334. Quick Thinks: How to Make the Most Out of Meetings

0:00 You know that feeling of joy and relief when a meeting gets canceled from your calendar? It doesn't have to be that way. Meetings can be effective. I'm Matt Abrahams, and I teach strategic communication at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Welcome to this Quick Thinks episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, the podcast. I'm often asked how to make meetings better. So today I'd like to share with you what we can do to improve our meetings and have a positive experience and positive results after them. When it comes to planning for meetings, we have to think about the three stages: what we do before, during, and after.

0:43 The very first thing we have to do when it comes to meetings is we have to ask ourselves, "Do we really need it?" Meetings are often used as band-aids, as ways of covering up for other larger communication challenges. I once was brought in to consult at an organization that was having at least three meetings a day for most people, and those meetings were bringing in 20, 30 people. Why was that? They didn't have effective means for communicating decisions and the thoughts that the senior leaders were having. As soon as we developed those means, all of a sudden, the number of meetings disappeared. Ask yourself one fundamental question: What is the best way to convey this information?

1:28 Is it by convening a team and having a discussion? There are many cases where that is the answer. Making decisions, ideating, lots of reasons to convene people. But there are lots of things we do that we don't need to pull people together. For example, giving updates. There are lots of creative ways to get updates out to people without having to have everybody sit in a room or on a Zoom to learn. So question number one is: Do we actually need the meeting? Once you've decided that that meeting is needed, you need to think of what the clear goal for the meeting is at the highest level. And you know, if you've listened to me in the past, that I believe goals have three parts: know, feel, do. What do you want people to know as the result of the meeting?

2:09 How do you want them to feel? And what are the things you want them to do? You need to clearly be able to articulate this to help with the next step, because the next step is to take that goal and think about how do you operationalize it. You have to create an agenda. I'm a huge fan of structure in all communication. An agenda is the structure for meetings. To me, a good agenda has several components. First, it lists the topic in a very clear way. Second, who is in charge of that topic? Who will be facilitating or delivering the information? How long will they have? This helps set some boundaries. And you should identify what is going to happen as a result of that agenda item.

2:50 Is it we're gonna make a decision? Is it for information only, or is it for discussion? By helping people in advance know what the topic is, how long we're spending, who's in charge of it, and what the outcome will be, people can be better prepared. You then have to think about what is the order of the agenda items. There's actually interesting research on this. Most of us have a tendency to put the easiest thing first as a way of ramping us up. Well, unfortunately, in meetings, there's this notion of time entropy. We tend to expand and take more time than we need. And if we're spending more time on the simple task, it leaves less time for the more challenging and complex tasks.

3:32 So what the research suggests is if you were to have three different topics, one that's easy, one that's medium-level complexity, and one that's really challenging. You should put the medium-level complexity one first, then move to the most difficult, and end with the simplest. So think through not only what the agenda is, but the order in which those items appear. That can help. Finally, you need to think about who is attending the meeting. Who you invite and who you require really makes a difference. It signals to people the importance. And you wanna respect people's time, so only invite people that are critical. Now, there might be people who need to be notified of the outcome of the meeting.

4:14 That's fine. Don't invite them to the meeting. You might wanna even list these are the people who will receive the output of the meeting. This planning up front will increase the likelihood that your meetings will be effective and that people will respect that there's value happening. So we start by thinking, "Do we need the meeting? What's our goal?" Know, feel, do. And then we create our agenda. The next step before we actually have the meeting is we have to announce it. I believe one of the most underutilized expectation-setting tools we have, especially when it comes to meetings and presentations, is the calendar invite. What do you call your meeting? It's important to have a meeting that has action. Many of us have an allergy to the word meeting, so don't call your gathering a meeting.

4:58 Call it something else. Give it the, an action. Define the decision that's being made or the ideas that are being generated. You don't have to use the word meeting. You have to think about the time that the meeting will take place, both how long and what time of day. When it comes to length of meeting, it's pretty easy math. You just figure out the agenda items. And by the way, a meeting doesn't have to be only thirty minutes or an hour. You can set up a meeting that's twenty minutes, fifty minutes. We don't have to fall victim to the way calendars schedule timing of meetings. In fact, there's some research that says a time-compressed meeting, a meeting that, that is scheduled for a little less time than it really should take, motivates people to be more efficient.

