How many meetings have you had this week, month, year? If you take a minute to count, you may be astounded at the sheer volume of hours you spend in meetings.
What does the word ‘meeting’ really mean?
In a recent meeting, a manager asked the group about their perceptions of the utility of meetings. The topic of this meeting became the topic of meetings. Have we reached the pinnacle of absurdity? Perhaps, but it sparked a much-awaited reflection on meetings. Are we really holding meetings, or are we confusing meetings with some of its synonyms?
To clarify terms, I referred to Merriam-Webster’s (MW) expertise. The generic term, meeting, has a generic definition, which is the ‘act or process of coming together.’ This wasn’t as helpful as one would have liked. Thus, it was time to look at synonyms. Think about the meetings you tend to plan. Is your meeting actually just an assembly of people who, according to MW, are ‘gathered for deliberation and legislation, worship, or entertainment’? Or is it a convention that ‘summons and convenes an assembly‘? Other options include council or congress. Do any of these summarize the meetings you call?
Perhaps you are a bit less formal in your meeting set-up. Is your meeting more of a get-together where you come together in an assembly to reach an agreement or a huddle defined as a ‘close-packed group coming together to hold a consultation’? Perhaps it is a gathering which is ‘a coming together of people in a group (as for social, religious, or political purposes)’. Regardless of the term, none provides a clear direction for running effective meetings.
What is more interesting is the antonyms. According to MW, antonyms of the word meeting include avoiding, shaking, escaping, evading, and dodging. While these may be feelings we encounter in some meetings, there are solutions. Let’s address how we can make meetings more effective.
It is essential to define what we mean by a business meeting. When searching for this term, MW defines it as a ‘meeting at which matters of business are discussed.’ This is better than the generic term but needs to be revised regarding the rules or etiquette surrounding this term.
Three important questions to make meetings matter
1. What task do you need to do in the business meeting?
Communication tasks typically fall into three categories: Giving/receiving information, encouraging creativity/innovation, and improving social relations. Of the three, the vast majority fall into the first category. We gather people together so we can give information. However, we typically fail with the ‘receiving’ part of this task. Yes, we may open the floor to questions that, based on the remaining time, are limited, unanswered, or never asked. In most meetings, the welcome silence when the question ‘Are there any questions?’ suggests everything was clear, and everyone agreed.
Yet, this way of seeking information could be more effective. There are many reasons why people do not speak up, one of which is the size of the meeting. Participants may be embarrassed or overwhelmed. One solution is to allow people to ask questions anonymously via an app during the meeting. Unfortunately, it is a victim of its own success. Suddenly, there are too many questions that cannot be answered in the often too short time frame to answer questions, hence leading to frustration.
Here’s a question: If you are planning a meeting to give and receive information only, what can you do to ensure that the RECEIVING is more significant than the giving? After all, information can be sent in advance. Unlike an agenda, which often comes too late, participants could be sent a report to read, PPT slides to go through, or a summary document to prepare their participative role in the meeting. Instead of passively sitting and listening (or working on their computers or phones), participants would be engaged with the topics and included in the decisions.
Another suggestion is to combine the other communication tasks into an information-giving/receiving meeting. If the giving part is grossly reduced and participants come prepared, a meeting would become a place to foster and promote stronger relationships between colleagues and departments or co-create innovative solutions to the most significant problems the company is facing. This would lead to productive meetings that people want to attend.
2. Who needs to be at the meeting?
This is a crucial question. When you are passively sitting at the third meeting of the morning, you may ask yourself, ‘Why am I here’? If participants are not doing anything and walk away with no task to complete, they aren’t needed in this meeting. Here is a radical shift to consider for your next meeting. As the meeting progresses, ask or nominate the participants to do the tasks you have previously pin-pointed. This is important in the first few ‘new’ meetings you organize. If you cannot identify enough tasks for the people and their expertise, you need to question how you choose the participants for your meeting.
As mentioned, you then ask for volunteers or specifically ask certain participants (based on their expertise) to complete a specific task. These tasks are then recorded in the minutes with the initials of the owner of the task and an appropriate and realistic deadline. The record of these tasks is then shared with all of the participants before the next meeting. You would then have a written record of who is doing what by which date. You could kick off the following meeting by checking the status of each task.
3. What is the traceability of this meeting?
The demise of the official meeting minutes has been coming for years and was further instigated by the pandemic. As companies began holding more online meetings, sending the link to the meeting has become a new, albeit ineffective, trend. Movie spoiler here: A link to a meeting does not replace succinct summary minutes that define the tasks, owners, and deadlines just discussed. While the intention is noble, the reality that participants will watch the meeting (which is often poor quality with sound or video effects) is low.
One suggestion could be to do a quality sound recording that one could listen to as a podcast when driving in the car or jogging. There are more chances that the content will be heard. Podcast-like recordings could be done for almost all meetings identified as giving/receiving information meetings only. Imagine how incredible meetings would be if you received a link to the critical information beforehand and could come to the meeting actively prepared to strengthen social bonds and inspire creativity. This is how we can move projects forward.
The potential for dynamic environments
At the end of the day, meetings should be more than just a habitual calendar entry. They hold the potential to be dynamic environments where ideas spark, collaboration thrives and decisions are made efficiently. By carefully considering the purpose of each meeting, the participants and the mechanisms for follow-up, we can reclaim meetings as a space for meaningful progress. This requires deliberate effort, a willingness to rethink old habits and a commitment to continuous improvement.
Meetings matter because they represent our collective time and energy. With the right approach, meetings can evolve into spaces where people not only contribute but leave feeling inspired, valued and ready to act. With reflection and tweaking, you will be amazed how great meetings can be and how willing participants will be to attend YOUR meetings!
