- When I first started working as a consultant and communication
coach over 20 years ago, there was a sign on the wall
of a meeting room that said "No leader? No agenda? No time limit? No meeting!" In this video, you'll learn five tips for how
to run an effective meeting. It then certainly includes
elements on that sign, but other details as well, including a bonus tip at the end that will really elevate your meetings. And we're going to consider some of these prerequisite practices of running an effective meeting. That means practicing
some of these elements consistently will not guarantee that all your meetings will be productive. But these habits will prevent you from having unproductive
and ineffective meetings. And there are some more advanced tips that will elevate your meetings that we'll talk about
along the way as well. This is going to start out really basic, but I can almost guarantee that if you are currently
experiencing ineffective meetings, then your team is not doing one or more of these five practices, plus there's that bonus tip at the end. So use this as a checklist. Number one, the meeting
must have a leader. This might seem obvious, but I've been to numerous meetings, especially committee meetings where I work over the years, where the group is meeting regularly but there's no one clear
leader who's driving it. Sometimes the actual leader can't be there but they want us to
meet without them anyway to see what we can get done. This can be very confusing for everybody. So your first step is to
identify the leader beforehand. And if you're watching this video, I'm going to assume
that you are the leader, and the rest of the tips will help you become more effective. Number two, you must
have a written agenda. I strongly believe that there
should be a written agenda that is sent out a day or
so before the actual meeting so that everybody knows
how to prepare beforehand and then can fully
participate once they arrive. At least send a bulleted email list of topics that you'll discuss. So to me, this is like having
a leader in the first place. It's an obvious prerequisite. But in my experience, no written agenda is almost
the norm for many meetings. I've attended those, and those meetings are
seldom productive in the end. A few years ago, I had to send multiple requests about a meeting I was invited to, but I didn't know why
I was asked to attend in the first place. I never received an answer about what the meeting
was about ahead of time, let alone a written agenda. Not surprisingly, the meeting
was a complete waste of time. There are lots of variations of agendas. No two are identical. And it really depends upon the
norms of your organization. But generally speaking, agendas fall into two overall categories. There are meeting agendas that focus on sharing information and other agendas that
focus on decision-making or problem-solving. In a typical information-driven meeting, the agenda will list topics, like announcements, status updates, various topics of discussion including categories like old
business and new business. These meetings just
keep everybody informed. This is often the type of meeting that people will say, "That could have just been an email instead of a whole meeting," which could be the topic of a
whole another video entirely. Less frequently, the other type of agenda will emphasize the key decisions that need to be made or the problems that the
group is there to solve. A few years ago, I was the
chair of my academic department. I'm a professor. We had a few meetings in a row that focused on solving problems
and making some decisions around restructuring our
undergraduate curriculum. Problem-solving meetings
like this typically follow the traditional problem-solving steps, and you would see this
on the written agenda. First, we identified the problem, then we analyzed the
problem in more depth, then we generated possible solutions, identified our best solutions, and finally took steps to
implement our decision. This decision-making process took a few meetings to complete, but I've run other
meetings where we progress through the entire problem-solving steps in just one meeting. And there's nothing magic about either approach to an agenda. Just make sure you create an
agenda for the sake of clarity and distribute it early. Get it out to everybody in advance so they can prepare fully and then show up and participate fully. And that leads to our next tip. Number three, each person must know what
the leader expects of them to contribute to each meeting. I believe strongly that the group leader should
let each individual person know specifically how they should prepare to participate in any upcoming meeting. So in addition to sending out the agenda, I always write a quick email or have a quick conversation where I say to each specific person, "You'll notice that I've
listed you on the agenda for an update on Project Z. In the meeting, could you let us know
how things are going, mention any recent
accomplishments on Project Z, and what your next steps are, and provide a rough timeline for when you think this
phase will be completed?" If there are eight people on my team, I'll send up to eight separate emails letting each person know how I'd like them to
prepare to contribute. And it works great. When I prepare people like this, they know why they're
there in their first place. They bring their A game because
the expectations are clear. The more experienced
team members will need less guidance over time. But if there's a brand-new
person on the team, I also let them know that while I'm not
expecting them necessarily to prepare anything big, I'd like them to make a contribution and look for ways to add value, even when we are simply
discussing an issue. I'll say to them, "Be sure you, number one, ask
