How To Drive Meetings, Before, During and After a Meeting

#Communication

Introduction

Meetings are an art and a vital soft skill for team leaders, especially in an era where remote work is on the trend. Poorly structured meetings can impact individual and team productivity. This article explores details to pay attention to before, during, and after meetings.

The Positioning of Meetings

Face-to-face discussions are not always the best choice. Meetings consume a lot of time and can disrupt participants’ focus. They are a costly form of communication and should be approached with caution regarding their necessity. Meetings should only be organized when necessary. Here are some situations suitable for meetings:

Topics that require back-and-forth discussion: Meetings allow for immediate face-to-face discussions and quick decision-making.
Enforcing progress: Compared to written communication, people are more inclined to express more opinions in a dialogue.
Privacy issues: Conversations are more private than written communication and can convey emotions more accurately.

Before the Meeting

Due to the high cost of meetings, special preparation should be made beforehand to avoid inefficient meetings. Two things should be clarified to ensure the meeting’s purpose:

Participants: Only invite necessary personnel to the meeting to avoid unnecessary costs.
Meeting Purpose: Make the purpose of the meeting clear so participants can prepare mentally. It’s best to set an agenda to help conduct the meeting within a predefined framework.

The person initiating the meeting can draft an agenda in advance, preparing all content to avoid wasting everyone’s time during the meeting. For example: open files, draw simple flowcharts to aid discussion and understanding, and outline key points.

During the Meeting

As the meeting host (or initiator), there is an additional responsibility to lead the meeting and ensure smooth discussions. You can focus on the following points:

Opening: Greet participants and establish the final expectations, outline the necessary context and goals before starting the meeting to ensure everyone is on the same page.
Hosting: Guide the team to achieve the meeting’s final goals while keeping an eye on time and the agenda to ensure the meeting stays on topic.
Summarizing: Summarize discussions, reach consensus, and assign follow-up responsibilities. These are the most important “impacts” of the meeting.

After the Meeting

Forgetting meeting content is common. Ensure that actions and responsibilities after the meeting can be reviewed by relevant individuals. Remember that responsibility assignments must have “specific individuals responsible” rather than “someone responsible,” as vague responsibilities can easily be overlooked.

Additional Tips

One technique to leverage the nature of meetings to inspire efficiency is: “Announce the meeting, but if the team resolves issues or reaches consensus through asynchronous communication within the deadline, cancel the meeting.” This allows the team more time for adequate preparation and discussion and encourages early collaboration to solve problems.

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