaces where we can coordinate, think, decide and move forward together.

Maialen Oregi recently discussed all of this with Enpresabidea in an interview about meetings, participation and different ways of opening these spaces.

You can read the full interview on Enpresabidea (in Basque).