Pitfalls during meetings of the project team

- What could be worse than an ineffective meeting?
“Only an ineffective three-hour meeting can be worse, where each of the participants wonders: why is he in this room among these people. There are a great many articles and manuals on the topic “How to hold a meeting”. It would seem that the topic has exhausted itself, since there is a clear guide: what is “good” and what is “bad”. In this case, why do they not work and companies still spend huge sums on the “empty” conversations of their employees ?!





For ten years of regularly organizing meetings as a project manager and facilitator (using the “trial and error” method), I have developed a list of “pitfalls” that can lead to a complete fiasco. I do not pretend to be true, because all companies and teams are different. Much depends on the corporate culture and stage of development of the company, but there are moments that will be relevant for any team. Below I will focus on the most important:

- the justification of the meeting;
- time and duration of the meeting.

There is no one universal recipe for when to hold a meeting, and when not, does not exist. The obvious reason: if a quorum is not gathered (the minimum required number of participants), the meeting is postponed. But the list of non-obvious reasons can be quite impressive, so the organizer needs to develop the ability to read between the lines.

The purpose of the meeting is not the process of the meeting itself, but the receipt of the result. If the result is easier to get without a meeting, then you need to use this opportunity.
For example, not all employees are comfortable at meetings. Many are not ready to speak and voice their opinion if it differs from the majority opinion. And in general, each person has a main channel for perceiving information: the mode of communication through which he most willingly communicates. One person answers emails the fastest, for the second it’s easier to verify the electronic document at his workplace in the usual environment, the third one accepts the information in printed form best of all, and the fourth one is ready to communicate only personally, because he is sorry for the time to “mess with papers” and easier explain in words.

Therefore, if this is not your first time working with experts and you know that they have fundamentally different channels for perceiving information, do not schedule a meeting. Make an individual agreement with each of them. In this case, your time may be spent more, but the quality of the overall result will be higher. Since with individual coordination each expert scrupulously delves into the essence of the issue - there is no effect of “collective responsibility” (when everyone mentally thinks “I would have done differently, but since everyone decided to do so, I will not mind”).

Each meeting is important to evaluate in terms of price-quality ratio. Unfortunately, many project managers are chasing the implementation of the plan, it is important for them at all costs to put a tick “Done” in front of the item “Make a meeting”. Yes, a formal meeting can be held, but with a quality of 20%. Moreover, if you transfer it to the next day, then the quality can be increased up to 90%(even taking into account the shift of the task that was on the critical path).

I do not urge to break deadlines. I urge you to analyze the situation in the working group and, based on various factors, make a decision in terms of benefits for the common cause: to hold or cancel the meeting. Otherwise, the need for a facilitator disappears, since technically any secretary / assistant will be able to create a meeting on the calendar and draw up a “Meeting Minutes”.

Another common signal to reschedule a meeting : the occurrence of force majeure on a project with a higher prioritythan yours. For example, if in the morning there was a planning meeting / meeting on a project with priority No. 1 (where employees from your team are involved) and urgent tasks were given, then your meeting on a project with priority No. 5 should be rescheduled. In any case, the employees will be “absent”: physically be in the meeting room, but mentally reflect on new and urgent tasks that are “under control” of the Director.

When you have determined that a meeting is necessary, it’s important to choose the time, which will be convenient for both the participants in the working group and the organizer (you). If there are all “owls” in the group, and the only free time in the meeting room is at 8.30 in the morning, then the effect will be minimal. The situation is similar from 12 a.m. to 2 p.m.: it will be difficult for employees to concentrate at lunchtime. The last hour of the working day is also better not to occupy. Someone at this hour sums up the results of the current day and plans the next day, and someone already has thoughts in family affairs. The danger of such meetings is that employees are ready to accept any option / solution to the issue in order to free themselves faster. But at the same time, it is likely that after some time they themselves will offer to reconsider this issue.

When planning time, it is necessary to consider that 30 minutes - 1 hour before the meeting and the same amount - after should be free in the organizer's calendar. This time will be required to prepare a meeting room (check flipchart + markers, projector operability, upload your files), remind participants of the meeting, print materials, etc.)

