What You Need To Know About Meetings

 

“A team that doesn’t have good meetings really can’t be a good team.”

Andrew Moore

 

Andrew Moore estimates that around 95% of meetings are ineffective, however just because previous meetings have been disappointing does not mean they need to continue this way. There is an effective way to conduct meetings and as soon as leaders take ownership of the process, they realise the potential they have to move crucial information between people and inspire positive action within their team.

 

As the Principal Australian Consultant for The Table Group, Andrew works with CEO’s and Executive Teams applying the concepts of Organisational Health. He holds a Doctorate in Cultural Change Management as well as qualifications in Economics and Strategic Organisational Development. Andrew has worked with a broad range of organisations such as emergency services, construction, market research, travel, telecommunications, education, insurance and real estate.

 

To achieve Organisational Health, Andrew’s work focuses on producing highly functional teams. Achieving clarity is a key discipline for Andrew and comes by engaging in positive meetings which follow a ‘discuss, decide and execute’ format. For an Executive, or those who hold a management position, meetings are your place; just as the surgery table is a Surgeon’s place and a classroom is a Teacher’s place.

 

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Meetings do fail and it can be due to the history people have with them. We have all experienced a number of ‘zombie’ meetings in which there is one dominant speaker, the topic is only relevant for a few people and the discussion is boring, unfocused and inconsequential – right?

 

Andrew has seen that a negative meeting culture generally develops from the top down and as soon as Leaders take responsibility and own the meeting, they are more likely to do something about turning this culture around.

 

So, what is the key to holding a great meeting? The meeting should be engaging, interesting, vibrant and give people a platform to talk about relevant real-life situations. Meetings need to end with clarity and a clear conclusion.

 

Related Post: How Can We Work Together Better? with Laura Prael

 

In this week’s podcast Andrew delves into the four types of effective meetings and the format leaders need to follow in order to keep their team engaged.

 

  1. Admin Meeting (5-10 minutes) – the daily check-in. Especially important for teams working remotely.
  1. Tactical Meeting (20 minutes) – held weekly or fortnightly. Begins with a lightning round and builds a real time agenda. Not for discussing big strategic topics.
  1. Ad Hoc Meeting (2-4 hours) – starts with a challenge and is topic specific.
  1. Off-site Meeting (1-2 days) – loose, big picture topics which require time for the mind to wander.

 

 

He also shares strategies on how to hold meetings which stay on topic, create an environment where people are comfortable sharing in front of their team-mates, ‘mine for conflict’ to prevent ‘artificial harmony’ and ultimately prevent drudgery.

 

If you learn how to run great meetings, you will be part of a very small percentage of leaders who make a big difference to their team and organisation. The opportunity is now. Listen to this podcast and then take action.

 

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