Perspectives & Strategy

There are always a multitude of questions raised about the need for meetings. The following is based on Peter Giblett’s reply to the LinkedIn Question “what are the meetings ? agenda is necessary to a meeting?” by Naresh Naidu. I would tend to agree with Elie Kochman that “Meetings have the potential to bring out ideas”, or at least they should, but they are too often hijacked by a thought process that is primarily “why are we here discussing this again?” particularly if the meeting is a status meeting.

I have always felt that an agenda is essential to good management of a meeting. I feel it best to publish both an agenda and the individual segment start times.

One of the lessons that I learnt many years ago is that if meetings are not treated seriously then they are not effective. Sad to say that over the years I have been to many ineffective meetings (and sad to say that I have at times been responsible for ineffective meetings – before I learnt). I also know that I fall back into bad habits from time to time – I usually kick myself afterwards when attempting to learn the lessons of the meeting. I agree with Rakesh Kanojia that “in (the) absence of (an) agenda unrelated topics will be introduced leading to no where”, this is consistent with my own observations.

Brian Hunt‘s view that “A meeting is a process. It has to have an objective and controls – otherwise it becomes a waste of time” is one of the observations that has led me to thinking over the years that it is necessaary to publish start times to each segment of a meeting in advance of the meeting. I find that it focuses the mind of everyone present. Now it is not always possible to complete each segment on-time, as it is necessary to get to the bottom of problems. The other thing to remember is that if a problem is too big for this meeting then create a specific meeting to cover that point and insure that all the right people are present.

The only time when time is not vital to include timing is when a full day brainstorming session is being held, but even here it is important to keep an eye on the time.

We all must remember a few important points. Every meeting has many potential difficulties, there are often ‘difficult people’ present. It is important that the meeting is effectively managed, if you are responsible for the outcome take hold of the reigns and manage it well. It is important to choose your battles wisely, ensure that spark is not lit just at the end of the meeting. Where problems are evident focus on these at a seperate meeting.