Managing Business Meetings
Richard Mulvey & Roger knowles
Published by Richard Mulvey at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Richard Mulvey
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Table of Contents
Chapter 4 – Leading the Meeting
Chapter 5 – Handling Difficult People
Chapter 8 – Legal Aspects of Meetings
Chapter I
“Put your hand up, if you think that meetings are always a practical, effective, efficient, productive and innovative way to make decisions.”
That’s how we always start a training course on meeting management. I am sure you will not be surprised to hear we have yet to have any audience do more than stir uncomfortably in their seats.
The next question is, usually, “How much time do you spend in meetings?” This one starts people thinking, as they have probably not made this calculation before. Time is one of business’s most important resources. It is horrifying how much of this resource is wasted in meetings.
Take some time now to do the calculation. Add up all the time you spend in meetings in an average month. Start with that big monthly meeting that goes on for 5 or 6 hours. Add to that, the weekly meeting with your boss and the similar meeting you have with your team. Next, add the time you spend in formal meetings with your customers or suppliers and the other people who want to talk to you. Consider also, the committee meetings you attend, the in-house magazine committee, the annual conference committee or the quality control committee, not forgetting your social committees, the school board or the squash club. The list is endless.
The results will vary, of course, but if you are a business executive in South Africa you will probably spend between 30% and 60% of your time in meetings.
This is not just a South African problem. Statistics coming from America suggest that the average executive may spend as much as 75% of his time in meetings and that figure is still growing.
Having worked out how much time you spend in meetings, you may like to calculate what those meetings are costing your company.
If we take a hypothetical Monday morning meeting with 10 executives from 07:30 until 10:30, that meeting may have cost your company as much as $20,000 in salaries for those people attending. This represents an annual expenditure in excess of one million dollars and only covers one meeting a week! If you were to add to this, a similar calculation for all the meetings your company holds the results are likely to be staggering.
On the other hand, it is perhaps a good thing that we spend so long at meetings. If executives spend 60 % of their time attending meetings and all meetings were cancelled, 60% of business people would, very quickly, find themselves out of work. This would add a terrible burden to the already overcrowded golf courses.
Meetings are not, in themselves, bad. A well managed meeting that starts and finishes on time; is well attended by the appropriately prepared people and achieves its objectives; is an important tool for any manager. So, some meetings are good, but most meetings are not.
Throughout this book, we will be discussing what separates the good from the bad while focusing on the good. We will take a critical and sometimes irreverent look at the meetings you have in your company and offer suggestions as to how they can be improved or sometimes, why they should be cancelled. We will look at the preparation that precedes a good meeting, how the agenda should be used and how to structure the meeting to achieve the objectives, in the shortest possible time. We will also look at how to manage difficult people in meetings, how to use your meetings to motivate your team and how to use the law regarding formal meetings to your advantage.
Whether you attend or lead meetings, this book will help you make the most or your meeting time.
To help lighten this book and to create examples of the problems that may occur with your meetings, we have introduced Bill and Jane into the dialogue. Bill is a middle-aged manager with dubious skills and years of experience fine-tuning them. Jane is Bill’s secretary. She is highly intelligent and I cannot imagine why she has worked for Bill for so long!
Chapter 2
Most meetings fail because they are badly prepared. To prepare a meeting effectively, you need to consider the following:
Do we really need a meeting?
What are the objectives of the meeting?
How much time should be allocated to each objective?
Who should attend?
When these items are clear:
Decide upon the venue and layout.
Produce and distribute a detailed agenda.
Let’s look at these one at a time and identify the pitfalls.
Do we really need a meeting?
I wonder if you have ever asked that question. In our experience, meetings are “called” regularly and regular meetings are notorious for losing their way.
Jane “Why are we having a meeting on Friday?”
Bill “Because we always have a meeting on Friday, stupid!”
If this sounds familiar, it’s time to have a look at your regular meetings and ask a few questions of your own.
Do we need to meet every week? Do we achieve any serious objectives at that meeting or are the attendees just earning “brownie points”? If each attendee circulated a brief weekly report, would that be enough? If we cancelled the meeting, would anybody be worse off? Is there a better way to communicate?
