A major contributor to ineffective meetings begins in the initial planning stages - in fact , it all starts going wrong with the Agenda.
Because, the Agenda is NOT the most important part of planning the meeting. The Agenda is just a tool … a tool to help you reach a much more important destination …
*** The Session Objective***
- The Session Objective is your destination.
- The Agenda is a map to get there.
An agenda can be very useful, however if it doesn’t help you arrive at your Session Objective, you have wasted a boatload of lot of time and
energy. You can actually nail the agenda and still miss the point. Here’s how that looks; “Wow that was a great meeting! We worked through the entire agenda,” and yet there has been no forward movement towards the Team’s Goals.
So, THE FIRST STEP in planning any effective meeting is to Define
your Session Objective.
The session objective is the answer to this question.
“At the end of this meeting, what do we want to have accomplished?”
Sample Session Objectives:
1) Make a Decision
- Do we need to make a decision? About what?
- Who needs to be there and what information will we need BEFORE the meeting to assist us in making this decision?
2) Status Report
- Is this a “status meeting” where people will update us on the progress they are making in individual projects?
3) Generate New Ideas
- Is this an idea generating meeting?
- What will we do with the ideas generated from this meeting?
- What do we need to know about the topic before the meeting?
When you know where you want to go - the Session Objective, then you can build an Agenda
to get you there.
Power Tip: When you are clear on your Session Objective … ask yourself, “Is a Team Meeting the best way to reach this Session Objective?” You may realize that it does NOT take a meeting to reach this Objective. In that case, please find another way to get it done. There is nothing worse than sitting through a meeting that simply didn’t need to happen in the first place!
When planning your next meeting, always remember …
** IDENTIFY YOUR SESSION OBJECTIVE FIRST ! **
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