Building a Better Meeting

Have you ever sat through a long meeting or wondered, “what are we doing here?” Don’t let your meetings fall into this trap! Follow the seven steps below to construct a better meeting — with better results.

What Is an Effective Meeting?

An effective meeting is focused, concise, and efficient. It has a specific purpose with an outcome or goal to achieve. Careful consideration is given to who should be invited and what they can contribute to the discussion. The meeting begins and ends on time. Participants are prepared in advance, engaged during the meeting, and provided a meeting recap or action items. The benefit? An effective meeting can energize and motivate your participants, as well as lead to better decisions and outcomes.

Before

The first three steps should be conducted in advance of the meeting.

1 – Purpose

Determine the purpose of the meeting and what needs to be accomplished. If your meeting objective does not fall into the category of decision making, information sharing, brainstorming or coordinating actions, use an alternative (e.g., email, IM, poll).

2 – Agenda

Create a detailed agenda or outline to focus the meeting and send it to the participants in advance. Include what needs to be discussed, how, and for how long. To maximize effectiveness, the meeting should be no longer than an hour, ideally 30-45 minutes. Ensure that participants have enough time to reset and get to their next meeting.

3 – Participants

Invite only the people who need to be at the meeting and will meaningfully contribute. The more participants you have, the greater the opportunities for the meeting to get off track and derail.

During

The next three steps describe what you should be doing during the meeting.

4 – Ground Rules

Start the meeting on time and explain the ground rules for meeting etiquette, such as starting and ending punctually, giving full attention and engagement, ensuring everyone can speak uninterrupted, how technology will be used, and how off-topic comments will be handled.

5 – Facilitation

Use the agenda to lead the meeting. Manage participant behavior to ensure everyone is heard and that divergent conversations are diplomatically and efficiently redirected. Consider creating a “parking lot” list in a Word document or OneNote to record off-topic items for separate discussions. Check in with remote participants frequently and review the chat often for questions or comments.

6 – Closing

At the end of the meeting, recap the discussion or outcomes and make sure the participants clearly understand any decisions or assignments. Each action item should have a deliverable, owner, and due date. Close on a positive note by thanking everyone for their time and participation.

After

The last step should be initiated directly after the meeting, with additional follow up conducted if needed.

7 – Follow Up

Share a meeting recap, notes or action items with participants after the meeting, if appropriate. You may need to follow up on established action items to ensure understanding and completion, particularly if the participants are your direct reports.

Dr. Lauren Forgacs is an organizational development psychologist and applied positive psychologist, with more than six years of service in the federal government and 20 years of private sector experience, including award-winning accomplishments with a top five management consulting firm. She provides expert guidance and customized solutions to federal leaders on organizational development and culture, change management, leadership, teambuilding, employee engagement, and psychological safety. She is an expert on human-centered leadership and recently developed a year-long, cohort-based training program to enhance enterprise-wide leadership skills, organizational effectiveness, and the employee experience. Dr. Forgacs has held several leadership positions, effectively leading and motivating remote, hybrid, and on-site teams. She is also a certified federal leadership coach and a Gallup-certified strengths coach.