If you are not sure about the answers, try cancelling your next regular meeting and see what happens. My guess is, very little will happen. Now you can move on to the next stage.
What are the objectives of the meeting?
Bill “We’ve got a meeting scheduled for Tuesday Jane, and I’m just looking at the agenda. What do you think we should be trying to achieve?”
Jane “Are you sure you’ve got this the right way round, Bill?”
Before calling a meeting, you must decide upon your objectives. It is not enough to call a meeting because “we haven’t got together for a long time”. There must be a firm objective or, in the case of some meetings, a few firm objectives. How else can you measure the value of the meeting, other than achieving the objectives?
When completing the objectives prior to a meeting, make sure you do so in detail. Consider the following list of objectives:
Discuss new computer system
Review the budget
Get update on Quality Program
While these items may be the ones you want to discuss, they are not detailed, and therefore, not measurable.
The following would be a better option:
Consider the various options for the new computer system and decide which one is the most appropriate. (Detailed options attached)
Review individual sales budgets for the coming year and agree totals. (Details attached.)
Discuss the results of last month’s quality drive and agree on the winner of the “Quality Manager of the Year” award.
Having detailed your objectives, consider again if a meeting is the best way to achieve them. You may consider the above objectives could be more efficiently achieved, in one-on-one meetings with the appropriate people, followed by a short memo to keep everyone else informed. If you decide to hold the meeting as part of your team building campaign, or to contribute to participative management, make sure these items become part of your list of objectives in a way that is measurable.
Some managers call meetings because it is the easiest way (or the only way) to get face to face with their team. This approach may well be easy but it is a waste of your most important resource, your time.
How much time should be allocated to each objective?
Jane “Have you put times against each objective in your list, Bill?”
Bill “I’m just doing that now. How much time should I allocate to this “quality” item? You know Marion likes to go on and on and Michael always has something to say about quality, even though it’s not his department. Perhaps I should give it 40 minutes, what do you think?”
Jane “Five minutes for Marion and three for comments.”
Bill “What! I’ll have a riot on my hands.”
Jane “Not if you finish your meetings on time; you’ll be voted manager of the year.”
Being your most important resource, time should not be wasted. As a manager however, you have a responsibility not only to avoid wasting your time but other people’s time as well. Consider each objective and allocate a reasonable amount of time for presentation of the facts and discussion. There is no point in calling a meeting, if you are not going to allow time for the attendees to contribute. However, there is no reason to allocate 20 minutes where 5 will do. There is a great book on the market called, “How to get your point across in 30 seconds or less” by Frank O Milo. I recommend you get hold of a few copies and distribute them at your next meeting.
Who should attend the meeting?
Bill “There you go Jane, that’s the objectives done Just send it out to the usual list and I’ll do the agenda just before we start. No, wait a minute; you had better send it to Brian and Philip from transport. They were complaining that they never get invited to anything. And Jim in personnel; he will sulk if Brian’s invited and he isn’t.”
Jane “What about Mary? She could sit in after she delivers the tea.”
Bill “Good idea, well done, Jane.”
It is often just as bad to invite too many people to the meeting, as it is to invite too few. If too many people attend, the meeting may become overcrowded and difficult to control. There is less likelihood that attendees will feel free to express their opinions, in front of a large crowd.
Of course, it depends on the reason for the meeting. In certain cases, it is necessary, even desirable, to have a large number of attendees. For example, it would be essential to have as many people as possible, where a meeting is called to consider a matter of importance to the community, or club, or to share news or information with the team or work force.
If you want participation and an exchange of ideas, however, try to limit the number attending to 10 or less. Only invite the people who are really necessary for the meeting. It will bore them and waste their time to sit through discussion that does not concern them.
Remember, you do not need all the people there, all the time. You can phase the attendance plan, so only those whose presence are actually necessary for a particular part of the meeting; need to attend at that time. Once a staff member has delivered the report that was the only reason for his attendance, let him go!
When selecting business meeting attendees, watch out for these three traps;