How to run effective meetings

Abdulla AzizInternational University of Erbil

http://ue.edu.krd/ abdulla.aziz@ue.edu.krd

objectivesAfter completing this section, students are expected to: • Know the functions of a meeting• Be able to prepare for a meeting • Be familiar with the dos and don’ts • Learn how to write after meeting reports and follow ups

Facts about meetings• Over a billion meetings per year in the US• Not everyone likes meetings • Meetings are expensive at $338 salary cost per meeting

on average• 63% of the meetings are done without in-advance

planning • 11:00 am is the most frequent meeting start time

What are the functions of a meeting?1. A meeting defines the team and strengthens the sense of

belonging to it2. A meeting is the place where the group revises, updates, and

adds to what it knows as a group.3. It helps every individual understand both the collective aim of

the group and everyone’s contribution 4. A meeting creates a commitment to the decisions it makes

and the objectives it pursues. 5. It is very often the only occasion where the team or group

actually exists and works as a group6. A meeting is a good place where a member can compare their

performance and status against other group members

Preparing for a meeting • DEFINE MEETING’S OBJECTIVES

• Unless you have a very clear requirement from the meeting, there is a grave danger that it will be a waste of everyone’ s time

• Meeting’s objectives define what is this meeting intended to achieve and what would be the likely consequences of not holding it. It is the bases according to which you can judge the success or a failure of the meeting.

Categories of meeting’s objectives Informative- digestive meetings• A meeting introducing an item that requires no

conclusion, decision, or action from the meeting, it is enough, simply , that the meeting should receive and discuss a report• It is a waste of time for the meeting to give out purely

factual information that would be better circulated in a document, unless the information should be heard from a particular person, needs some clarification, or if it has deep implications for the members of the meeting

Categories of meeting’s objectives Constructive-originative• This “What shall we do?” function embraces all items

that require something new to be devised, such as a new policy , a new strategy , a new sales target and so forth. • This sort of discussion asks people to contribute their

knowledge, experience, judgment, and ideas.

Categories of meeting’s objectives Executive responsibilities

• This is the “How shall we do it?” function of a meeting

Preparing for meetings SELECT PARTICIPANTS FOR THE MEETING• Th e rule here is simple: Invite everyone who really

needs to be involved• Between 4 and 7 is generally ideal, 10 is tolerable, and

12 is the outside limit

If the leader sees no way of getting the meeting down to a manageable size, he can try the following

(a)analyze the agenda to see whether everyone has to be present for every item (you might be able to structure the agenda so that some people can leave at half time and others can arrive)

(b)Ask yourself whether you don’t really need two separate, smaller meetings rather than one big one; and

(c)Determine whether one or two groups can be asked to resolve their topics out in advance so that only one of them needs to come in with its proposals.

Preparing for a meeting • PREPARE THE TIME AND VENUE Make sure all the required facilities are available and in a working order

Activity• Thill and Bovee believe that you should hold your

meetings in the morning. People are generally more alert and not yet engaged with the work of the day, they say.• Templar says: hold all meetings at the end of the day

rather than at the beginning. Everyone’s anxious to go home, and it keeps meetings shorter

• With who do you agree and why?

Preparing for meetings • WRITE MEETING AGENDA• Meeting agenda is like a blueprint. It helps organize the meeting through

setting the questions that need to be addressed in the meeting along with the time allocated, person responsible and many more things

Advantages of an effective agenda:• Sets clear expectations for what needs to occur • Helps team members prepare, collaborate, allocates time wisely

and identifies when the discussion is complete.• If problems still occur during the meeting, a well-designed agenda

increases the team’ s ability to effectively and quickly address them.

Agenda design • There are different ways to design your agenda

• This sample is from Shwarz’s HBR article

Meeting agenda

Meeting agenda

Meeting agenda

Shwarz’s tips • Seek input from your team members • Select topics that affect the entire team, or everyone who is

attending the meeting • List agenda topics as questions that need to be answered • Realistically estimate how much time each topic needs • Propose a process (steps) for addressing each agenda item• Specify how members should prepare for the meeting• Identify who is responsible for leading each topic• End the meeting with a plus/ delta. If your team meets regularly ,

two questions form a simple continuous improvement process: What did we do well? What do we want to do differently

Group activity You are the HR Manager of Stark Co. You have the following issues;1. Turnover rate is very high2. You have 10 new employees in the accounting department

who lack the necessary training for your specialized accounting software

3. There have been reported gender discrimination issues in one of your subsidiaries in the Twins

4. Your department’s operation cost is very highYou have called for a meeting in your Godswood HQ’s with all the managers that are involved Write a meeting agenda that covers the above issues and describes the processes of overcoming them

During the meeting tips• Always begin on time. That shows respect to the ones who arrive on time and

shows the others that dates actually matter • Consider revising the agenda one last time before the meeting starts• Start by correcting what went wrong in the last meeting • You don’t have to be bossy or aggressive about this, just firm, friendly, and

utterly in control • Make sure every point on the agenda ends up with an action plan—no action

plan means it was just a chat• Do not discuss any matter that is not on your agenda, if it was important it

would have been on the agenda • Make meetings fun• End the meeting with a review of how the meeting went, what went right and

what aspects of the meeting need improvement

After the meeting

• Write a report (meeting protocol or minutes) about the meeting and summarize the action plans • Make the report as clear as possible • Share the report with everyone who is involved • Make sure you control the execution of the action plans

How to write a meeting minutesA good meeting minutes includes:• Basic information: meeting title, objectives, date, location

and etc. • Summarize the meeting’s content: Using the meeting

agenda as an outline, write a summary of each discussion took place • Include action plans decided upon at the meeting; Identify

the person responsible for each task and state the deadline• If the meeting is a regular occurrence, mention the date of

the next gathering. Include the time and location

References• Bovee, C. and Thill, J. (2013). Business communication

essentials (1st ed.). [Place of publication not identified]: Prentice Hall. • Jay, A. (2016). How To Run a Meeting. Harvard Business

Review. Retrieved 23 November 2016, from https://hbr.org/1976/03/how-to-run-a-meeting  • Schwarz, R. (2016). How to Design an Agenda for an

Effective Meeting. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 23 November 2016, from https://hbr.org/2015/03/how-to-design-an-agenda-for-an-effective-meeting