A FEW THOUGHTS

Technical Project Meetings, like any meetings I suppose, have a tendency of sometimes getting out of hand both in sense of time and agenda. This can be reduced by some simple tips on how you prepare and how you carry out the meeting. There are also som pitfalls you should be aware of. Let’s start with a few rules on planning and carrying out the meeting:

1. Set Crispy Clear Objectives
   Ever experienced the meeting that took half the day and where you achieved nothing? Yes? Chances are that one of the issues were lack of clear objectives for the meeting. Before calling any meeting, make sure that you have clear objectives that follows the idea of S.M.A.R.T. (S = Specific, M = Measurable, A = Attainable, R = Realistic, T = Timely).
2. Set an Agenda
   Meetings without a clear agenda will take longer than they need to and don’t get the results you need to. Write and distribute the agenda in advance, at least 1 or 2 days before the meeting, not 30 minutes before the scheduled time. Give timings for each item and allow for small delays, otherwise you will get halfway down your agenda by the time you have to leave.
3.  Keep meeting papers short or avoid them
   Receiving a ton of papers is the biggest turn-off for someone attending a project meeting. Consider whether you really need to distribute papers for your meeting, and try to keep papers to a maximum of one page. For status reports, consider giving people a template that include a simple traffic light system to indicate where things are good(green), there are issues (yellow) there are major issues (red).
4. Get the right people in the meeting
   While there usually is a core team you need in the meeting, there might be decisions that require someone more senior occasionally. If you know this, make sure that you get the person who can make the decision along otherwise you will have a frustrated team on your hands. If difficult, try to schedule that persons part of the agenda to the end of the meeting and limit the time.
5. Make sure the environment is comfortable
   Effective meetings only take place if the people attending are comfortable, so get the room with A/C and provide cold water and hot coffee if needed.
6. Start and Finish on time
   I know you hate it when people turn up 15 minutes late when there is 15 minutes left. Make sure it is clear to everyone that you will be starting and finishing on time. Encourage them to leave 30 minutes either side of the meeting free to ensure they can get there on time and that if something major arises it can be dealt with. If that doesn’t work you will have to schedule it in for them.

Now, with those six rules you should be quite well prepared for your meeting and it should be ok. However, as you know, there are always some people who can sink a meeting totally just by being themselves. So there are a couple of stereotypes you should know how to deal with. I am quite sure you recognise them:

• The Dominator
  Some people tend to dominate discussion simply because they are excited. These can actually be useful to the team if we find appropriate approaches manage their positive energy. Unfortunately, most of us are also familiar with the other type – the aggressive bully that disrespect others comments and hijack the meeting completely. Sometimes these dominators are overly negative, and other times they just won’t let anyone else get a word in. In either case, you need to deal with it:
  • Thank them for their feedback and ask for other opinions (“Paul, that’s an interesting idea. Let’s see if others have ideas as well.”)
  • Repeat the dominator’s comment and write it visibly for all to see, then ask for other ideas to complete the list, before you discuss them all. You can say; ”that is a good idea, let us get three more ideas on the table before we discuss them all”. 
  • Suggest you use a round robin technique of going around the table and ask each person to share a comment and start off with the other participants, or ask everybody to use a minute to write down their ideas and then have everybody read it out loud while you write it all down. Then discuss.
  • Make sure you also ask the more quiet people to share their ideas
  • If necessary, take a break and have a word with the dominator where you explain that he/she brought up several key points and you appreciate that because it helps the others on the way, and now you are hoping to get some of the other team members involved in the discussion. Ask them to help you get the team involved.

•  The Multi Tasker
  We are seeing more and more multi taskers in our meetings. You know the ones whose attention constantly darts between the meeting and for example PDA, laptop, reading etc. And usually with the explanation that he can not be away from his work. Otherwise the world falls apart.
  • Using a “drop box” in the meeting room and agreeing to place all phones, etc there prior to meeting start.
  • Limiting meeting time to one hour to ensure participants aren’t away for too long.
  • If you arrange a full day workshop, agree on 5-10 minute technology breaks every hour
  • Use techniques to keep participants engaged (round robin, team work, voting)

• The Rambler
  The rambler derail the meetings with their extensive rambling commentary. Often the rambling goes into areas with little or nothing to do with the agenda, and not only extend the meeting,but also completely alters the agenda – and thereby minimising effectiveness. A couple of pointers:
  • Have a printed agenda on a whiteboard. When conversation goes into wilderness, point to the specific agenda topic to refocus the group.
  • Include timings for each part of the agenda, and ask someone on the team to give a 5-minute warning before the end time for each section.
  • Simply interrupt. Remember, it’s your meeting. Raise your hand and interrupt discussion to ask if the conversation is on topic and helping the group reach their goal for the meeting. You can also introduce a list of these unresolved issues that come up which you address at the end of the meeting and assign action items for each.

At the end of the day, running effective meetings is about planning and executing. And in regard to the team members; too often project managers simply ignore their “personality issues” and instead stick their head in the sand hoping the behaviour will improve on its own. It won’t! The good news is that there are a variety of facilitation techniques you can use, and they enable us to be assertive while preserving those critical relationships. Remember these key points when using the techniques:

• Don’t forget the power of questions. Questioning is a powerful way to deliver a difficult message.
• Try less assertive techniques before progressing to more assertive ones. Many will respond to very mild interventions.
• Act early! You want to send a very clear signal to the team that you will address counter-productive behaviour quickly.
• Act on behalf of the team. The more you remember it’s not a situation of “you” verses “them”, the easier the exchange will be.

I’ll finish this brief lesson off with a quote form the book of Tim Ferriss; “The 4-Hour Workweek”;

It is your job to train those around you to be effective and efficent. No one else will do it for you.

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