I run three management meetings a week – a key time for the senior leaders to come together and update each other on their projects. However, I have noticed that some of the team don't take the meetings seriously. They turn up late, spend most of their time glued to their mobile phone or simply don't attend. How can I encourage them to respect the meeting process? MM, Abu Dhabi
Meetings are the most common yet universally despised part of business life. All of us have sat through a meeting that feels like it will never end; the meeting where everyone sits fiddling with his or her phone; the meeting that the HR department hijacks to launch a new seemingly pointless initiative or the meeting where almost everyone in the room is wondering the same thing: shouldn’t I be doing my actual job in this time?
Encouraging people to take them more seriously and respect the process requires a manager like yourself to develop some good meeting management habits. Trust me, your team will quickly follow suit. It may be that the three meetings you run a week is excessive, especially if they all last for an hour-and-a-half – that’s more than half a day out from work. A useful way to start repositioning meetings as productive time is to explore whether your senior leaders feel the current frequency and structure is actually working. To gauge this in context, find out the extent of communication taking place outside the meeting room. That way you will know how much information flows freely and whether you need as many formal channels for this.
Once you understand their point of view you can start rebuilding the credibility of the meetings from the ground up – and there are a number of tactics that will help. First, set the agenda up front and make sure the objectives of the meeting are loud and clear. Any meeting must have a specific and defined purpose. If it is to update each other on activities, share ideas and remain connected then that is fine. However, you could also provide important company information, allow people to give project or financial updates (and receive feedback) and even offer their own good news. That way the meeting does not become monotonous bore, but a legitimate channel of important communication.
If you create an agenda, circulate it beforehand and allow people to prepare. Stick to this and aim to keep people focused on it. You also need to build a reputation for starting and ending the meetings on time as it will have a positive effect on the attendance and engagement you receive. If you appreciate that other people’s time is important then they will do the same in your meeting.
The next thing is to explicitly say “no” to technology in the meetings. If people are allowed to bring phones, laptops or other devices into the session, they will be focused on themselves rather than the meeting. If you honour the hour-long rule, then they should honour the no-device rule. Equally if you share important information in these meetings, they should be all ears anyway.
The final aspect of a good meeting is the quality of the follow-up. It is easy for people to come with their own truth of what is required from them and from others and the action points. My own experience is that it tends to be the same people with stacks to do after a meeting and it’s often me. Try to break this cycle by encouraging everyone to take some responsibility for the next steps and summarise actions and owners in a concise follow-up note. Treat this as the last brick in the wall, helping to provide stability and structure to the meeting.
Doctor’s prescription:
For others to take meetings seriously, you must take responsibility for being the architect of these meetings. A successful meeting does not come by chance, it requires clear planning and organisation and a willingness to adapt and evolve if necessary. Think about meeting length and frequency as well as the topics being discussed and some of the necessary ground rules. This way you should turn them from a laborious chore to the go-to place for information sharing.
Alex Davda is a business psychologist and client director at Ashridge Executive Education, Hult International Business School, and is based in the Middle East. Email him at business@thenational.ae for advice on any work issues.
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