Meetings. Martin Manser

so I have learnt certain skills. It is these that I want to pass on to you: if I have learnt to do it, I believe you can too.

      This book contains 50 secrets of success, spread over seven chapters. These are:

1	Why have meetings? We begin by asking the basic question. What is the purpose of meetings? Meetings cost money: how much? It is important to know what are the different roles that colleagues have.

2	Prepare well for meetings. You need to make sure that all the practical arrangements have been made but you also need to spend time preparing yourself for the meeting. If an important part of the meeting is negotiating, then you need to give special attention to preparing for that, too.

3	Chairing a meeting. The chair’s role is vital in ensuring that the meeting runs well and achieves its aim by guiding it skilfully, providing direction, making progress and reaching decisions firmly.

4	Taking minutes. To write the minutes of a meeting, you need to develop certain skills, such as listening well and noting the relevant points. You will then be able to write them up effectively after the meeting.

5	Giving a presentation. If the thought of giving a presentation at a meeting fills you with dread, then you need to follow the steps given here to relieve your fears and help you become more confident.

6	Taking part in a meeting. Everyone has a role to play in the meeting, even if you’re not the chair or minute-taker. You can make a positive contribution by participating fully, listening well, discussing positively, speaking persuasively and negotiating successfully.

7	After the meeting. Even though the meeting has finished, that isn’t the end. You need to build on all your preparation and hard work to ensure that the actions are followed through well and that the work makes good progress.

      Whatever your role in a meeting, you can become more confident.

      

      There are many different kinds of meeting: for example, an appraisal to consider individual performance and set goals and targets for the future, a team meeting to consider the work of the team, a conference at which experts give papers on a specialist subject, or a large Annual General Meeting to review a year’s work in a company or organization.

      But whatever their format or length, meetings all have certain features in common: you need to know their purpose, prepare for them carefully, conduct them well and follow them up effectively for them to be considered successful.

       1.1

       Know your purpose

      It may seem unnecessary to discuss the purpose of meetings, but it is a question that has probably occurred to you when you are in the middle of a long, boring meeting: ‘Why am I here? What are we actually achieving?’ So before the meeting starts, you need to work out what you want to achieve during the meeting.

      Asking ‘What is the purpose of this meeting?’ is probably the most important question that you can ask as you plan, prepare for or go into a meeting: what is its aim? What exactly are you trying to achieve? One thing is certain: if you don’t know the purpose of your meeting before you begin it, it’s unlikely that you’ll achieve a purpose while the meeting is taking place and before it ends. Further, how will you know if the meeting had been successful if you don’t know what you’re aiming to achieve?

      Here are some possible aims of meetings:

      ▪ to give information, e.g. to inform colleagues of progress or introduce new products or services

      ▪ to review progress on a project

      ▪ to negotiate details of a contract

      one minute wonder Think of the next meeting you are to attend. What is its purpose?

      ▪ to negotiate arrangements, e.g. financial or in politics

      ▪ to discuss a proposal for a future project

      ▪ to assess and evaluate different strategies or ways of dealing with a problem or a dispute

      ▪ to review and approve a certain course of action or a set of accounts

      ▪ to come to a decision on a proposal and agree what to do next

      ▪ to choose new members of a committee, board, leadership group, etc.

      ▪ to listen to or give a talk or presentation on a subject

      ▪ to develop a sense of team identity and encourage more effective teamwork

      Keep the aims of your meeting simple and clear.

       1.2

       What can go wrong in meetings?

      If we look at some of the things that can go wrong in a meeting, then we can learn from mistakes.

      ▪ inappropriate time of meeting, e.g. just before the end of the day

      ▪ the meeting is called at short notice

      ▪ poor or no agenda

      ▪ unclear purpose of meeting

      ▪ spending time during the meeting reading background reports

      ▪ not having enough copies of papers or reports for all participants

      ▪ participants arrive late

      ▪ wrong people present

      ▪ people who have authority to make decisions are not present

      ▪ unclear roles

      ▪ noisy venue; room too hot or too cold

      ▪ seating unhelpful for discussion

      ▪ some people talk too much; others talk too little

      ▪ participants are not prepared

      ▪ no follow-up from previous meeting

      ▪ participants do not reach conclusions or decisions

      ▪ participants do not decide actions or who is responsible for them

      ▪ poor or no chair

      ▪ discussion is in too much detail

      ▪ meeting goes on too long: no breaks

      ▪ new people present but no one introduces them

      ▪ participants use jargon that is not known to all participants

      ▪ participants do not really listen to one another

      ▪ participants talk to each other during the meeting

      ▪ distractions during the meeting, e.g. mobile phones ringing

      ▪ participants not being open to change their minds

      ▪ participants misinterpret others’ comments

      ▪ disagreement or conflict becomes personal

      ▪ too many people are talking at the same time

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