“Meeting Management”  Do these two words make you excited and dying to read the rest of this blog?…Probably not.  Full transparency….My husband just walked by as I am writing this and he laughed at me, “wow, that’s a hot topic.”   His reaction got me thinking.

I started writing this blog about meeting management because I know that during my career, I took part in more meetings than I can even remember.  It was how I spent most of my days when I worked in a corporate setting.  Some meetings were super productive and helped us achieve our goals and move the business forward.  Others… not so much.

Maybe we were going over the same things over and over again, easily got off track, or participants weren’t paying attention. I remember days when I was in 8 hours of back-to-back meetings, barely ate lunch, and looked back just to realize that I hadn’t accomplished one thing.

I would often hear the chatter of the team complaining about a meeting that was too long or unproductive and I knew that this was NOT the way I wanted to run my team.  There had to be a better way to keep meetings on track because….productivity = profitability.

Does your team leave your meetings grumbling?  It’s time to change that. Thus, the reason for my “hot topic” on meeting management.

I do believe that positive meetings are so important to the success of any business.  If done right, meetings are where we should be setting goals, planning, sharing, and keep the business moving forward.

In today’s environment, most of our meetings are held virtually on Zoom or some other platform.  People are home balancing their kids in school and dogs barking, all while trying to attend important meetings.  Now more than ever it’s critical that meetings are kept on track and on target.

I recently read “Traction” by Gino Wickman and used some of the principles of this book to assist a client in strategic planning.  Meeting cadence is one of the many tools the book provided insight into.  Using the concepts learned from “Traction” along with my personal experiences of “meeting paralysis”, I’ve come up with 3 easy ways to keep your meetings on track using the acronym TAC – TIME, AGENDA, CASCADE.

Using “TAC” to Keep your Meetings on Track

Whether you are managing a team of 5 or 50, it is important to keep everyone on the same page regarding your goals, how you are tracking against those goals, and where there might be issues or roadblocks that are preventing you from getting to the finish line.

Holding consistent meetings using the following structure is an easy way to make sure that you achieve that success.

1. TIME – As leaders, our goal is to make our business as profitable as possible. Two of the most important components of a business’ profitability are our people and their time.  So why is it that we often lost sight of these two factors and waste the time of our people?

Successful meetings NEED to start and end on time. This is not an option. As a leader of your business, I can’t express the importance of the tone you personally set by being late to a meeting.

Your time is valuable and so is the time of every person on your team. If you arrive late you set a precedent that it is (1) ok to be late and (2) the meeting just isn’t that important to you.  If you start on time, you’ll create an environment of respect and focus…..and you’ll actually be able to END the meeting ON TIME too!

Ok – let’s take that a step further…..don’t just start on time.  Arrive a few minutes early to get the small talk out of the way before you begin. We often schedule meetings in one-hour increments but spend the first 10 minutes with small talk and side conversations.

I am the first one to admit, I feel strongly about building solid relationships with those we work with, and with that comes the need to check in on how the personal updates outside of work.  Did your son win his baseball game?  How is your mom feeling?  However, we need to plan for the small talk and have those discussions before the time allotted for business.

WHO, WHERE, HOW, and WHEN….

Who?  Participants should include key leadership.  There’s a time and place for the entire team to gather or break-out sessions on specific areas of importance (and I’ll cover the cascading the messages of your meeting shortly). Don’t feel you need to invite someone just so they can listen in.  You don’t want “participants.” You need “ACTIVE participants.”

Where?  Well that’s a toss-up these days.  Historically I would have said that in person meetings have the potential to be more effective.  But we all know that isn’t possible in today’s world and I truly believe that the past year has proven that it also isn’t 100% true.  I have found virtual meetings to be extremely productive.  That said, I suggest video conferencing in lieu of pure dial in conference calls.  The face-to-face interaction, even if over a screen, is truly important.

How?  As I said before, I am a big fan of video conferencing and whatever platform you choose to use to use for your meetings, have a rule up front that cameras should be ON so the team stays focused and engaged in the discussion.

When?  Your meetings should be the same day of the week at the same time.

Sounds simple right?….Let’s move onto the important part….the CONTENT.

