Running Effective Meetings, Part 2

Meetings get a bad rap, and deservedly so—most are disorganized and distracted. But they can be a critical tool for getting your team on the same page.

—Justin Rosenstein

Running effective meetings involves a lot more than inviting the right people to gather at the right time to have a conversation about a mutually agreed upon topic. If you’re participating in a meeting, your goal should be to make sure that your contribution results in a net positive for all attendees. And if you’re in charge of the meeting, your goal should be to involve all participants in a productive, respectful conversation that yields proposed solutions to the issues at hand—and stays on time and on topic.

By the way, if you've not read Part I of this series on running effective meetings, take a peek here as it lays the groundwork for successful meetings by spelling out what to do before you pull people together.

How to Be a Good Meeting Participant

There is no point having team meetings where no one speaks because you don't learn anything.

—Joe Root

I hope the points below come across to you as no-brainers. But not everyone knows about them (especially people who may just be starting out in their careers)—and sometimes people who know them don’t always follow them. Rather than assume that everyone is operating by the same rules, it’s not a bad idea to send a friendly reminder to your meeting attendees that following these practices will help everyone get the most of their meetings.

Actively listen – you’re born with two ears and one mouth – use them proportionately.
Support/include others – encourage others to share their perspective.
Ask questions (in a non-judgmental manner) – don’t make other participants defend their position; instead ask probing questions that show your genuine interest in understanding their perspective
Pull the group together – manage conflicting viewpoints in a positive manner.
Communicate with tact and diplomacy – communicate in a way that maintains good relations with others or avoids offense; handle affairs without incurring hostility.
Concisely share your perspective – don’t ramble; instead share in a clear and concise manner
Bring both knowledge and curiosity – don’t just listen to respond – live to understand before responding.
Stay focused even on zoom – it’s easy to become distracted; shut off anything that makes noise so you can concentrate on what is being said.

Best Practices for Running Effective Meetings

When I have meetings scheduled so tight that I can't go to the loo, that's where I draw the line!

—Christian Louboutin

If you’ve called a meeting, it's your responsibility to ensure the discussion moves forward and everyone's time is used in a productive manner. Running effective meetings includes:

Reviewing the ground rules, agenda (including check-in moments), and the goals of the meeting.
Clarifying who is the decision maker(s) for the meeting.
Requiring attendees to raise their hand.
Avoiding report outs; instead use face-to-face time for collaboration and/or decisions.
Asking who wants to comment on the agenda items and then facilitating the order.
Using the person’s name first when calling on them to answer (just in case that is the one moment they space out!). Something like “Pat, go ahead with your comment, Pat.”
Giving each attendee time to talk: calling on people and tracking who has spoken to ensure you don’t miss anyone, doing a “round robin” on comments where everyone has to speak or vote.
Doing a “waterfall” in the chat: ask a question and have everyone add their answers in the chat; HOWEVER, tell them to NOT hit enter until you indicate. Give everyone 30 seconds to answer – counting down the last five seconds while encouraging folks to hurry up and finish their answer! When your countdown gets to zero, a “waterfall” of answers will come in which makes it exciting. Then call on people who have not spoken yet to elaborate on their answers.
Watching the time and bringing attendees back on topic if/when necessary.

Best Practices for Running Virtual Meetings

Even when we go back to having meetings in person, we will continue to incorporate a lot of the things we learned in virtual meetings to make sure we get the right engagement from all of our remote teammates.

—Andy Jassy

In virtual meetings, you lose access to some of the body language and physical cues (both conscious and unconscious) that are present during in-person meetings. Therefore, all participants need to be more deliberate in how they present themselves to others. For example, as a participant you should focus on your camera (not on your screen or your colleagues) so your gaze falls in the “right” spot on the screen. On that same note, frame yourself carefully (no slouching!) so you are centered in your window and don’t have clutter or other distractions behind you.

Speak clearly and be present and mindful. (If your attention wanders or you start working on other tasks, people will notice—and you’ll become a distraction.) Learn how to use your virtual meeting applications (i.e., virtual white board, polling, surveys, etc.) —and help others with them, too. Remember: the better everyone is with these applications, the more interesting the meeting as well as fewer tech-related interruptions and delays!

