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| Effective meetings: seems like common-sense. | While the ground rules for holding an effective meeting seem like common sense, they’re much harder to put into practice. Tina Lofthouse takes a look at how you can actually make them work…
Sales meetings may be virtually the only time when members of the field force come together to discuss customer reactions to products and promotions, feedback market information and trade war stories. Such get-togethers play a vital supportive role, helping individual members feel part of a team, sharing and solving problems and instilling a sense of common purpose. They also help to channel a two-way flow of information: market intelligence back from the field and product and company data to the customer.
But the rest of us – whether we’re in telesales, marketing or management (and particularly in larger organisations – Ed) – can spend a great deal of our working lives in meetings, many of which are unproductive, with egos jostling for air-time, speakers wandering off-topic and boredom quickly setting in among unengaged attendees.
Regulars
The ‘regular’ meeting is the worst culprit of all. Edinburgh-based chartered psychologist Ben Williams says that those calling a regular meeting should be asking themselves: ‘What would happen if this meeting did not go ahead?’ Says Williams: ‘Are they being held because they are really needed or just because of routine custom and practice? If an issue can be resolved without a meeting, cancel it.’
There is also the misconception that meetings are the only form of communication. ‘There’s so little communication going on otherwise,’ reckons Lesley Jackson of The Way Ahead Training & Consultancy. ‘But the problem then is that meetings often become unfocussed with so many different issues to be addressed.’
Founder of Making Projects Work, Penny Pullan advises on a simple template for every meeting. This covers:
- the purpose of the meeting;
- what the outcomes are that you want to achieve by the end;
- the agenda;
- who will do what in the meeting;
- round rules for the meeting; and
- a record of agreed actions as they come up in the meeting.
Incidentally, giving people different roles encourages more participation – decide on who should be the timekeeper, who should take the minutes, and so on, and alternate each time.
Agenda
While an agenda should be a given for any meeting, it can often be overlooked, particularly for internal meetings, and there is also a danger that the chair dictates exactly what should be covered. The agenda should be circulated in advance so that people have adequate time to suggest additions or deletions. It also gives participants time to prepare what they want to say in the meeting.
Hidden agendas can be the downfall of any meeting so a well-structured official agenda can make it harder for those plotting behind-the-scenes to use the meeting for their own ends. If you’ve got buy-in from everyone on the agenda, it is harder for them to stray. ‘Any other business’ should also be omitted from the end.
External meetings
While team meetings can be hindered by internal politics, external meetings can be hampered by cultural differences between companies. You need to find out what you’re up against beforehand.
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| Presenting: watch what you write on! | Says Pullan: ‘In some places it is perfectly acceptable to be accessing your laptop during the meeting; in others it would be met with horror. Sometimes it is quite hard to work out the culture – until you end up putting a foot wrong – but it helps if you ask around your network first and do your research.’
Avoid jargon, unless you can be absolutely certain it will be understood by all of the participants. And always make sure you are familiar with any technology or presentation tools you will be using. One sales professional remembers in horror going to a client meeting and getting very enthusiastic with the marker pens, sketching out all kinds of helpful diagrams for his audience on what he thought was a whiteboard. It turned out to be a freshly painted wall – and his audience were far too amused to interrupt.
Invitations
If you’re responsible for planning the meeting, make sure you only invite those who really need to attend. Consider what they will gain and what you will gain from their attendance. If it is not immediately apparent, then it might be worth pointing out so they will come prepared. Does a participant need to be there only for a certain topic? If so, state that beforehand as well as the time they will need to attend.
Incidentally, don’t be too alarmed if you see participants doodling (or if you’re an avid doodler yourself): new research suggests doodling actually aids concentration and helps prevent daydreaming.
Contributions
In any meeting, some people are going to dominate the group more than others and, although there is a school of thought that says you should encourage everyone to contribute, Jackson advises against it. ‘You shouldn’t put people on the spot. Some personalities are very reflective. They’ll want to assimilate the information and think about it before they form a view.’
Feedback
To that end, chairs should plan a mechanism for feedback after the meeting. Smaller working groups (possibly without senior managers which can inhibit honest discussion) could also be formed as it is easier for individuals to make a more meaningful contribution.
Rehearsal
If you’re making a significant presentation at the meeting, Williams advises videoing yourself rehearsing to check you’re being clear and that your tone of voice and facial expression are positive. There’s nothing that will kill a meeting quicker than garbled messages and stony-faced or lethargic contributions.
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| Online meetings: 90 minutes maximum. |
And these are just some of the issues with face-to-face meetings – online meetings throw up a whole new set of challenges. As travel budgets are slashed, conference calls and virtual meetings are becoming increasingly popular.
Virtual meetings
But it is often harder to make sure everyone is paying attention to what is going on. Online meetings can lead to participant multi-tasking or at worst, daydreaming, warns web conferencing company Glance, so establish ground rules for active listening. For instance, tell everyone: ‘Silence equals agreement. If you’re quiet, we’ll assume you agree with what’s being said.’
Meeting length
Pullan reckons you should limit a virtual meeting to an hour if you can, or one-and-a-half hours maximum. ‘It is difficult to stay engaged when you’re listening to disembodied voices. Without the visual clues of body language and facial expressions, people have to work so much harder to stay with the group,’ she says.
Ask individuals to state their name at the start of each contribution they make. It is also useful to print out a map superimposed with a named photo of everyone on the call. ‘We live in such a visual world that, without such props, it can be too easy to drift off to deal with e-mail or instant messenger,’ she adds.
Time zones
Time zones need to be considered. If regular meetings are taking place among people in various time zones, make sure you alternate so that one group is not always the one working late or getting up early.
Change the name
And one of the most valuable tips that can be equally applied to meetings in the ‘real’ world and online? Don’t even think about calling them meetings.
When someone says ‘meeting’ it conjures up images of wasted hours listening to semi-relevant facts, says Glance. Try calling it a ‘working session’, for example, if you want to emphasise the collaborative nature of the discussion. So, next time you’re calling a meeting, change the name and see if the response changes....
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