How to conduct meetings: They don’t have to be unproductive, long, tedious, and boring. It can be different

I was sitting at the airport in Vienna, exhausted from long meetings, staring blankly ahead. I just wanted to go home. I spotted the hunched figure of one of the largest and most experienced CEOs in a similar state. I politely stood up to greet him and asked,’You don’t look happy, what’s up, meetings?’ He replied affirmatively. I cannot recount the further conversation, but I thought: ‘If he looks this tired and disheartened, who am I to complain, it must be like that.’

Meetings and collegial gatherings are one of the frequent reasons for dissatisfaction with work in companies. It is a shame if it is so because they should be a great opportunity to hear something, learn, exchange opinions, get work done, motivate, and possibly entertain. When they are unproductive, when they drain, waste time without results, they are a big problem for people and the company. Employees often have complaints about their duration and quality, including directors, but they could change such practices because meetings, above all, depend on who prepares and leads them. It is a craft, so fortunately, most of what is needed can be learned.

Meetings are expensive

Meetings are expensive. Calculate how much the working time of participants costs. If it involves a dozen directors and several hours, a significant amount accumulates. This should be added to the time for arrival and departure, often also for preparation. If the meetings are poor, add the time after them when participants will complain to each other or be disheartened about work. Therefore, they need to be well utilized.

It is not the same whether it is about internal collegial gatherings, weekly, monthly meetings, board meetings, supervisory board meetings, or thematic meetings. They can be convened for exchanging opinions, determining status, decision-making… The key role is that of the person who manages them. There are various styles and ways, and they generally reflect the character of the person leading them. Regardless of personality and corporate culture, there are also objective rules. You should always keep in mind the basic goals of the meeting or collegial gathering. The preparation, who will be invited, and how it will be conducted depend on the goal. You can write down what you expect from the meeting before it. They were particularly important to me as a place where corporate culture and practice are created. Meetings with more than five or six people (maybe a dozen if they are very disciplined, the preparation is good, and the management is efficient) cannot be quality working meetings where viewpoints are presented, thoroughly discussed, and constructive conclusions or decisions are made. Those with more participants are suitable for exchanging information, presentations, and motivation. Meetings without minutes and conclusions about who will do what and by when generally mean wasting time and money, yet such meetings are still held even in some large and relatively successful companies.

Preparation is half the job

It is said that preparation is half the job. Materials must contain key information, be good and clear, delivered to participants on time, so they can prepare and not waste time on unnecessary questions during the meeting. Both are particularly important when decisions are made, for example, for board meetings. One of the not infrequent ‘dark’ techniques of decision proposers is long, hard-to-read materials and explanations with many attachments. You should not tolerate such practices. There are usually many agenda items, so you will not be able to study them all well. Sometimes that is the goal. From a forest of trees, you might miss the forest or the bad trees. The proposers are usually responsible for implementation. Including details in the decision or attachments is a sharing of responsibility or an opportunity to avoid it. If something goes wrong, they will say: ‘Well, you saw and could have reacted!’ Sometimes even the competent board members encourage their directors to adopt such a style, reinforcing the legally prescribed joint responsibility of the board. This is a bad corporate culture and an example that more is not always better.

An integral part of the materials is the assessment of the duration of each item and the total duration. The schedule should be adhered to; this is an important role of the person leading the meeting. We will discuss the place and space another time.

When you lead regular meetings, you do not need to speak much. It is more important to ask and listen, keep an eye on the time, and formulate conclusions.

The importance of a second opinion

Coach Matthew McGrath once said that a CEO does not speak more than ten percent of the time in a collegial gathering. Openly expressing opinions is of great value. People must feel comfortable expressing their opinions and know that it will not be a minus for them, but rather the opposite. If team members almost always agree on everything, it should ring alarm bells. Teams are probably not mixed enough. In such a group, there is less friction, but that also means a risk because there is no second opinion and correction.

Another variant is that they are afraid. If you are genuinely interested in what someone thinks, it is good to first ask the lower-ranked colleague. Do not put them in a situation where they have to calculate whether to say something contrary to what their bosses have said. If you are the CEO or the highest-ranking, express your opinion last, unless your goal is just to implement your decision. It is natural for most people to say what seems good for them and avoid what is bad. Sometimes they will embellish with vivid stories from practice or partial data that do not provide relevant information. The task of the person leading the meeting is to keep them on topic and manage the content. It is advisable to agree on what should be a mandatory part of each participant’s report, what information they must provide, and what they can pass on if they deem it important and useful. Of course, you also inform about the most important things from your area of work. Your way is usually an example for others. You need to keep an eye on the time; it can easily happen that the meeting extends.

How many participants are just right

For the efficiency of the meeting, it is better to have fewer participants. Here we come to the magic word ‘just right’. You should invite all those concerned with the topics; today, it would be popularly said ‘stakeholders’, but their number should not jeopardize the achievement of the meeting’s goals. When the number of organizational parts below management increased (I could not prevent it), we had collegial gatherings three times a month with a smaller number of directors from the largest and most important sectors, and once a month a large collegial gathering attended by all directors directly below management. Sometimes I would leave the leading of the collegial gathering to other participants, even the youngest ones, and participate as any other member. This way, we got to know each other better, and I observed how each behaved in that position. Additionally, we gained a different perspective on what is important to whom, and it is also good to break the monotony. The goals of the collegial gathering are achieved if participants are informed about important matters, if they received information on who will do what in the next period, what was accomplished in the previous one, or what was not and why.

It is good if a new idea also emerges. Never forget that this is a place where corporate culture and practice are built. And finally, it is important that participants leave more motivated to work than they were at the beginning, preferably in a better mood. It is ideal when people enjoy coming to the collegial gathering. It is not good if they feel or say that they could have spent that time better and more usefully. If that is the case, consider what to change. You will also feel better after a good meeting.