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by
Betty Burr
Most
meetings are over long before they end!”- Communications
expert.
Meetings
account for the greatest amount of unproductive time,
topping telephone calls, paperwork and travel.
- Wall Street Journal survey
One
good way to show your value to clients or bosses is to
help them save money. Millions of dollars each year are
thrown down the drain because of staff or project meetings
that are too long, get off track and don’t accomplish
much, or have the wrong people there so no decisions can
be made. Nine out of ten companies call meetings that
waste company time and resources, with as much as 50% of a
leader’s time being spent in meetings. By bringing
attention to the fact that there is a better way, you can
demonstrate your value.
Two
admins, Sue and Alice, ran into each other in the hall of
the Webcore Corporation building. One said to the other,
“Oh, good, Alice; I’ve been wanting to talk to you.
Let’s pop into this empty conference room for a minute;
I have a few questions.”
The
other admin agreed. “OK, Sue. But before we even sit
down, I need to limit this meeting to 10 minutes. Will
that be enough time?”
“Sure,”
replied Sue. “We’ll make it work.”
“And
also,” Alice continued, “ could we identify up front
what we need to accomplish in this conversation?”
Does
this scenario sound far-fetched or realistic? It probably
sounds very unrealistic. That’s because Alice was
doing something that doesn’t happen in most businesses
– practicing Effective Meeting Management.
As
an AA or VA, you can practice and demonstrate Effective
Meeting Management principles at any gathering of 2 or
more people. And you can advise groups or meeting leaders
about ways to save money by tightening up their meetings.
In
organizations where EMM has been incorporated into the
culture, even casual one-on-one get-togethers have some
structure – a “mini-agenda.” Participants establish
time limits and specify desired outcomes for every meeting
up front – the way Sue and Alice did.
In
meetings of 3 or more people, practitioners of EMM use
three tools to make meetings shorter, tighter and way less
frustrating. And things get done! These are 1) An
“Accountability Agenda,” 2) A “visible memory” and
3) Facilitative Communication Techniques.
In
this article, we will look at the first of these tools,
the Accountability Agenda. This tool helps ensure that:
A)
The right people attend at the right time.
B)
People know topics in advance and when the meeting
will get to each subject.
C)
People come prepared.
D)
It’s easier to keep the meeting on track.
E)
Everyone gets a chance to be heard.
F)
Specific action items and accountability are
created.
How
can an agenda accomplish all this? The agenda is a means
of assuring that the meeting accomplishes the purpose for
which it was called. Because of that, follow-up meetings
are often eliminated – meetings that are held because
the first meeting didn’t do what it was supposed to do.
Suppose
one meeting were eliminated per week. If 6 people who
earned $30 an hour usually attend the meetings and
meetings generally lasted 2 hours, that would be a weekly
savings of about $360, or $1,440 a month, over $17,000 a
year! And that’s from eliminating just one
meeting a week.
Example
Here’s
a hypothetical situation to show the use of a good agenda:
Eduardo
is preparing the agenda for next week’s Research
Department staff meeting. He uses the list of discussion
topics generated at the end of the last staff meeting as
well as input solicited from all the participants via
email.
Once
he has the draft of the agenda done, he emails it to the
attendee list for feedback. His cover note reads: This
reflects my understanding of our desired agenda. If I
don’t hear from you by noon tomorrow (3/5/02), I will
assume this is OK with you.”
Here
is the format of the agenda he sent out:
- Research
Department Staff Meeting
- Date & Time:
3/7/03
9-10:30 AM
- Place: Conference
Room 5
- Attendees: J.
Jones, W. Hernandez, M. Caldwell, G. Washington, D.L
Tai,
- E. Ortega
Objective
of the Meeting: Determine the best way to approach
Marketing to prepare them for the results of the latest
Research Dept. study
Agenda:
Topic
(What)
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Person(s)
Responsible/
Involved
(Who)
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Process
(How)
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Time
Line
(When)
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Review/approve
Agenda
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Eduardo
and all
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Group
discussion
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9
-9:05
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Overview
of research findings
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Will
& Grace, and all
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PP
Presentation and Q&A
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9:05-9:25
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Decision
to be made: What do we need to tell marketing?
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All
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Group
discussion
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9:25-9:40
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Report
on Research Dept.
requirements for Marketing
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Maria
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Presentation
and additional discussion/Suggestions
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9:40-9:55
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Anticipated
concerns/ difficulties and
action plan for coordinating with Marketing
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All
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Discussion
and consensus
decision
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9:55-10:10
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Create
memo to Marketing
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D.L
& Eduardo & others as desired
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White-board
actual memo
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10:10-
10:20
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Determine
follow-up action items
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All
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Discussion
& Accountability Action Plan
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10:20-10:25
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Creation
of agenda for next meeting
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All
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Discussion
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10:25-10:30
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You’ll
notice that this “Accountability Agenda” has more
information on it than a typical agenda. Let’s take a
closer look at how it can
make the meeting work better.
Meeting
participants are prepared.
By
knowing the process of each item on the agenda (the
“How”) participants know what they should be prepared
to discuss.
The
right people are there at the right time.
The
timelines allow people to know when it is essential that
they be in the meeting. For example, let’s say that one
of them absolutely must take care of something else
sometime between 9 and 10:30. Between 10:10 and 10:20
anyone except Eduardo and D.L. could be out of the room
without compromising the effectiveness of the group.
It’s easier
to keep the meeting on track.
If
someone brings up something that it not on the agenda, the
meeting leader/moderator can point out that it isn’t on
the agenda and politely request that it be tabled until
the next meeting. In addition, to satisfy the person that
he/she has been heard, the moderator writes the item on
the list for the next agenda.
Everyone (who
wants to) gets a chance to be heard.
The
“Process” column of the agenda tells participants that
there will be discussion opportunities. On the other hand,
the time allotted (usually short) suggests that input will
have to be limited. It encourages people to be brief and
to the point.
Specific
action items and accountability are generated.
At
the end of the meeting, the agenda calls for the creation
of an action plan. This plan should have a similar format
as the Accountability Agenda. The Accountability Action
Plan columns are: What (Action), Who (Accountability) and
When (Due/action date).
By
using the Accountability Agenda format and the
Accountability Action Plan, your clients and your work
group will find that their effectiveness increases, their
wasted time decreases, and they are able to cut down on
the time spent in meetings. And by helping them get to
this point, you become a hero!
The
other two techniques mentioned for improving meetings - A
“Visible memory” and Facilitative Communication
Techniques – will be covered in the Teleclass, also
called “We Have
To Start Meeting
Like This,” which will
be offered to readers of Adminprof.com
at a
reduced cost. Please see the web site for an
advertisement about this opportunity.
Bonus:
Betty’s ABC’s of Successful Meetings
A
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“Accountability
Agendize” in advance
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B
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Be
clear about the purpose of the meeting
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C
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Clarify
expectations and goals up front
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D
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Determine
and delegate action items
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E
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Expect
and encourage participation
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F
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“Facilitate”
the meeting, no matter what your official role in
it
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G
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Get
more value for the time you spend in meetings!
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©2003
Betty Burr. Reproduction
in any form for any purpose without express written
permission of the author is prohibited.
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