Meetings, Meetings and more Meetings...

Who has not spent a day running around with papers flying, from meeting to meeting? Who has not has not been secretly ecstatic when a big meeting has been cancelled at the last minute and you have suddenly found 3 hours in your day!

Once again there are many studies, recommendations and views, including from business luminaries, on the topic of meetings. The very famous 2 pizza meeting rule of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos “never have a meeting where 2 pizza’s cannot feed the whole group”, talking to optimum team size, being one.

As you progress through your career, the number of meetings that consume your days and weeks will typically increase. Short meetings, day long meetings and multi day offsite sessions. You will hold and lead your own meetings, whether with a team or in brainstorming/ideation sessions.

There are a number of things that should never change when you are attending an internal meeting (I will talk to external meetings and clients later) regardless of your role. Understand why you have been invited to the meeting; understand what is expected of you; who and what groups are represented in the meeting and very importantly PREPARE and be on time.

I have watched many people arrive at a meeting, clearly not having read the previously distributed documents or only having a vague idea as to what the meeting is about or why they are there, (yes, I have done this myself). “Winging it” will take you so far.

Lack of preparation means a limited understanding of the topic, its business impact and your ability to have informed discussions and make good decisions. Even if you can consume information and engage quickly, you will be too busy reading and thinking instead of listening and truly being engaged in the conversation.

One other thing - it will also be obvious. Not the impression you want to be giving either as a staff member or business leader.

If you are attending any meeting and have the context, including what is expected of you, you must make the time to prepare and not 5 minutes before the meeting! Ideally find a quiet 30 mins well before the scheduled time.

Think about the content and what this means for your department, your organisation and your customers. Understand the data and have your questions prepared (assuming you have some). Remember the decision making framework I spoke of in decision making and having your ideas heard – 12/5/20? Use your frame to think about what is in front of you.

If you cannot see the “why", this is an opportunity to ask important questions. If this meeting is for information sharing only and not a discussion forum or opportunity for questions to be asked, then find the opportunity after the meeting to ask questions and fill the gaps. No doubt the way forward is well supported, however find out if you can.

I know how uncomfortable it can be asking questions of senior people in a group setting. In my early years my heart would race at the thought of asking something or providing a view. The result - I would remain silent and then beat myself up later for not speaking up. For those of us natural introverts, this can be hard. Preparation will help give you the confidence. Be brave, ask an informed question, contribute to the discussion or give a view. Believe me – it does get easier.

So what if you only receive an invitation with limited information or at the last minute? This will happen and I know can be frustrating. If this happens I will typically telephone the organiser to understand the context and see if there is any more information available. My action will be determined from there, rather than just turn up and hope for the best.

If the invitation is from your manager or a senior executive, last minute meetings will usually be important and you will be invited because you need to be there. Don’t waste time second guessing or trying to find out what it is about – go, listen and action as you need to.

Recurring last minute or late paper meetings involving your business leader or colleague create a bigger and very specific challenge, so let’s talk to this in a separate post.

Once actually in the meeting, really listen, be present and contribute. Don’t be thinking about what happened in the meeting prior or the rest of your day. It goes without saying do not look at your mobile phone or device during a meeting. Ever!

We will continue to cover the topic of meetings along the way given lots to discuss.

Until next time.

Lisa