Effective Meetings

Participative management does not equal abdication, yet when it comes to setting meeting agendas, abdication is exactly what many managers do. Many items that get ‘discussed’ at meetings would be better dealt with in other ways. If you want to run worthwhile meetings you have to start by actively screening what does and does not make it onto the meeting agenda. The criteria you use to decide whether or not an item should be raised in a meeting should be both public and defensible. The golden rule is that nothing gets discussed that is not on a pre-approved agenda. The silver rule is that only 3 types of items should ever make it onto a meeting agenda:

1. To share non-routine information.
2. To make a decision or solve a problem as a group.
3. To consult the group before making a decision yourself.

Most ‘information sharing’ type items are best dealt with through other communication channels, however there are times when the personal touch is needed and meetings are an efficient way to get personal with a group of people. Non-routine, ambiguous and emotionally charged topics are best handled through rich communication channels such as meetings and face-to-face conversations, because their interactive nature allows for queries to be dealt with and misconceptions to be clarified immediately. More routine matters are more efficiently handled through less interactive means such email, bulletin boards and memos. Research^[i] shows that effective managers are better at selecting the right level of richness (i.e. level of inter-activeness and personal touch) for the matter being communicated. An easy way to monitor whether or not your own choices were worth including on a meeting agenda is to note the number of queries and questions people have. If these are few or non-existent, the item was not worth being on the agenda.

Meetings can also be an effective forum for making decisions and tackling problems as a group. In fact, when a team is committed to making the best decision for all, and when they use effective group processes, teams make come up with better solutions than any individual on the same team^[ii]. This is especially true when dealing with complex, important issues, that others care about and where there expertise is higher than your own. Participative decision-making also builds staff commitment to the decision. Yet, a real increase in decision effectiveness can only be realised when you also take account of the extra-time needed to make decisions as a group. Psychologist and Yale business professor, Victor Vroom has developed an easy-to-use tool^[iii] for knowing which decisions should be made collectively, that has strong research support. You can use this tool to decide which decision-making items should be included in your meeting agenda, and which should not.

Consultations are the third and final type of item worthy of people’s collective attention in a meeting. This is where you solicit the opinions and views of others before going away and making a decision yourself. Consultations are particularly useful where commitment to the decision is important, but where:

• You have superior expertise on the matter at hand, or
• Current team dynamics and attitudes would get in the way of a good decision being made collectively.

 Again, Vroom’s tool^[iii] provides further guidance on when to consult the group, and when to adopt other ways of making a decision.