We often talk about meetings, there are those who speak well, who see them as a waste of time. In some companies there are too many in others too few.
In the various companies in which I have worked I have really seen all the colors. I've seen hour-long river meetings where no one took notes and no one followed up. If no one takes notes then it is very difficult, if not impossible, to remember with certainty what has been decided. Do you think that it has been calculated that 30 minutes after the end of a meeting you begin to forget what you have said. In another company, where a lot of time was spent in meetings, management issued a circular saying that meetings should not last more than 45 minutes and that internal issues within individual teams could be discussed at the coffee machine without calling a meeting. formal. I have also seen well-organized meetings with an agenda, a coordinator, clear objectives and predefined and respected timelines.
I could give you the names of the three companies where I saw these meetings, but it would be unfair, let's just say that two were Italian companies and one American.
Some types of meetings
Brainstorming sessions: have the purpose of devising and discussing possible solutions to a particular problem. They take place in a structured way with the fundamental rule that first all the ideas are collected without evaluating or criticizing them and only afterwards the most valid ideas are selected. Generally there is a person in charge of writing the ideas on a medium visible to all.
Verification meetings (Status meeting): these are meetings that take place regularly during a project or between project managers who manage multiple projects, with the aim of examining the progress of the project and in particular discussing the problems.
Cross functional meeting: have the purpose of updating the various company functions on projects and activities in progress in one function that may influence the others. In particular, they are used to address inter-functional problems.
Here are some elements that will help you organize your next meeting:
Criteria according to which to organize and manage a meeting
- Define it purpose of the meeting or rather the meeting objectives. When I find myself managing projects, for example, I always hold project meetings that aim to share critical information with the team or with the functions involved. Also, meetings are the best time to resolve issues that need input from multiple functions.
- There must be one meeting agenda with a timing for the discussion of the various points. If I am uncompromising on the agenda and would never call a meeting without at least one topic and objective, I am much more flexible about the timing of individual points. TECHNIQUE: if a discussion takes too long, you can give the people involved the task of discussing it separately. In English we would say take it off line. TECHNIQUE: agenda items must be created with a verb and a noun, for example “define next steps”. Writing only "next steps" would not be enough because it could also mean a simple "discussion", while if we use the term "define" it also implies a decision on the matter.
- Whoever calls the meeting is responsible for its management.
During the meeting, either the person in charge of the meeting or someone assigned by him will have to fill in a "minute".
If any decision is taken during the meeting, it is also necessary to define who has the task of formalizing it and the times to make it operational. After the meeting, a summary report must be compiled and distributed to the participants and guests who were unable to attend.
In summary
Criteria according to which to organize and manage a meeting
1) They must be clearly defined, a priori, lo scope of the meeting e participants needed and optional.
2) There must be one meeting agenda, which presents the points to be discussed as object + action (eg examine budget proposal, campaign choice).
3) It is appropriate avoid digressions on topics not included in the agenda.
4) The duration of the discussion of each point of the agenda and the total time of the meeting must be fixed and must not be extended beyond the foreseen terms.
5) The management of a meeting must always be assigned to one person.
6) During the meeting, either the person in charge of the meeting or someone assigned by him will have to fill in a "minute".
7) If any decision is taken during the meeting, it is also necessary to define who has the task of formalizing it and the times to make it operational.
8) After the conclusion of the meeting, a summary report must be compiled, which must include the maximum amount of information collected during the meeting and must be approved by one of the participants other than the editor.
9) If possible, fix the date, time and place of the next meeting
Minutes of the meeting
General informations
Date, place, title,… of the meeting
Topics (agenda)
Names of invited participants and those actually present
Contents of the interventions by topic dealt with the list of documents exchanged
Decisions taken with implementation managers and related operational times
Name of the editor and approver of the report and their dates