Published October 2003

Tips for creating meetings that meet your needs

Q. Meetings, in frequency and length, are consuming my personal schedule and that of most of my fellow executives in our regional office where we work. Many of the meetings also include conference calls with people in our outlying offices. As their numbers grow, these meetings seem to have a reverse effect on productivity. I want to reduce the impact of meetings and be more productive with those that we have. Any suggestions?

A. Let there be no doubt that the term “meetings” has evolved into the extreme pejorative of today’s office landscape. What is so vilified, so despised, so disparaged yet so important to the smooth running of the progressive work organization than the meeting?

Thankfully, you are not alone. Repeated surveys show that more than half of the time spent in meetings is wasted because they are poorly planned and poorly run. Some experts estimate today’s office professionals spend at least 40 percent of their working time in meetings.

You may not have calculated what poorly planned and poorly executed meetings have cost your company, but nationally, the U.S. Labor Department pegged the cost at $37 billion annually.

Fortunately, there are experts who have studied this issue who suggest several questions to ask that will result in more productive meetings:

• Why the meeting? Is it really necessary? If only to disperse information, remember there are more direct and effective ways to disseminate your message (memorandum or e-mail, for instance).
• Do you know the outcome of the meeting (minus the minute detail if brainstorming is involved) before it occurs? Prepare an agenda with the meeting’s stated purpose prominently displayed. Select whom you want to attend by deciding what each participant will bring to the table.
• Do you insist on punctuality? When people realize that you conduct meetings on time, they’ll respect you for it. Management consultant Joseph L. Mancusi has asked meeting members to “vote” admission to the meeting for those 10 to 15 minutes late.
• Do you control the discussion to the issue at hand? Be aggressive and cut off any divergent discussion before it takes on a life of its own and prevents consideration of the meeting’s stated objective.
• Are you a leader or a dominator? Do not dominate the discussion. After making a point, invite discussion from others. Be open to the ideas of others who might have a different way of communicating.
• How do you encourage creative brainstorming? When creative discussion is necessary (let’s come up with a slogan for a new dog food, for instance), break into groups of no more than three, which research shows is the best size for group discussion.
• Do you summarize and evaluate? Take the final five minutes to summarize what was covered and ask participants to evaluate the meeting on how it will benefit the organization or team. Take notes to include in a short memorandum that can be directed to higher management if desired.
• Do you keep active notes? Write out volunteer suggestions and actions offered by the group and present them to participants within 30 minutes of the meeting’s end.

Eric Zoeckler operates The Scribe, a business writing service with many Snohomish County-based clients. He also writes a column appearing Mondays in The Herald. He can be reached at 206-284-9566 or by e-mail to mrscribe@aol.com.

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