Top Ten Ways to Make Meetings More Effective

The most common complaint I hear about meetings is that they're a waste of time. Although they need improving, meetings aren't a waste of time. Useful things do happen in meetings — just not enough useful things for the time we spend in meetings. The key to improving meetings is to spend more time on activity that produces value and less time on activity that doesn't. Here are ten steps for doing just that.

1. Publish the agenda in advance

Advance publication of the agenda gives people an opportunity to think about it, to prepare, and to speak up if they're moved to. And if the first agenda item is "Approve the agenda" they'll know about their opportunity to amend it. Including a "not-agenda" lets everyone know what's off limits for the meeting.

2. Exclude from the agenda any items you cannot influence

Groups sometimes try to address problems in their meetings that they aren't authorized to address. This is a waste of time and energy, and it takes time away from agenda items the group is supposed to address.

3. Include time allocations for all agenda items

Time allocations enable the chair or facilitator to track meeting progress, possibly with the help of a Time Keeper. If an item overruns its time allocation, cancelling another agenda item might be wise. Without time allocations, the decision to cancel some other item might be difficult indeed.

4. Make clear distinctions among What, How, and Why

When we're talking about what we're describing the thing itself. When we're talking about why we're explaining its purpose. When we're talking about how, we're outlining the steps for achieving it, or the steps by which it came about. Mixing these up into a single discussion is a recipe for trouble.

5. Have a Designated Digression Detector

A Designated Digression Detector (DDD) is someone who is empowered to announce — without being recognized — that the meeting discussion has digressed when it clearly has. By having a DDD the group gains a valuable asset that enables participants to focus on the matter at hand and not the process of the meeting. Moreover, that asset acts as a deterrent. Nobody wants to be the person who is interrupted by the DDD.

6. Write agenda items as "to-resolve" instead of "to-discuss"

Agenda Useful things do happen in meetings —
just not enough useful things for
the time we spend in meetingsitem titles expressed as commands are more likely to produce a result than those expressed as processes. For example, "Decide on an approach to resolving the race condition" is more likely to produce a result than "Discuss the race condition."

7. Beware of shared information bias

Shared information bias is the tendency of groups to focus discussions more on topics the participants already know about, and less on topics with which they have less of a sense of familiarity. The effect of this bias is to waste time on already-plowed ground.

8. Avoid being seduced by technology

Software tools can be very effective for managing group efforts, but few tools are meant to be used during meetings of those groups. Data entry and editing processes are usually too slow and cumbersome for meetings. Make notes and deal with the tools later, after the meeting.

9. Impose a three-exchange limit

When two participants go back and forth about something, the likelihood of resolving their differences after three exchanges is low, and it drops with each additional contribution to their exchange. Impose a three-exchange limit. After that, have the pair pursue a resolution after the meeting and report back later or at a subsequent meeting.

10. Make exhibits meeting-friendly

During the meeting, whether in-person or virtual, we often need to talk about exhibits (documents) that had been distributed to everyone for review. Most of the time, we reference specific sentences, phrases, lines, or cells in those documents. Waiting for everyone to locate those items takes precious meeting time. Make exhibits meeting-friendly. Save time by numbering pages, numbering lines, inserting bookmarks, or highlighting in color the items that you plan to talk about.

Last words

Eliminating all wasted time from meetings isn't possible, in part, because we can't determine in advance all time that's wasted and all time that's productive. All we can do is focus on producing what we believe will be useful, and let the rest take care of itself.  Top    Next Issue

Do you spend your days scurrying from meeting to meeting? Do you ever wonder if all these meetings are really necessary? (They aren't) Or whether there isn't some better way to get this work done? (There is) Read 101 Tips for Effective Meetings to learn how to make meetings much more productive and less stressful — and a lot more rare. Order Now!

Your comments are welcome

Would you like to see your comments posted here? rbrentSgXnAlNVWlhxNIJner@ChacAtZoEYrrmofzZnjPoCanyon.comSend me your comments by email, or by Web form.

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Effective Meetings:

How We Avoid Making Decisions

When an important item remains on our To-Do list for a long time, it's possible that we've found ways to avoid facing it. Some of the ways we do this are so clever that we may be unaware of them. Here's a collection of techniques we use to avoid engaging difficult problems.

Have a Program, Not Just an Agenda

In the modern organization, it's common to have meetings in which some people have never met — and some never will. For these meetings, which are often telemeetings, an agenda isn't enough. You need a program.

Our Last Meeting Together

You can find lots of tips for making meetings more effective — many at my own Web site. Most are directed toward the chair, or the facilitator if you have one. Here are some suggestions for everybody.

Chronic Peer Interrupters: III

People who habitually interrupt others in meetings must be fairly common, because I'm often asked about what to do about them. And you can find lots of tips on the Web, too. Some tips work well, some generally don't. Here are my thoughts about four more.

Exploitation and Conversational Narcissism at Work: I

Exploitation of others is one of four themes of conversational narcissism. Knowing how to recognize the patterns of conversational narcissism is a fundamental skill needed for controlling it. Here are five examples that emphasize exploitation of others.

See also Effective Meetings and Effective Meetings for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming April 2: Mitigating the Trauma of Being Laid Off

Trauma is an emotional response to horrible events — accidents, crimes, disasters, physical abuse, emotional abuse, gross injustices — and layoffs. Layoff trauma is real. Employers know how to execute layoffs with compassion, but some act out of cruelty. Know how to defend yourself. Available here and by RSS on April 2.

And on April 9: Defining Workplace Bullying

When we set out to control the incidence of workplace bullying, problem number one is defining bullying behavior. We know much more about bullying in children than we do about adult bullying, and more about adult bullying than we know about workplace bullying. Available here and by RSS on April 9.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrentSgXnAlNVWlhxNIJner@ChacAtZoEYrrmofzZnjPoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info