Meetings: Dante’s forgotten circle of hell

By Lon W. Schiffbauer, BA, MBA, PhD, SPHR

Let’s just say it. There’s no point in trying to hide it; meetings are the worst.

Do a quick search for books on the topic and you’ll find such titles as Meetings Suck and Death by Meeting. As for myself, I have personally faked my own death on no less than seven occasions to avoid attending a meeting.

It’s no secret that meetings constitute a whole new circle of hell in Dante’s Inferno, but this doesn’t necessarily have to be the case. Meetings are an unavoidable part of doing business, so learning how to properly prepare, conduct, and participate in meetings can make all the difference in one’s career.

Why the Hate?

Before we talk about how to make meetings better, it’s a good idea to first understand what makes them so despised in the first place. Our enmity for meetings is rooted in several factors. Some are more or less inevitable. Even the best meetings can interrupt the workday and require us to play nice with folks who may lack some degree of meeting etiquette. (I was once pulled aside by my director and told to never attend another meeting while on caffeine.) However, much of what makes meetings so awful is a direct result of one thing: poor planning. Failure to properly prepare for the meeting—both on the part of the meeting organizers as well as the attendees—will almost certainly result in a waste of everyone’s time. Without a formal structure, one which includes a time-blocked agenda, a clear objective, and an expected outcome, the meeting will 1) be dominated by meandering conversations with no clear direction, 2) quite probably run late or unnecessarily expand to fill the time available, and 3) generate little in terms of final decisions, actionable next steps, or real value of any sort.

To avoid all this we need to put in place a formal structure that will provide the lanes and guideposts necessary to keep everyone on task and moving forward and in the right direction. This includes considering the roles and responsibilities of the meeting organizers, facilitators, and attendees.

Meeting Organizer: Preparing for the meeting

Define the purpose of the meeting and the expected outcomes

If you don’t have a purpose in meeting, don’t meet. If you don’t know what outcomes should result from the meeting, don’t meet. In fact, the default setting should be not to meet. Every meeting should have a clear need and purpose, as well as well-defined expected outcomes. Take the time to set out SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound) objectives for the meeting.

Determine who should attend

Not everyone needs to attend every meeting ever called. Invite only those who have a clear role and responsibility in the project and have a part to play in the expected outcomes. Resist the temptation to invite people for political reasons. If the wrong people are in attendance then you’ll be wasting their time and inviting disruption. On the other hand, if you’re missing key stakeholders and contributors then you won’t have the muscle necessary to make decisions and move forward.

Reserve a room any required equipment

Make sure the room and equipment are available and meet your needs.

Develop an agenda

Agendas are not complicated, but they’re too important to gloss over. Let’s break this one down:

Time Allotted

Allocate a specific amount of time to each discussion topic. It’s an unfortunate fact of the universe that the discussion will expand to fit the time allotted, so if you do not assign a specific amount of time then the discussion will never end and you will never reach your expected outcome.

Discussion Topic

List out the specific discussion topics for the meeting. For added effectiveness, list each topic in the form of a question, such as “How should we resolve this customer’s concern?” If you don’t do this then there will be no lane markers to keep people from careening off the highway. Before you know it you’ll be off-roading in a random jungle of non sequiturs.

Owner

Name who is responsible for leading the discussion on the topic. This person, having a clear idea of what he or she wants to accomplish with the time allotted, will be able to keep the discussion on track.

Expected Outcome

Indicate a clear and well-defined expected outcome—what you want to come away with by the end of the discussion. This can include decisions, required next steps, commitments, and so forth.

Distribute the agenda to all attendees 24 hours prior to the meeting

Sending out the agenda in advance will help attendees understand what is expected of them and give them time to prepare.

Inform participants of any necessary preparation

Let attendees know if you need them to arrive with data, examples, mockups, ideas, research, or anything else the team may need to reach the expected outcomes.

Meeting Facilitator: Conducting the meeting

Arrive early and test the equipment

If you’re uncertain about the equipment or technology in the room, for the love of all that’s holy, test it beforehand! I can’t tell you how many meetings I’ve attended in which the first ten minutes was spent watching the meeting facilitator wrestle with the technology (15 minutes if it was a Mac).

Start on time

One of the reasons people resent meetings so much is they feel they’re a waste of time. Don’t feed this resentment by starting late. Be respectful of people’s time and attendance.

Review and stick to the agenda

Make it clear why everyone is meeting and what you all need to accomplish in the short time you’ll be together. To ensure that you stick to the agenda, assign someone to act as a “Weed Wacker,” someone who calls out when the discussion is getting lost in the weeds or straying off topic.

Provide time to review important materials

It’s true that you sent out the agenda beforehand so attendees could review important materials, but this doesn’t always mean that they did. If it’s important that everyone has the same information to ensure an effective meeting, provide five minutes or so for people to read through the materials.

Assign someone to take minutes

Like agendas, meeting minutes are often overlooked, but their value cannot be overstated. Let’s break this down:

Decisions Made

Document all of the decisions made so you can move on to the next challenge and keep the project on schedule. If you don’t then you’ll find yourself revisiting the same questions over and over.

Action Items

Document what needs to be done to keep the project moving forward.

Owners

Document who is responsible for completing these action items. Keeping team members accountable will help ensure that all hands are on deck and everyone knows what’s expected.

Due Dates

Document when these action items will be completed.

At the end of the meeting, summarize decisions made and next steps

This way everyone will be on the same page when they leave and have their marching orders in hand.

End on time

In fact, if you can, end early. People will name their children after you.

Meeting Attendees: Participating in the meeting

Before the meeting, study up on the agenda topics

You don’t want to be that person who has no idea what’s going on—or worse still—be expected to contribute and be unprepared to do so.

Prepare 2-3 questions, the answers to which matter to you

This will help you stay focused as the meeting drones on. By preparing question beforehand—the answers to which matter to you—you’ll be able to keep your ears trained on the discussion and come away with something of value. It’s like an audible Where’s Waldo; listen for it and you’ll find it.

In the meeting, ask clarifying questions

This will help you better understand what is expected of you moving forward and deliver on those expectations.

Take notes

This will help you stay alert and engaged, as well as give you information you may need later when delivering on your action items.

Meeting Organizer: Following-up on the meeting

Send the minutes out to the attendees within 24 hours with decisions made and next steps

This will allow everyone to keep track of who will be doing what by when and keep the team aligned and accountable.

Follow-up on assigned action items

Everyone on the team is dependent on everyone else, so it’s a good idea to touch base now and again and make sure everyone is tracking to schedule.

Solicit additional help and support where needed

Inevitably, team members will run into obstacles and need help. It’s in everyone’s interest that all succeed, so help where you can and solicit others for support where needed.

It’s worth it

I know this may look like a lot to consider, but much of it is systematic, which is to say, once you get it up and running as part of your regular meeting culture, it will pretty much manage itself. That said, it will always take a given level of deliberate intent and discipline to maintain. But you know what? I’d take that over the alternative any day of the week.

Lon is an Associate Professor of Business Management at Salt Lake Community College and holds an MBA, a PhD, and is a certified Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). In addition to his academic background, Lon spent close to 30 years working and consulting for such companies as FedEx, Intel, eBay, and PayPal, as well as a variety of small to mid-sized companies around the world.