Meeting in the middle

Meeting in the middle

Jodi Goldman - Communications Manager on how to get the most out of your meetings

In the current economic condition, business emphasis is on results now more then ever before. Its about bottom line. So, now more then ever before its essential that every minute is used effectively. Meetings can be the biggest culprit for wasted time, so here are some cool ideas to change things up and get the most out of them:

1. The Stand-up meeting: the whole dynamic of a meeting can improve when you remove the chairs. In Bob Sutton's book: The No A**** Rule, he points to a study that showed that people in meetings where everyone stood took 34% less time to make an assigned decision, with decisions that were just as good as those made by groups who were sitting down.

2. The upside-down meeting: begin with your decision and work backwards. This not only reduces waffle time, but gives a very early indication of whether the group is going to agree on a line of action.

3. Labelled meetings: Kris Murren, a partner at innovations company What If says there are two main types of meetings: analytical and ideas-generating. Before starting, label the meeting so everyone knows what's expected.

4. The roller coaster: when crucial or difficult decisions have to be made, it may be better to go off-site for a day or two instead of holding several short meetings.

5. Information only meetings: these meetings do what they say on the tin - they are for information only. If people want to argue or question a point, they can do so informally outside the meeting.

6. Decision only meetings: the only responses allowed are 'yes' or 'no'.

7. Rattle-and-roll meetings: race through the first eight or so items on the agenda at speed, then settle down to discuss those that really matter.

If you have any ideas on how to make meetings more effective, or have heard of creative ways of holding meetings we would love to hear from you!

3 September 2009

Benjamin McEwen on 3 September 2009

Hi Jodi!

Interesting article and I agree, I have often walked out of a 45 minute meeting and realised that very little was actually achieved. I'm quite a big fan of the !What If? books and I'm not sure if its !What If? but there is a company that has 1 minute informational meetings - at an alloted time everyone comes down off their floors to the lobby the meeting takes place standing up for 60 seconds and then everybody goes back to work! I also think it is quite nice to get away from the usual environment especially when you are trying to come up with creative solutions - if somebody sits me down in a boardroom and says; 'Quick! Ben! Think of something creative!' I usually go blank, some of the best ideas I find come from the pub or over a coffee.

jo harley on 7 September 2009

We did an internal meeting recently where the points on the agenda were 'owned' by a person in the meeting and given an allotted timeframe....we had a egg timer to make sure we stuck to our timings and it worked really well...

Another top tip - which sounds totally obvious is turn up on time and prepared for the meeting; faffing around getting drinks and making small talk can take up precious time and every minute counts!

Ben Whitman on 14 September 2009

People donâ€™t like to be sat down and to be lectured/bored to death by meetings, and thereâ€™s a lot of negativity about meetings, some of it is stereotyped (may not even be true) and some of it is factualreal. So itâ€™s nice to see some suggestions about meetings that will motivate and manage staff or teams.

Sam Cuncliffe on 15 September 2009

I donâ€™t think you should have meetings just because they seem like a good idea, you should only have them unless you need them. I think Benjamin is right, you think much better when ideas are allowed to swirl around in your head (rather than when a gun is held to it). I think if you got told to try and come up with an idea or suggestions to improve a company etc then left people to think about it in their own time or whilst they work, they could put ideas in a suggestion box or email the boss. Plus, people are sometimes afraid to say things when in front of other people as they fear theyâ€™ll be judged, writing a quick note to put in a box or saying something in a personal email gives people much more confidentiality and confidence.