How to prepare for a meeting
It was Hendrik van Loon who once said that a meeting would be successful only if it had three participants - one of whom is away sick and another who is absent. Organisational life is never so generous to managers, however. Meetings have become an unavoidable aspect of a manager's job. Fortunately, unnecessary meetings can be eliminated; others can be made more effective. Important ingredients are planning and preparation, as the following points reveal...
1. Make sure you've called the meeting for a reason.
Meetings should never become rituals. They cost time and money, so it's important to call a meeting only when one is warranted - to solve a problem, to coordinate activities, to disseminate and discuss urgent information, to reach a consensus or decision, to build morale, or to reconcile conflicts. So don't ask people to attend a listening-session if you can send a memo or newsletter instead.
2. Select the participants wisely.
Only those who need to attend should be invited to do so. Each non-essential attendee is wasting his or her time and costing your organisation money. As well, the more people attending, the more difficult it is to reach consensus. Consider inviting participants to be present at a particular time - that is, for the agenda item on which their personal contributions are required.
According to US communications specialist Milo Frank, unnecessary participants, like unnecessary meetings, are a waste of everyone’s time. He suggests you consider six questions in deciding whom to invite:
- Whom must you invite?
- Who can give you what you want?
- Who favours your objective?
- Who will oppose your objective?
- Who is sitting on the fence?
- Who can cause trouble if not invited?
3. Prepare a benchmark of productivity.
Be clear on the purposes of the meeting and your hoped-for outcomes. How will you know when you have achieved them? By preparing a 'benchmark of productivity' for the meeting - a check list of what you want to accomplish, to refer to during the meeting, or to use later to compare the hoped-for outcomes with the actual ones.
