Meetings

Meetings? We can do better than that.
We, the Dutch, are renowend for endless meetings. What is it all about? Will our meetings lead somewhere? Of course, often they do! But I remember many meetings in which I really did not got a clue where we were getting at all. Out of sheer frustration - in many times only after the meeting  - I wanted to shout: 'What the hack is this all about?'

Recently I asked some managers: “What is your biggest frustration about meetings?” 

This is what they replied:

  • There is no tight control on the discussion process.
  • There are so many items on the agenda, of which most of them come back on every consecutive meeting just because no-one takes a decision. The search for general consensus seems to be endless. It appears that we only dare to decide when we all fully agree.
  • The agenda is not clear so we do not know what it is all about. We cannot prepare a point of view because relevant information is missing.
  • The meeting is not well prepared by the participants.The material is not read in advance.
  • We discuss matters we cannot take any decision on; it simply is not in our line of command. 

The improvements of course are hidden in this list of frustrations. One of our clients suffered from a culture of never ending meetings; we joined the discussion and came up with a solution:

  • Our secretary establishes the agenda and will ask one of us to prepare a particular subject. She decides which of us is best suited to prepare the subject.
  • This colleague prepares a short briefing including all relevant data, concrete questions to us all, the impact of the subject on our organisation and his, and sometimes another person’s standpoint.
  • Every participant is expected to have taken a standpoint on every event before the meeting starts, based on the information received. It is however still possible to have ‘no position’ at all.
  • During the meeting discussions are limited to the subjects only and opinions are exchanged. The chair leads and controls the discussion fearless and makes sure either there is a decision made or a consecutive action is agreed and arranged.
  • The amount of subjects as well as the available meeting time is limited. Planning is tight and the chair monitors the available time strict.
 
Result: Meetings are a joy again!
 

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