2. AGENDA –   Walk into a meeting unprepared and without structure and you get “organized chaos”. Having a planned, consistent agenda that is understood and followed has the potential to unlock a whole lot of productivity!

Don’t think of your agenda as a pure list of what you are going to talk about.  Use your agenda as a working document.  Someone should be taking notes and keeping the “agenda” updated so there isn’t a second step of leaving the meeting and then typing up notes.  That’s a waste of time and information can easily get lost.

“Traction” recommends something like this with my personal additions and thoughts (NOTE:  This agenda format is 90 minutes in length):

• Wins / Accomplishments – Spend no more than 5 minutes talking about the accomplishments of the team since the last meeting.

• Reporting – Reporting should represent the headlines of the given topic only and should be broken into 3 segments.

• Scorecard or “Numbers” review
• Update on your priorities (Top Goals)
• People update – covering both the customer and the team

Try not to spend more than 5 minutes on each segment.  This is not a session to solve problems.  If there is an issue, report out on it and then add it to an ISSUES LIST.

• “To Do” List Review – The “To Do” list will be generated when you discuss issues in the next part of the meeting. You should take 5 minutes to review “to dos” from the prior meeting.  If something is on your “to do” list, it should be achievable in 7 days or less.  In other words, last week’s “to dos” should ideally be reviewed and taken off the list this week.  You will add to your “to do” list as you move to the issue solving part of your meeting which is next.  Be sure to assign at least one individual to each item on the list so there is appropriate accountability.

• Issue Solving – Issue solving is the substance of your meeting.  The goal is to IDENTIFY, DISCUSS, and SOLVE each issue. Try your best to discuss your issues in order of priority.  Ideally you will devote roughly 60 minutes to this discussion.  Some weeks you will get through more issues than others.

• Conclude – At the end of your meeting, take 5 minutes to recap your “to do” list and make sure there is a clear understanding of who is responsible for bringing that item to closure. You should also identify what information from the meeting needs to be cascaded (For me this is such an IMPORTANT step!  Keep your team working together and on the same page!).

Lastly, get feedback.  How effective was this meeting?

3. CASCADE – My favorite part of this suggested meeting format is the final step – determining what to share and with whom. Why is it my favorite part?  Because I am a true believer in the power of team alignment.  I believe in this so much, that it is the premise on which I built my consulting business.  I’ve been very lucky to have worked in departments throughout my career that had many moving parts… and getting the parts working together is something I LOVE doing.

When you cascade the key points of your meeting with your team, you are creating an environment in which team alignment is not desired, it is a reality.  The beauty of cascading is that the left hand knows what right hand is doing and you have the ability to avoid miscommunications.   “To dos” will get done, goals will be met, and your visions will become real!

 

Not sure where to begin?

You may be thinking that the meeting structure I have outlined is very specific and doesn’t apply to all meetings.  You are somewhat right.  This structure and the concept of the working agenda are really intended for the regular team meetings in which you are tracking on a regular basis toward your annual and quarterly goals or priorities.

But I believe that all of these concepts can be applied to any meeting.  Meetings should have purpose.  We wouldn’t need 8 hours of meetings and skipped lunches if we were more thoughtful and productive in the meetings we hold each day.

It takes time to get into a new meeting cadence and it’s not easy to make this shift all at once.  Baby steps.  Start by arriving on time (or early) and prepare a working agenda.  Be consistent in your meeting time and format.  Invite the right people.  Cascade information.

Once you get in a rhythm in these areas, you can start to expand and think about prioritization, metrics and scorecarding.  Before you know it…your meetings will be running like a well-oiled machine!!

Setting up your new meeting structure

Remember, this is all about making the best use of your two biggest assets….your people and their time.  Wasted time reduces productivity and productivity directly impacts your profitability.  Productive meetings will help drive profitability.

Implement simple changes in your meeting structure right away using TAC.  Then, take the time to properly set your team’s vision, long, and short-term goals so you can use your meetings to work toward growing the business and success!

Have I left you thinking about what your team is feeling when they leave your meetings?  Let’s talk about it and work toward getting your team leaving meetings feeling productive and empowered.   Contact me or sign up to stay connected and receive direct access to my future blogs and articles!