Managers say too many get-togethers are just a waste of time.
When Archie Norman became chief executive of British supermarket chain Asda in the early 1990s, one of the first things he did was to get rid of the board table and chairs and replace them with a high table. The senior team would gather round this and have five-minute meetings instead of lengthy, rambling ones.
The more senior you become, the more meetings you seem to have. Some meetings are formal, some less so. It is up to managers to set the tone and the etiquette, says Megan Alexander, general manager of professional staffing and consulting firm Robert Half NZ. Some meetings involve regular groups who have been getting together since time immemorial; others are more spontaneous or project-based.
It is up to leaders to review the make-up of these meetings regularly.
"When reviewing the meetings with the group members, ask them 'What did you get out of it, what would you do differently?"' says Alexander.
Meetings can be a good way to foster collaboration, resolve problems, improve processes or strengthen team cohesion, says Alexander. But not every meeting is crucial, and executives polled in a recent Robert Half International survey said that 28 per cent of meetings they attended were a waste of time. Given the time it takes to prepare for meetings, plus follow-ups afterwards, for most managers unnecessary meetings represent a significant amount of time that could be better spent elsewhere.
You may be able to eliminate some meetings entirely, says Alexander. Your best strategy could be adopting a policy of reserving in-person meetings for sensitive or confidential exchanges of information, or when immediate feedback is essential.
"There are other ways of getting information out to people, through the intranet or email."
Linda Coles is director of Blue Banana, which helps companies become more efficient with their time through savvy use of technology. Coles recommends the online meeting service gotomeeting.com, which allows people in various locations to see the same screen and go through a presentation together. Various people can "take control" of the meeting as it progresses.
Meanwhile Zoe Dryden, founder of Second Base, a customised leadership and team-development programme, says she has seen many people stressed out by days full of meetings that leave no time to action the points raised.
"I often coach executives on meetings and they develop a toolkit of interesting approaches to direct attention, align members and empower action by empowering the participants.
"You know it's a well-run meeting when it's brief, everyone feels heard and the experience is energising with clear, forward-moving actions highlighted that do not reside with the facilitator," she says.
Unfortunately many pow-wows seem to cater to people's desire to obtain attention and are breeding grounds for displays of ego, she says.
"They are often used unproductively as forms of mass communication or because executives think it's time-efficient to hold meetings addressing many topics rather than talk to people in a one-to-one manner."
The leadership coach advocates maintaining one-to-one communication with people, either face-to-face or over the phone but not through emails. "Then people don't need to use meetings as a forum to attract attention," she says.
In meetings, negative energy is often fuelled by a zealous focus on "critical issues" and "problems to fix" and a facilitator's inability to maintain a higher intention for the meeting, she says.
Dryden tells leaders to be clear about the meeting's intention and to align people around this intention at the outset.
"An intention should be positive and inspiring and everyone in attendance should have a vested interest."
Leaders should have clear company values in place which can guide behaviour in an overt manner, with participants understanding their own responsibility in the process. The facilitator needs to ensure they role model these values.
Managers should also train people to facilitate meetings productively, says Dryden.
"Use effective debriefing processes or workshop techniques when large and complex problems need to be discussed, explored and assessed efficiently." Ensure a meeting captures next steps clearly, with clear timeframes and expectations.
"Keep the energy light - if a topic is highly charged and serious, then an outside facilitator may be required to ensure a wider viewpoint is maintained.
"It's easy to run stimulating, fun and efficient meetings if you simply invest in learning some techniques."
Meeting tips from Robert Half
* Question habit: Some meetings occur simply because they always have. One example is weekly staff meetings where everyone gets together for an hour or more to "touch base" with no clear agenda. If you're about to call a meeting out of long-standing habit, critically evaluate whether it still serves its original purpose. You may decide to shorten it or decrease the frequency.
* Keep it focused: Keep your meetings from turning into marathons by putting the agenda in writing and limiting the number of topics you'll cover on one page. If you have a lot of material to cover, a good alternative is to hold a series of brief, single-subject meetings.
* Limit participants: As you develop the agenda for your next meeting, consider whether all invitees are involved in every item you plan to cover. You may find that some participants need only attend a portion of the meeting to provide input on a particular issue.
* Streamline the presentation: Avoid becoming overly dependent on visual elements, technological enhancements and interactive components. A detailed slide presentation, multiple hand-outs, elaborate visuals or clever games can easily cause a meeting to run longer than it really should.
Gill South is an Auckland freelance writer
