Managing Effective Business Meetings
Effective meetings have strong leadership from both management and the chair of the meetings to direct and guide everyone as efficiently as possible. Leaders accomplish this by establishing a strong rapport and respect from all of the participants of the meeting. A great leader can "rally the troops" and get a meeting moving quickly and effortlessly. Members of the team appreciate a strong leader who can keep disruptions and distractions to a minimum and finish as quickly as possible. No team member or leader wants to attend meetings all day so getting through effectively and quickly is the ultimate goal.
Derrick loves to argue. In his mind, he is right and he will prove it. In life, it is always a debate with him, and he enjoys getting the most out of it. Winning is everything. He always has a chip on his shoulder that made him a shrewd business person and star in the finance department.
A new meeting invitation goes out to several of the team members in the finance department, hosted by a group of managers and engineers. The goal of the meeting is to understand how to integrate a merger with a small accounting company. The company had specialty software that increased the efficiency of the department. Derrick's company wanted that advantage.
Derrick and his colleague, Ryan, decided to attend this meeting. There were several high-level managers and IT software members attending. The meeting kicked off and the topic is the software package's ability to do certain finance functions. Immediately, Derrick recognized a small compatibility problem and interrupted the chair to point out the flaw. The chair made a note and moved on with the presentation of the company.
Next, the company went on to talk about rolling this out to the IT systems. Derrick quickly interrupted the meeting and told the IT team that this will be a compatibility problem with their servers. The chair looked annoyed. "The systems will be revamped once the merger happens." Derrick shot back in an argumentative point, "The systems were just replaced last year, which will cost millions." One of the executive managers got up and motioned Derrick outside of the room. "Derrick, we are aware of these issues; this has been a project to use their IT capability. You missed the previous meetings and you are not in the loop. Why don't you go back to your desk? We have it handled here."
Perplexed, Derrick returned to his cube. Two hours later, Ryan returns and sits down at his desk. Derrick turns to Ryan. "So, how was this meeting? Everything seems so screwed up. Why won't anyone listen to me?"
Ryan shrugs his shoulders and twirls around in his chair. Right then, an email announces Ryan's promotion. His task is to manage the team to integrate the finance department. Derrick was frustrated and angry. He wondered why he did not get the promotion opportunity. He knows everything about the systems. Why Ryan?
3.1 Running the Meeting
Before the first person steps foot into the conference room, the chair prepares the room. The computer or projector screens are on, chairs positioned, agenda or presentations are ready to distribute. Always arrive five to 10 minutes early to prepare the conference room.Greet each team member when he or she enters the room. This gives them a warm reception and helps them feel like they belong to this group.
Always start the meeting on time, every time. Being late to start reflects poorly on the leadership and management of the chair.
When a meeting is ready to start, the chair of the meeting will get everyone's attention. They generally will speak up and tell the room the meeting is going to start.
Start the meeting with a good message or joke. A positive message or a sincere, "Thank You for Coming," does show you appreciate the team's attendance.
In larger meetings or breakout sessions, using an icebreaker is a good technique to get the audience engaged early and relieve tension in the room. An icebreaker is a game or exercise that engages the audience, like having a company trivia game.
When there are new members, or clients in the meeting, you will want to have everyone in the room introduce him or herself. This helps identify team members and their job responsibility in the business, but also introduces the leadership positions of the meeting.
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