We all have a lot of work to do, particularly at this time of year. Spending hours each day in meetings typically results in hours of working after the office closes. Whether you plan the meetings yourself or are a regular special guest star, you can manage your meeting schedule to avoid long hours of overtime and eventual burnout.
The first question to ask, whether you are the planner or an invitee, is if a meeting is necessary. What is the intended outcome and can that outcome be attained by other means? Quite often meetings are planned out of habit, particularly when we can meet virtually without leaving our desks. If you are an invitee and it’s not clear what value you add, speak up and ask. Your time is too valuable to be a spectator at someone else’s meeting. Here are some alternatives:
- Start a newsletter. It can be as simple as an email that is sent weekly or monthly. Have a rotating job of collecting and compiling departmental updates and sending an email to a wider audience. Some people might not read it, but those same people are probably thinking about what to have for lunch rather than listening during your meeting anyway.
- Make a telephone call. Sometimes you need input from or an agreement with another department. Rather than bringing both departments together immediately, start with the decision-maker and you may find a larger meeting is not needed.
- Send an email. Perhaps there are multiple people from whom you need input, and you want the whole group to see the responses.
The latter two options may result in scheduling a meeting, but you will have already introduced the topic of the meeting and received buy-in from the invitees that a meeting is necessary. Here are occasions when you should plan a meeting:
- When you are leading a project that involves several people who all need to stay on the same page. In the technical world, they have brief meetings called stand-ups that last no more than 15 minutes where team members can provide an update on their progress or ask for assistance/additional information.
- When you and others are responsible for some output that you need to accomplish together, in other words, a meeting where you are doing the work during the meeting rather than getting updates or assignments to do outside of the meeting time.
- When you are a manager during a time of great uncertainty and stress for your team members. We all crave information during times of upheaval and having regular meetings where staff members can express concerns and hear updates about what the institution is planning can help employees feel better and be more effective. Even when there is no new information to share, it’s good to provide a platform for your employees.
- Training and team building events.
Once you determine there is a need for a meeting, and before you start sending out invitations, take a beat to consider the following:
- What do I hope to accomplish with this meeting?
- Who do I need at the meeting to accomplish it?
- What is the best format and location for the meeting?
Without knowing the specific purpose of the meeting, how can you know who should be there? And without knowing who should be there, how can you know whether an in-person or a virtual meeting would be best?
Now that you’ve determined your purpose, format and who to invite, it’s time to start thinking about an agenda and potential pre-work that needs to be assigned. If you want your meeting to be productive, the attendees need to know how to prepare. If you are invited to a meeting and it’s not clear what the purpose is or what is expected of you, ask the meeting planner for more information. Most of us don’t walk around with statistical information in our heads, so if you will be expected to report how many applications have been reviewed or how many telephone calls were received over a certain time period, it’s likely you’ll need to run some reports to have that information available for the meeting. Often meeting attendees are sent away with ‘homework’ to provide the information they did not have available for the meeting. You’ll get mixed results with this method, because once people are back at their desks, they may put off or just plain forget your request when there are more immediate demands on their time.
Another good habit, particularly for meetings with a lot of attendees, is to assign roles as part of your invitation. Let’s say you’re having a brainstorming meeting, and each invitee was asked to come with at least one idea to solve a shared problem. You may want to assign a timekeeper, so everyone has an equal opportunity to present without the meeting going over the scheduled time. Maybe you’re making decisions in the meeting and need to have a record of how the decisions were reached; then you’ll need a notetaker. In the decision-making meeting, perhaps the members need to hear from a subject matter expert who is not necessarily involved in the process but can close knowledge gaps that exist.
Finally, decide how long the meeting needs to be to reach your objective. There’s a tendency to schedule meetings for an hour (or 30 minutes if that’s your calendar’s default setting) no matter what the agenda is. If you don’t schedule enough time to get through the agenda, you’ll lose some members to other obligations before you’re done. And if you can get through your agenda in less time than you thought would be needed, there’s no need to keep your colleagues at the table. Who isn’t thankful to have an unexpected time to catch up on other work?
Now it’s time to schedule the meeting and share the agenda. Use the meeting scheduler in your calendar to see when your invitees are available and be considerate of their schedules. If you plan your meeting to immediately follow another, it’s likely that attendees will be late, particularly if it is in person and they need to travel from one meeting room to another. If you’re struggling to find common available time and can’t avoid it, make your meeting five minutes shorter or start at an off time like 3:10 to give your colleagues some time in between commitments. They will appreciate it! If you are the invitee, don’t blindly accept every meeting. Consider your other obligations and let the organizer know if it’s not a good time but be sure to suggest another that would work better for you, or offer to send another representative from your department.
Before an in-person meeting that requires some technology, like a projector, scope out the room ahead of time and request any equipment that isn’t provided already. For virtual meetings, ensure your invitees can access and are familiar with the platform you use. This is particularly important when inviting external people to your meeting since some companies have security protocols that conflict with certain platforms making it difficult or impossible to join. Technical issues are barriers to you meeting your objectives and frustrating for your colleagues.
You’ve now held the perfect meeting, so now what? Well, that depends on your objectives and format. Notes, next steps assigned or even a recording of a virtual meeting are possibilities. It’s also great to let the attendees know that you appreciate their time and attention.
It’s nice to get invited to a lot of meetings because it’s a sign that you are valued; however, sitting in meetings all day can be a barrier to serving students in a timely manner. When you feel challenged to be available to both your colleagues on campus and your customers, consider the Higher Education Assistance Group’s interim staffing solutions. Our consultants have wide-ranging experience to fill any role. For more information, visit our website or email info@heag.us.
Source:
https://ca.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-plan-a-meeting
