Business Meetings (Lesson 4)

Much of the talking and listening in business place will be in the context of meetings. Business meetings provide cohesiveness and unity of purpose. They help in resolving issues and making decisions. They also help in informing the group members of their duties and tasks. Over 20 million meetings take place in America each day. An average executive spends an average 3 hours a work day in meetings according to a MCI WorldCom Conferencing research. No wonder office goers complain "Meetingitis" has become a plague in the USA -- an occasion for a group of people to take minutes and waste hours. But this happens in the absence of managerial skill. It happens when a meeting begins and closes without an agenda set in advance. Your ability as a manager is judged by how you run a meeting.

Planning the meeting

Identifying your purpose: The more focused your purpose, the more effective the meeting. "Making communication more effective among executives" is a vague agenda. "Should we buy cell phones for all executives?" is a better agenda to meet. But first decide if you NEED to meet. If only two people are going to participate in the meeting then a call or a mail will suffice. It saves cost and time.
Preparing an agenda: Remember to write down the agenda and circulate it well in advance. An agenda or a list of topics to discuss in the meeting helps you prepare for the discussion and stay focused on the plan and course of the meeting. Typically and agenda reads like this:

1. Call to order
2. Roll call
3. Reading and approving minutes of the previous meeting
4. Reports of officers of standing committees
5. Reports of special committees
6. Old business
7. New business
8. Announcements
9. Program
10. Adjournment

Each topic could have a sub-agenda. For eg: New Business-- (1) November press conference (2) Purchase of laptops for senior management (3) Status of remodeling -- Anushka Ravishankar

Everyone at a meeting should have specific reason for being there. All those who can contribute to the resolution of the meeting HAVE to attend. But it is better to keep the numbers small and manageable. Also plan the logistics well. A three hour meeting in uncomfortable chairs in a stuffy room with no air-conditioning may exhaust the members physically and mentally. Punctuality has to be stressed- meetings should begin and end on time. This conveys the message to chronic late comers that decisions will be taken in their absence if they are late. Stick to the agenda as far as possible. But to allow any discussion not on the agenda is prerogative of the leader. It would be wise to allow such discussions if they are directly related to resolution of the problem at hand.

Leading the meeting: Begin the meeting with a statement of purpose and agenda overview. As it progresses, keep time. Encourage quiet members to speak and stop those who ramble with --" I see your point. Now lets move on to the next item". If time permits strategies like brainstorming and role playing could be employed to reach a solution. But for most topics a simple discussion would suffice. To resolve a conflict, state the facts first and diffuse the tension. Then ensure that everyone who is arguing is heard and his position is understood. At the end, summarize what was decided, what are the next steps. Review the assignments to various members. Get an assistant to keep the minutes and circulate it after the meeting. The minutes should be recorded with bias (simply who said what). Every motion has to be seconded and voted for either through a secret ballot or a show of hands. Ensure that the conduct of the meeting follows procedure and decorum. Bickering and philibustering (not allowing others to speak by endlessly rambling on and on and wasting precious time) should be dealt with a admonishment immediately.

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