Chairing Meetings Successfully

By: Bishara Adam1

Definition of Meeting

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A meeting is a gathering of two or more people where positive

discourse occurs.

What is a Productive Meeting?

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A productive meeting is where the result of the meeting is

achieved by the creation of something tangible that will help the

overall success of the company.

Why have a Meeting?

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To solve a problem.

To make a decision.

To develop a plan.

To gather or convey information.

To get a response to information.

To obtain approval/reach consensus.

To establish understanding/rapport.

To clarify responsibilities.

To create a sense of teamwork.

Preparing for Meeting

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Organizing a meeting can be a monumental task in the workplace.

The following are the key steps in attaining the first ingredient to

a successful meeting: preparing, or to assemble, arrange, or

produce a meeting effectively.

1. Create an Appropriate Agenda

2. Define the Meeting Objectives

3. Invite the Right People to the Meeting

4. Choose the Right Time

5. Prepare Information

1. Create an Appropriate Agenda

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This agenda should be

distributed to meeting

participants ahead of time.

It should have any past

review material and the new

issues detailed on the

agenda.

The time and length of the

meeting should be

mentioned in the agenda.

2. Define the Meeting Objectives

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In order for any meeting to

be successful, it has to

accomplish something.

The meeting objectives

detail exactly the point of

why the meeting is being

held and what will be

accomplished.

3. Invite the Right People to the Meeting

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Once the objectives are created,

the meeting should have the

correct players in order to

achieve the needed goals.

If someone is missing whose

expertise is needed, the entire

meeting is a waste of time.

4. Choose the Right Time

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The meeting time

should be short and the

time used efficiently.

If the meeting runs long,

it is important to ask for

everyone's consent to

extend the time frame.

5. Prepare Information

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It is important to come to the

meeting with all information

needed.

Questions and concerns

should be able to be

addressed.

Opening a Meeting

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Inform – Excite – Empower – Involve

Inform – Let the participants know the purpose of the meeting.

Excite – Explain the benefits of the meeting and why this meeting

should be important to them.

Empower – Describe the role they will play or the authority that

has been given to them.

Involve – Get them involved immediately through an engagement

question that furthers the meeting purpose.

Inform

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Use words like the following at the beginning of meetings:

“The purpose of this meeting is…When we are done, we will

walk away with…”

These words inform everyone of why we are here (purpose) and

what we will have when we are done (product).

These words help get everyone on the same page.

Excite

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The goal of the excite segment is to answer the question, “Why

should I care?”

Without the excite, you may have people in the room, but are they

really at the table?

How do you excite?

You excite by making statements that answer the question for

them, “What’s in it for me?”

Empower

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The goal in empowering participants is to ensure that they are

clear on the power they have while in the meeting.

When people feel empowered, they tend to be less hesitant to

participate in discussion and more willing to offer their thoughts

and ideas.

Often a single, focused, empowering statement is adequate.

Other times you may find that multiple statements are needed to

empower a group that is used to being told what to do.

Involve

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After delivering the opening, consider getting the participants

immediately involved.

The involvement step engages everyone quickly and prepares

them for the rest of the meeting.

How do you involve participants early in a meeting?

For some teams, it is best to start with a question that is focused

on the task at hand.

For other teams, it may be more appropriate to start with a

question that takes more of a people-focus.

Conducting a Meeting

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The next part of a productive meeting is related to how it is

conducted.

Conducting is administrating or orchestrating a meeting in the

workplace by following basic guidelines:

1. Be an Effective Leader

2. Assign a Note Taker

1. Be an Effective Leader

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The leader of the meeting should not take over the meeting and

talk the entire time.

A good leader will listen and ask questions in order to be

productive.

Everyone at the meeting should have an opportunity to talk.

2. Assign a Note Taker

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A note taker should be

assigned to take detailed

notes and then summarize

key points at the end of the

meeting.

It is good to rotate the

assignment of the note taker

for each meeting.

Closing a Meeting

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1. Provide a high-level summary of the meeting, avoiding details of

discussions but addressing key points and plans, and making sure

everything that needed to be covered, was covered.

2. Key decisions. Recap the agreed position for each agenda item

to make sure everyone know what has been decided. Make sure

that you have the consensus and support in this.

Closing a Meeting

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3. Action assignments. Make sure that action owners know what’s

expected from them, and are in agreement with the desired

outcome and next steps to be taken.

4. Focus on achievement. If your goal has been achieved, or the

immediate course of action is sufficient to reach the goal, call the

meeting a total success and thank everyone for their time. If the

goal is further away, make sure you summarise the progress made,

set a time for the next meeting and tell the action owners you’ll be

following-up with them before hand about these actions.

Closing a Meeting

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5. Don’t forget to thank your participants for their attendance and

contribution to the meeting.

Causes of Unproductive Meetings

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Purpose of the meeting is unclear.

There is no agenda/organization.

The leader tries to accomplish too much.

The meeting starts late.

Too many people are at the meeting.

The leader loses control.

One person dominates the meeting.

Individuals wander from the topic.

Individuals go back over old items.

No clear direction/no clear conclusions are reached.