If you’re the person who’s running a virtual meeting, keep in mind a few other best practices:

Require attendees to raise their hand (either literally or via the application’s virtual “raise hand” feature).
Strongly encourage participants to turn on their cameras.
Mention that you’ll call on those folks who are participating via phone only (put a post-it note on your screen with the name attached to phone #’s so you do indeed remember to call on them!).
Use polling, chat, surveys, whiteboarding, and other in-app functions for better participation.
If two people start speaking at the same time, remind them about raising their hand. Then, if one of them has already spoken during the meeting, ask them to hold (“Phala, we’ve not heard from you—please go ahead. Tyrell, you’re up next”).
In long meetings, give everyone a five-minute “technology break” every 45 minutes or so. (Maintaining attention and presence in a virtual meeting can be exhausting!)
When asking someone a question, say their name first in case they are distracted.
Manage any attendees who exhibit nonproductive or distracting behavior.

Read the (Zoom) Room

By early 2020, virtual meeting technology had become a commonly used tool in the business world—but not one embraced by all organizations. Once the pandemic arrived and everyone had to stay home, the demand for virtual meeting technology skyrocketed. Before long, it had achieved near-universal use, with private, public, and nonprofit sectors using it to continue their work; schools using it to educate their students; and families and friends using it to keep in touch. In a very short time, a very large segment of the population learned how to use virtual meeting applications. Although it’s now safe again for people to conduct meetings, classes, and other gatherings in person, hybrid meetings are here to stay in many companies—which means that managers need to be adept at running meetings in any space, whether in-person or virtual.

Facilitation Go-Tos

Meetings should be great—they're opportunities for a group of people sitting together around a table to directly communicate.

—Jason Fried

If you’re running a meeting, not only do you have to manage the “nuts and bolts” of a meeting (e.g., working through the agenda, calling on speakers, keeping track of time), but you also have to manage the content of the discussion. Sometimes all you have to do is stand back and let the ideas flow. But sometimes you need to be a little more hands-on and guide the conversation. For example, make use of breakout groups to explore aspects of a big topic in order to pare down the scope of the discussion and make it more manageable. If you anticipate having trouble getting the conversation started, plan ahead for someone to be a “plant” to lob some starter questions to the group or to ask a difficult question if things stall later.

If it seems like meeting participants need a little nudging to speak up, you can coax them with a few encouraging comments:

“Tell us more about your idea.”
“Susy, we haven’t heard from you in a while. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.” (If she has nothing to add on that topic, follow up with “I would love to queue you up for when we move on to our next agenda item. Does that work?”)
“Bob, thanks for the great participation. Let’s get others’ input as well. Who would you like to hear from first?”
If attendees defer to you or are silent, prompt discussion with a lead-in such as ”What about the idea to…?”

It’s important to remember that just because someone isn’t a forthright speaker doesn’t mean they don’t have something to say or that they don’t want to share it. Not all people are extroverts who voluntarily jump into the limelight. But many people are eager to share their thoughts and will happily do so if you extend a welcoming hand to help them onto the stage.

Ending the Meeting

You should never go to a meeting or make a telephone call without a clear idea of what you are trying to achieve.

—Steve Jobs

When the conversation or the time limit (or maybe both!) has been exhausted, it’s time to wind down the gathering. In meetings, discussions can range widely, so it’s important to bring everyone back together on agreements and next steps. To do this:

Quickly summarize the decisions that were made and make sure that everyone agrees on the jumping-off point for the next meeting.
Have each person review their next steps and action items.
Assign team members to update anyone who missed the meeting (so the group can avoid covering old ground at the next meeting).
Nail down the next meeting date and sketch out which decisions will need to be made then.
Remind everyone of the “no meetings after the meetings” rule: if people start making decisions and plans in subgroups, that can undermine the efforts of the larger group.

Lastly, be sure to get the meeting minutes from the designated note taker right away. (In fact, if possible, assign them the task of writing up the meeting immediately after the meeting ends, while the content is still fresh in their mind.) Once you get the minutes, review them to ensure they’re accurate and complete, then send them out to all the participants. That e-mail should also include a reminder about the next meeting, a note about the next meeting’s topic, and assignments for any post-meeting “homework” you want people to do.

Final Thoughts on Running Effective Meetings

Meetings are usually terrible, but they shouldn't be.

—Patrick Lencioni

Guess what? Meetings truly don’t have to suck!

Meetings are “bad” when the participants feel that they’ve wasted their time. Sharing ideas, planning next steps and projects, solving problems—those are all the hallmarks of a meeting that has used everyone’s time and talents well. To lead from the chair you’re in, remind participants (including yourself!) how they can contribute to making a meeting effective, as well as take steps to actively shape the meeting structure and content as it unfolds—leading to a positive outcome for everyone.

If you have any tried-and-true strategies for increasing the effectiveness of your meetings, please share them in the comments below!