3 Steps to hosting meetings that don't drive people crazy

[Read time: 4 minutes]

Ahoy,

Why are we in another meeting?

Nobody wants to be the Michael Scott of their company but for some reason we still need to have a meeting about everything?

Don’t be Michael Scott.

But what do meetings have to do with leadership?

Every organisation has a tonne of meetings, and if you’re a leader, chances are you’ll have to run one.

This is one of those very practical tips that if you apply tomorrow, your credibility as a leader will go up and your organisation will be more efficient.

The trouble most people have when it comes to chairing meetings, is that they are not stubborn enough…

Sounds like a weird thing to say coming from someone that so heavily advocates dropping your ego. But it’s true.

The role of the chair in a meeting is to keep things on track. The chairs inability to stand up for the agenda (and really themselves) is what makes meetings a nightmare to be in. Don’t use up a full hour when 15 minutes would have been more than enough to get the points across.

So how do we get the confidence to keep our meetings efficient?

Step 1) Prepare.

Before you stick to an agenda, there has to first be one.

And it has to be ready before the meeting.

That sounds like common sense but often people start meetings with “Does anyone have anything to add to the agenda?” or “I have something to add to the agenda”. Too late shipmate. Your time has passed. Get the agenda solid before going into the meeting.

Next up, make sure it makes sense.

Again, sounds like common sense, but we’re trying to be efficient here. What is your aim for this meeting? If an agenda point doesn’t meet that aim, then get rid of it. We want efficient output from meetings, not pointless conversation.

Now you have an agenda that makes sense and that everyone is aware of, prepare what you want to say:

• What points do you want to cover?

• What actions do you want to be taken away?

• What decisions have to be made?

Nobody wants to listen to you aimlessly ramble on as you try and stumble across your point. Plan it, be prepared, be efficient.

Step 2) Push decision

Often part of the reason behind a meeting is to make a decision.

The more people you have in a meeting however, the harder it becomes to make a unanimous decision.

Here’s the secret hack to help make your meeting’s decision-making process quicker. The decision doesn’t have to be unanimous…

You’re in charge.

STOP!

This doesn’t mean you should boss people around screaming “I’m in charge do as I say!” I have never, and will never, advocate telling people to do as you say because you’re in charge.

But at some point, a decision needs to be made. So make it.

Put a timer on for the length of discussion. Obviously some decisions are bigger than others so use your judgement here, but there are only three outcomes when your timer hits 0.

1. The team has moved towards the option you wanted. You make the final decision to go with that.

2. The team has moved towards the option you didn’t want. Oh well, you make the final decision to go with that.

3. There is no decision in sight. You record this as a bigger decision that needs more time and you make a note to add it to an agenda for another meeting and allocate more time. – Maybe even give it it’s own meeting. If the decision needs to be made today, go with your call.

Regardless of the route it goes down, the topic is over.

You can not spend an hour meeting debating one point, when there are six agenda items! It has 10 minutes then you move on.

When kids are doing exams they get given the same advice:

“If you get stuck on one question, keep going and come back to it at the end.” 

As adults we say that to children yet fail to take the same advice.

Step 3) Be stubborn

It’s difficult to stand up to everyone in a meeting and say “no”, but sometimes it needs to be done.

Meetings, when left unchecked, can easily become a conversation that has nothing to do with the agenda. You must be that person that says no.

Keep the team on point otherwise these meetings will go on forever.

If you’ve planned appropriately and you’re confident pushing decisions then this stage shouldn’t be too hard. This is all about keeping conversation on point. It doesn’t require you to shout “STOP” at anyone…

Just gently nudge the conversation back on track, or if need be simply stating the agenda topic again and people will come straight back around. If the topic does need to be discussed you can always try this:

It’s not rude, it’s not offensive, but it keeps things efficient and the output effective.

Now a bonus point…

And finally, when the time is up, stop.

Do not allow your meetings to over run. With good planning and remaining stubborn to the agenda they shouldn’t. However, sometimes these things happen.

Any remaining topics are carried over to the next meeting or you book a shorted intermediate meeting to cover the remaining topics but you NEVER let the meeting continue past it’s deadline.

I know this one has felt like a rant, but if you’ve ever sat around at a pointless meeting (I know you have), then you understand why this sounds like a rant!

Like I said at the beginning, these are practical points that if applied today you’ll see an immediate improvement.

I really hope you got something out of today.

If you have any comments or questions get in touch through X (Twitter) using the link below.

And make sure you share this with any leader that may need a nudge in the right direction when it comes to hosting meetings…

As always, have a great day!

Reece