Time management in meetings
Meetings are important but they are also a cost to the company. Md Adeel Sharon of TCS shares important points on how to achieve the best out of meetings with time management"Sometimes I get the feeling that the two biggest problems today are making ends meet and making meetings end." – Robert Orben
How often has it happened that the meeting supposed to be over in 30 minutes has stretched beyond an hour? How many times have you drifted from the agenda of the meeting? And when was it last that an overrun meeting left you disorganised with little time to finish other jobs in time? It happens to all of us and all the time. Here are some points to help you manage time effectively in a meeting.
1. Call a meeting only when it is absolutely necessary and the best way to accomplish an objective. Routine meetings are not a good investment unless they fulfil your objectives. If you can accomplish objectives by telephone, save everyone’s time and plan a conference call.
2. Keep the meeting short. Most managers admit that 50 per cent of their meeting time is wasted. That averages out to 5 hours per week and 250 hours per year for each person involved. Make it a goal to cut your meeting time in half. If people are prepared before they arrive, most meetings could be accomplished in half the time.
3. Write meeting objectives and the scheduled ending time on the board or flipchart before anyone arrives. This will keep the meeting focused and eliminate stress caused by overly long meetings.
4. Every meeting should have a published agenda answering the most obvious questions: Why am I investing time in this meeting? How long will it last? Who’s
attending it? What will be the outcome of the meeting?
5. Invite only the people who have something to contribute to the meeting’s objectives. There should be no "vacationers" or "idlers" at the table.
6. If you are asked to participate in someone else’s meeting, communicate to the meeting leader that you would prefer to attend only the portion that relates to you. Excuse yourself after it.
7. Set an offbeat meeting time. People are more likely remember a 9.40 am meeting than they would a 9:30 am meeting. Most people allow extra time when the meeting time is rounded to the half-hour but will hold themselves accountable for a prompt meeting if it is supposed to begin at an offbeat time.
8. Start on time. If the meeting is to begin at 8:40 am, begin at 8:40 am. One of the largest expenses that never appear on the income statement of the companies is the cost of meetings. Figure it out — four $50k employees in a four-hour meeting costs $400 in employee time. Respect the investment your meeting requires.
9. Most of the time, early morning meetings are best. People are fresh, the challenges of the day have not yet surfaced and the odds of everyone arriving on time are better.
10. Do not recap what has been covered for people who are late. Ignore them when they arrive and keep going. If you recap what’s been covered, you reward the tardy person and punish the "on time" folks.
11. Set time limits on how long you will allow people to "sell" their points. People continuing to fight losing battles are a huge waste. Set limits on the time allowed per item and move forward.
12. If meeting over lunch, cover general items that do not require focus. It is more productive to take a 30-minute lunch break than try to keep everyone’s attention while serving/eating food. If one of your objectives is to set the scene for social bonding, allocate your mealtime to that objective.
13. Appoint the last person who arrives for the meeting as the person responsible for taking the minutes. Bet they will show up on time for the next meeting.
14.Want to abbreviate meetings? Have a stand-up session. Get rid of the chairs and put some podiums in the room. You are assured that everyone will stay awake and will want to get to the point quickly.
15. Reward participants for telling the truth. If "messengers" are "shot down" for telling the truth, no "truthful messengers" will attend the next meeting.
16. Before leaving the meeting, don’t assume anything. Recap so that everyone knows who’s responsible for the next steps, when action should take place and how results will be communicated.
17. End the meeting on time or end early. The minute you go past your stated time, stress levels rise and attention levels fall. Everyone enjoys the pleasant surprise of getting out early.
18. Do not allow time in meetings for solving hundred dollar problems when you are spending thousands of dollars on the meeting. Focus on what is important.
19.Never leave a meeting wondering why you invested your time in the meeting. If the objectives were not accomplished, figure out what can be done to ensure that the next meeting does not end the same way.
20. Make every meeting unique. Do something different for each meeting like changing the location, time or room layout. Sometimes small changes energise the group. Meetings without specific objectives tend to achieve nothing specific.
posted by Amit Mohanty @ 6/08/2006 07:09:00 PM
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