Key Steps To Running Effective Meetings
If you are building tech products - then you need to run meetings. It’s a team sport that requires people from various disciplines to collaborate towards a common mission.
Having an effective meeting is not as simple as just setting a time and showing up. No matter the purpose of the meeting - for updates, decision making, or brainstorming - a meeting that is not properly planned or run will fail to achieve its purpose and leave staff members drained, overwhelmed, and confused.
Often, as product professionals, we do not have formal authority over the other participants in the meetings. However, we still need to influence, engage and inspire, in order to harness the group's brainpower and build a successful product together.
The keys to a successful meeting lie in:
How well you know your team
How well they know each other
The planning you put in before the meeting
The way the actual meeting is run.
A properly planned and well-run meeting will be more effective at achieving its goals. What steps can you take towards running an effective meeting?
Team Building
Team building is an ongoing effort. It can take place during regular work hours, off-site experiences, and others through shared experiences. The purpose of team building is for colleagues to get to know each other, learn each other’s personal preferences and how different people are wired differently. Once you know each other's tendencies and strengths it is easier to feel empathetic as well as provide and receive valuable feedback during meetings and any work situation. It can be helpful to have a basic understanding of different personality types. As a team, take the Big Five Personality Test or The Insights Test so that everyone can learn more about themselves and each other. My personal favorite is Ray Dalio’s revolutionary tool for finding out what you and others are like. This understanding will allow you to work more effectively as a team, and to know what to expect from the different people.
Agendas & memos
Make sure there is a clear reason for the meeting and that all participants know what that meeting is about. Send out an agenda before, decide who is taking minutes, when there will be time for questions. Set expectations and norms (e.g. time of day, how often, no phones in meetings, etc).
A quick word about agendas - this can take the form of a list, a PowerPoint presentation, or why not follow the example of Amazon and send out a narrative memo?
A narrative memo is a document that starts with the purpose and the background, then moves on to the goals and initiatives, and ends with the risks and dependencies. It is written as a narrative without lists or bullet points. At the beginning of the meeting, every participant spends 15 minutes reading the memo before the discussion begins. The memo is updated after the meeting to reflect what was discussed and decided.
3 Keys For Running Meetings
Alignment on the outcome. Start by announcing the planned outcome of the meeting. (We are meeting to decide a launch date for the new product. We are meeting so that each department can give an update on their achievements so far and their goals for the next quarter.) Announcing the goal helps to keep the focus of the meeting on the endpoint and ensures that everyone is heading in the same direction. Decide and announce how long will be spent (roughly) on each portion of the agenda. Once again, this helps all participants to focus on the purpose of the meeting and will allow you to cut discussion when you feel it is not constructive.
Decision type. Announce clearly if a decision is to be made at the end of the meeting, what the decision will be, and who is making it. Decisions, decisions. Some meetings will not have a decision at the end - for example, if the meeting is to update the team or to make an announcement about a new product or team member. The purpose of other meetings is to come to a decision at the end. In an autocracy, one person will make the decision. Make sure everyone at the meeting knows who that person is. In a democracy, everyone will be part of the final decision, often with a quick vote via a show of hands at the end. A meritocracy relies on truthfulness and transparency where people are not afraid to share what they really think. Respectful disagreement allows for the distillation of ideas into clear plans. No matter which path you are taking, make sure that everyone at the meeting knows what kind of decision will be made.
Documentation. Nominate someone to take notes. These will be important when looking back. They do not need to be lengthy. It’s important that the note-taker doesn’t write down every word that is said. Follow the agenda and summarize each item and the outcomes of each discussion. Make sure to note what decisions were reached and who made them. If action items are decided, the note taker should record the assignment, who it was assigned to, and the due date. Sharing the notes in a digital form after the meeting will allow all participants to access this information. (Please note that while notes can be taken in any way you like, formal minutes have a structure that must be followed. Be sure to know in advance if you are the one recording formal minutes.)
In summary, a properly planned and well-run meeting will be more effective at achieving its goals. A team who knows each other will work better together and meetings will be more efficient and less exhausting. Advance planning and structure during the meeting will ensure focus and a clear outcome where every participant will leave with a sense of achievement and purpose.