(written by Helen Chapman and first published by PIPA 2007)

Individuals perform at their best with people they know and trust so as a meeting leader it is very important for you to get to know all your attendees.

Knowing the personality, skills and opinions of your participants will make it much easier for you to structure the meeting and topics, have meaningful discussions and make good decisions. 

I believe that building an effective relationship with all your participants is the single most important technique for a successful meeting. Avoiding a difficult person away from the meeting will only make them a harder person to lead during the meeting itself!

As the leader of the meeting, you will set the tone at the meeting. You have the opportunity to request input and bring about an effective dialogue for decision making. Much of the work to achieve this constructive environment can take place before the meeting if you have thought through the role you would like each participant to play. The challenge is to think through beforehand how you would like the meeting to run so that you can ask people to contribute at the appropriate times. The secret for success is to know your participants well enough to ask for the right input at the right time.

Think of all the meetings that you have attended where your mind was barely on the meeting. If you get distracted at meetings then you can be sure people will get distracted at your meetings, given the chance. So how are you going to stop this happening? A good technique is to allow just enough time for discussion, not too much or people can get bored. Another technique is to keep ‘picking on people’ asking them what they think about a particular issue. If they know this is likely to happen they will stay engaged, just in case. After the meeting you can also take the opportunity to contact the attendees to ask how they found the meeting and discuss ways for improving the next meeting, ideally with their active participation.

Nobody likes to attend a meeting where the agenda comes out at the last minute and/or the minutes and actions never appear. Demonstrate that you have control of the meeting by asking for agenda items well in advance of the meetings and get the agenda circulated several days before the meeting. Be very clear what you want to achieve for each agenda item - is it a decision, or a discussion for information; and what is the process you are going to use for each topic – is it a presentation then a discussion, or perhaps an open discussion.  Discussing agenda topics at your one-to-one interactions is a great way to get involvement.

Note: In today’s high speed, highly responsive environment you may have to call some meetings at short notice to address an issue that has just arisen. Make sure if you do, the meeting objective is clear and that the meeting is focused on this one issue.

If you have done your work before the meeting then hopefully your agenda topics will be pitched at the right level and as the leader you need to keep them on track. This can be challenging especially if the person talking is more senior than you are. A good technique for bringing a topic back is to ask a question. Questions like: ‘Is this the right level of detail for everyone?’ or ‘Can I check that this discussion is working for everyone?’ are a great way of keeping the meeting on track in a non threatening way. The chances are that if you feel that a topic is going off track then so do a number of your participants and they will be willing you to do something to get it back on track!

As a meeting leader you do not need to make all the decisions but you do need to make sure decisions are made!  When you feel enough discussion has taken place you can either offer a statement like ‘It looks like we have made a decision, I think we are suggesting that we…, is everyone in agreement?’ Or you can ask someone else in the room to suggest what the decision is. Decision making will be far easier when you have had conversations with participants prior to the meeting, as you will understand their position and know whether or not a decision is likely. I believe that meetings work best if they are used for collectively agreeing decisions that have already been discussed and largely agreed before of the meeting.

7. Allocate tasks and responsibilities 

Most meetings need actions to be taken between meetings and it is very important that as the meeting leader you do not take all the actions yourself.

By getting to know your attendees you will know who is best placed to take on an action. If it is not immediately clear then a discussion away from the meeting can clarify whether someone is willing to take on any actions appertaining to a particular topic.

New technology can really help meetings to run effectively. Make the most of the technology available in your organisation. Use a shared area, an eRoom or a Lotus Notes database for agendas, minutes and actions and make it simple to use for your attendees. Virtual meeting technology can enable attendees to see slides and agendas simultaneously and instant messaging is a wonderful environment for prompting people during meetings or keeping in touch to ask how a meeting went. If you are not comfortable with the technology get support as it is another way of demonstrating your control over the meeting.

I know you will have attended meetings where nothing seems to happen between meetings. Encourage activity by chatting to your participants to see how their actions are progressing and by always starting a meeting with a review of actions from the previous meeting.

Finish the meeting on time and you will win the respect of your participants. Learn to allow extra time for each agenda item as topics always take longer than you think and then, if everything runs smoothly, you might even finish early!