a question during the meeting. Number two, offer your point of view. And number three, build on
what other people are saying." Those are the three easiest ways to get a new person up
to speed and contributing as soon as they join your organization. Number four, the leader must
encourage and facilitate maximum participation
during the meeting itself. Nobody likes attending
meetings that are life lesson, nobody's contributing. So in addition to the previous tips, it's also a good practice to send any additional materials we'd like them to read ahead of time and let them know how to prep up for those specific discussions. But the key to encouraging
maximum participation is by preparing good discussion
questions ahead of time. In a meeting situation, the best way I've seen this done is, first, the leader provides
some sort of information, a stimulus, we'll call it. Second, the leader then asks
a clear prepared question to get a response. The stimulus might be a
report you send out earlier, maybe some feedback you heard recently. The stimulus could be anything. And here's how it looks in the moment. You pull up the report or feedback, or whatever information you're sharing, and you keep it up so the group
can see it the entire time. And then you ask one
clear question at a time. You might even write the
questions on the agenda. You could put one question
up at a time on a slide depending upon the norms
of your organization. The information in this example, a report, the feedback, plus a clear question will create the ideal conditions
for a good discussion. If you miss either of these, you'll probably not generate as helpful of a discussion
as you could have. Groups have the best discussions when the leader provides the stimulus and then asks them to respond. Number five, and then I'll
give you the bonus tip. You must have a clear time
limit for lots of reasons. A time limit will make the
group work more efficiently rather than waste time. The number one thing that makes people work more
efficiently in a group is when people notice the time. So at some point in every
meeting I've been in, somebody will say, "Oh, we only have 20 minutes left. Let's get moving." So use that sensibility to your advantage by signaling the time
limits once in a while. And at a minimum, a time limit will at least bring the ineffective meetings to a close and end everybody's misery. A time limit also puts
more pressure on the leader to be at his or her best. A time limit makes the leader manage the time more
effectively in the moment and move the conversation
forward when it's dragging. A time limit will encourage the leader to reign in and refocus members who tend to ramble and go on tangents. A time limit will encourage the leader to make sure the overall pacing
of the meeting flows well so the proper amount of time is devoted to the most important
topics of discussion. One of the positive pieces
of feedback I received on my annual review when I was the chair, that I was secretly the most proud of, was that the faculty believed that we never had a
wasted moment in meetings. Every minute was time well-spent. And now for the bonus tip, the tip is to leave more space for your team members
to talk to each other. Instead of a mindset of
"running" the meeting, see yourself as "facilitating" a meeting. Here's what I mean. The most common pattern
I've seen in meetings is where a team member will say
something or ask a question and the leader then is the
first person to respond. This creates a pattern where the leader is really having a bunch of one-on-one conversations, even though you're in a group. It looks like a straight
line of communication going back and forth between
the leader and each person. Meetings like this rarely
feel dynamic and energetic, and it short-circuits what could have been a good discussion. Instead, those kinds of
meetings lack creativity. They lack collaboration. In short, this doesn't take advantage of the power of the group, which is one of the key reasons to have a meeting in the first place. Instead of a back-and-forth line, visualize the communication
pattern like a star, like the kind of star you draw where the communication bounces
from one person to the next until it goes full circle. And you as the leader
can create this pattern. To start it, when you ask a question or
when somebody says something, resist the temptation to jump in. Leave more time and space for the other team members to respond. So you'd still listen carefully, use good non-verbals like
eye contact and nodding. Maybe you'd make a small verbal
utterance, like ah or um. You'd still affirm them
non-verbally, in other words. But instead of saying something,
articulating your idea, look around the room to
invite responses from others. You could even ask them,
"What do you all think?" The goal of this is to
get the team members talking to each other in ways that lead to a dynamic
and collaborative discussion. And keep asking questions to keep that conversational ball rolling. The conversation then becomes
one that you facilitate rather than run or manage. If you get the conversational
dynamics right, your meeting will be 10 times
more satisfying for everybody. Here's the expanded checklist based upon the sign that I saw on the wall and that consulting company I work for, plus the other tips we added today. Again, many of these are prerequisites. That means this doesn't ensure you'll have lots of amazing meetings, but it will virtually guarantee
your pointless meetings. And many of the other tips about generating more
discussion will help level up any team's conversation. Be sure to take a look at the resources in the description below, including a free PDF download of the top five essential
communication skills that every professional should have. Until next time, thanks. God bless, and I will see you soon.