5:43 So how long should also be something that you put in the calendar invite. Now, you should think about when the meeting takes place. You want people to be fresh and able to focus and not rushing around. It might serve you well to spend a few minutes checking on some of the key attendees' calendars to see where your meeting fits in. And maybe you move it to where people aren't coming from something or needing to rush off to something else. So the calendar invite is really important. Additionally, on the calendar invite, I like to put if any tools are going to be used. Let's say we're going to use a specific technology in the meeting. I like to list that and maybe even put a link to a YouTube video or other educational video to help people know how to use that tool, so I don't have to become tech support to help people learn that tool.

6:32 And we're gonna talk about this in just a minute when we talk about actually running the meeting. But if you have any specific ground rules, like content stays only in the meeting or we want cameras on if we're virtual, it's a good idea to put them in the calendar invite and on the agenda as well. So those are the things we do in advance. There's a lot of work to setting up a likely successful meeting. You have to spend time working on that. Now, in the meeting itself, it's important to congregate and get people started right away. It is in your best interest to start on time because that sends a signal. It sends a signal that we start on time, and hopefully we end on time. Those who show up late, while it can be difficult to integrate them in, you're teaching a lesson there.

7:17 So I'm a big fan of starting meetings on time. I like to set expectations. If there are ground rules, I'll share those ground rules. Some good ground rules are we listen to everybody. Everybody has a chance to, to speak. Uh, sometimes I, I request that people paraphrase what they're saying, what somebody else said or the ideas that they're then commenting on to keep the themes going. Set those ground rules up front. Then set expectations. Share the agenda and ask if anybody has questions or concerns. And then jump right in. If you're the leader of the meeting, part of your job is to make sure that you're sticking on time, so you're keeping track of that. But you also wanna make sure that everybody has an opportunity to contribute if and when they want to.

8:02 So you become a facilitator. That's a very different skill set, but it's one that requires vigilance to time and what's being said. I like to have a way of capturing information. Technology certainly allows us to do that. Or assign somebody the responsibility of capturing that information. A little bit of advice if you are hybrid. Hybrid is where not everybody is virtual and not everybody is in person. Some are in each situation. A good meeting makes sure that regardless of how you're attending, virtual or in person, you feel connected. So a quick and dirty thing you can do if you're leading a meeting is I always like to start the conversation with the person or people who are fewer in number.

8:47 So if there are five of us in a room and three of us on Zoom, I'll always solicit input and feedback from those on Zoom because there are fewer of them. What that does is it reminds the, the majority, the people who we have more of, that these other people exist. Similarly, if I have a hybrid situation, I will request that those who are remote not use the chat feature because they could be having a side conversation that those of us in the room aren't privy to. So think about, if you are hybrid, some of the extra things you would do to help the meeting run more smoothly. As the meeting is coming to an end, it's important to have a formal conclusion.

9:28 Do you know the most common way meetings end? Something like this: "Uh, I guess we're out of time and somebody needs the room." Or if you're on Zoom, somebody pops in for the next meeting because you use the same link. Those are not the most effective ways to end meetings. You should have a way of wrapping up. I'm a big fan of gratitude, "Thank you." Perhaps reviewing the goal that you had, "I hope we all know this, feel this, and are willing to do that." Maybe we itemize the call to action or the action steps that follow, but there should be a sense of closure. So we've talked about what to do at the beginning and planning of a meeting, and then we've talked about what to do during. When a meeting is over, it doesn't mean that that conversation and communication has ended.

10:09 There should be a way of, of sharing the information that was discussed. Maybe it's minutes or a transcript of what was said. Maybe it's a summary. Could be an infographic, but it needs to be shared, perhaps in Slack or email or posted to a site so people can see it. Not only does it capture the content, but it captures who was there and any open items and action items as well. This then becomes a living document. Personally, I keep notes and minutes on the agenda itself so people could see the agenda and then what was discussed at every step along the way. I also will follow up with people individually and ask for feedback, what worked, what didn't work.

10:50 This way I can continue to hone and develop those meetings. Taken together, these tools and approaches can help you actually run meetings that are effective and useful. Thanks for joining us for this Quick Thinks episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart: The Podcast. To learn more about meetings, please listen to episode 261 with Rebecca Hinds. This episode was produced by Katherine Reed, Alex McCarthy, Ryan Campos, and me, Matt Abrahams. Our music is from Floyd Wonder, with special thanks to Podium Podcast Company. Please find us on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts. Be sure to subscribe and rate us. Also, follow us on LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram.

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