From my practice, the optimal interval for holding meetings from 15.00 to 16.30, when everyone has already woken up, figured out with the "fluid", they decided important and urgent issues, had lunch, overcame daytime sleep and are ready for a brain storm.

The worst that you can think of for the organizer (and for the participant) is two meetings in a row at different venues with different teams. This must be avoided at all costs. Between meetings there should be a minimum interval of 30 minutes. Otherwise, there is a high probability of getting into an uncomfortable situation when the meeting with team No. 1 was delayed (or you yourself would like to extend it to bring the discussion to its logical conclusion), while team No. 2 was forced to wait for the organizer. Each such case undermines a credit of trust, which is very difficult to recover later.

For active projects, it is better to schedule regular meetings.and immediately book your time and team time for them. If the meeting is not necessary, it can be easily canceled. It is much more difficult to coordinate the time and place for a sudden meeting, which would be comfortable for all participants. The most productive duration of the meeting , in my experience, is no more than one hour, but active work - about 40-45 minutes, and 15-20 - organizational issues and fixing the results.

I saw such summons, in which 8-10 questions were written (with a total duration of three to four hours), two of which were “minimum program” and the rest in case there was time. In my opinion, there is no need to worry that there are few issues on the agendaand record additional small tasks to give more meaning to the event. If you manage to discuss, make a decision and end the meeting ahead of schedule, this will only please all participants, because they will have time for a cup of coffee or a business call. For many top managers, such random “windows” of 10-15 minutes are just salvation in a busy schedule.

Obviously, if there are more than one hour of important issues that need to be resolved, then they need to be divided into two meetings. But often this is not possible. Therefore, one of the solutions is to think in advance and take into account the inconvenience that may arise. At the beginning of the meeting, discuss organizational issues with the team - the agenda and break time, as well as prepare the water.

When already in the process of meeting you understand that you are starting to get out of schedule, then in this case it is important to assess the situation and the level of energy. When the discussion is lively and productive, in this case it makes sense to consciously devote more time to the question, but bring the discussion to a logical point. But if the arguments and energy have already run out and the discussion is “looped”, then it is better to end the discussion and record the outcome of the meeting.

Undoubtedly, aerobatics for any organizer is when the participants at the end of the meeting say: well, what good fellows we are, how successfully we met the allotted time. This means that they did not realize that someone clearly followed the time, controlled the conversation, did not allow thoughts to “flow”, extinguished the foci of “flashing dialogs” parallel to the main speaker - and all this went unnoticed and was attributed to “rare luck” .

At the end, a few words about the venue of the meeting. It is important that meetings of working groups be held in isolation from workplaces.Firstly, no one has canceled business ethics. Even a group of three in open space will be guaranteed to interfere with colleagues. And, secondly, the meeting participants at their workplaces will be distracted by incoming mail and landline phone calls. Therefore, it is important to book in advance the most comfortable meeting room available: spacious, with windows and air conditioning.

Summarizing the above, in order to conduct an effective meeting you need, at a minimum, to know: the channels of perception of information by the team, their schedules (start / end time, lunch break) and a comfortable time for a meeting (morning / day / evening). To do this, you do not need to spare time and effort to build partnerships (not to be confused with friends) with all the people with whom you have to work in a team.

For example, a personal call / letter with the phrase “Ivan Ivanovich, yes, I know that usually everything is scheduled for up to a minute in the morning, but on Thursday, as an exception, it is very important to meet for 30 minutes in the morning. "Let's think about how to integrate a half-hour appointment into your calendar with the least loss?" There will be more chances for an extremely busy top manager to confirm the meeting than just an electronic meeting invitation. Ivan Ivanovich will know that, firstly, you are aware that he is busy in the mornings and did not begin to disturb him for nothing, and, secondly, such a request is an exception.

A good organizer from a mediocre one can be distinguished just by the credit of trust of his team. This is an implicit but very truthful marker: if a team trusts you with its most valuable and irreplaceable resource - Time - and allows you to lead it, then you are on the right track.
The main thing is not to forget:

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