How to improve meetings

Premasish Roy
Faculty Member
ISB&M, Kolkata
 Meetings and Meeting of Minds
Despite protests, management today is done
increasingly through meetings. The result is
that the ability to work effectively in such
meetings is a skill increasingly needed and
appreciated.
Here are some pointers:
1. Basically, there are four types of meetings:
informative, consultative, executive
(decision making) and combinations of
these. Every meeting should begin with a
statement of its purpose.
2. Consultative or executive meetings should
be called in two situations: a.) when there is
expectation of new ideas, suggestions, etc.,
from the participants or b.) when there is no
such hope but the cooperation of the
participants is required to make a decision
effective.
3. In any meeting there is:
a.) information shared by all the participants
b.) information shared by two or more members
c.) information that each individual alone
possesses
4. Groups cannot effectively tackle a problem
intellectually if there’s a latent sea of negative
feelings. There must be a clearing of the air
before there’s a meeting of minds
1. Functional Behaviour
A.Task
1. Initiating
2. Seeking information
3. Giving information
4. Coordinating
5. Summarizing
B. Lubrication
1. Encouraging
2. Seeing that everyone has a chance to
contribute
3. Expressing the group feeling
4. Compromising
5. Relieving tension
II. Dysfunctional Behaviour
1. Attacking
2. Disagreeing beyond reason
3. Dominating
4. Withdrawing
5. Bringing in irrelevant personal interests
How to be an effective discussion leader
Leading a discussion effectively is a skill that few
possess. This ability to bring the combined
intelligence and experience of many to bear on a
problem effectively and congenially can be
developed with practice.
1. Make sure the discussion room is as pleasant as
possible and the chairs for the participants
arranged in a circle so that all participants can see
each other equally easily.
2. Have a chalkboard or flipchart available to
focus attention, to make problems visible.
3. Start meetings on time. Don’t worry about
hurting the feelings of a late arrival. No one
should be able to walk away with the time of the
other members.
4.Don’t be afraid of a little silence at the
beginning as members focus on the problem.
Most of your questions should be overhead
questions, that is, addressed to the group as
such. Avoid calling anybody by name to respond,
if he or she has not shown any desire to speak.
5. Your first task as a discussion or group
leader is to explain the purpose of the meeting
or the precise question (s) to be discussed. Let
the group know exactly its role, e.g., to react,
to give recommendations, or to decide.
6. Consider the possibility of rotating the chair.
The chair person need not be the Boss.
Chairing a meeting develops the members and
there is no loss of authority for the Boss.
7. Remember the principle: “Don’t do it
yourself”. Let someone else take minutes or be
recorder. Redirect questions back to the group.
Be a traffic controller, not a goalkeeper, and
certainly not a lecture.
8. See value in disagreement and by protecting
the expression of minority opinions improve the
quality of the discussion.
9. Do not allow your preferences to be seen;
that is, do not indicate which side of an issue
you prefer. Be cheerful, alert, and courteous.
10. Be decisive in giving recognition to
speakers: not “You” or “Yes”, but
‘Mr.Prasad’, ‘Mr. Sinha’. Keep looking
around the group to see who is anxious to
make a contribution. Just by the use of your
eyes and facial expression you can
communicate much to the more silent
members.
11.Try to keep all the keys of the typewriter
working. Cut off tactfully and congenially those
who speak too long: e.g. “We’re fortunate to be
able to share your experiences, Ramesh, but let us
hear from some of the members who have not
expressed their views so far.”
12. You may find the following words useful:
classify, define, explain, interpret, review,
elaborate, compare, trace, illustrate, describe,
summarize, relate, contrast, redirect.
13. Be alert to see whether the group is
ready for a decision; don’t force it when it is
obviously not ready.
14. Meetings in which few or no questions
are asked are questionable. Inquiry makes
learning possible; all advocacy and no
inquiry raises questions as to the
effectiveness of the meeting.
15. What is the cost per hour of your meetings?
Work out the hourly earnings of each member
of your committee. Some groups do this and
weigh the results of an hour’s conference with
the cost involved. Meetings are expensive.
16. Summarize periodically and summarize the
minority and majority viewpoints at the close.
17. Fix a time for closing. Annoyance grows,
returns diminish after an hour or hour and a
half. A fixed time inclines members to be brief
and contributes to a sense of progress and
achievement.
18. Once a meeting is over, minutes summarizing
the main points should be sent out immediately.
The chairperson or secretary must nail down
exactly what happened, sending out minutes that
summarize the discussion, the decisions made,
and the actions to be taken. It is very important
that members get the minutes quickly before they
forget what happened.
Planning (A few do’s and don’ts)
A.Do
1. Arrange the time so that the meeting ends at
a natural break time; e.g. 5:00 pm.
2. See to the physical arrangement ahead of
time (clean, cool and attractive room, flip
chart, projector, positioning of chairs etc).
3. Avoid surprise meetings as far as possible.
4. Have clearly in mind the purpose of the
meeting.
5. Plan so that important matters get the most
time.
B. Don’t
1. Fail to start on time.
2. Get bogged down on unimportant items.
3. Go beyond the time fixed without a very good
reason.
4. Feel that every meeting must start on the hour
or half hour. Sometime starting at an odd time
helps punctuality, e.g., 4:40
Order of Business (Agenda)
A.Call to order (‘ The meeting will come to order’).
B. Reading of minutes (concise and crisp).
C. Communications (only important letters read
and filed).
D. Treasurer’s Report (often printed and
distributed).
E. Presentation of Reports (arranged ahead
of time).
F. Unfinished business
G. New Business
H. Adjournment time (time, place of next
meetings).