How to Run the Meeting Your Team Deserves

I spent most of 2008 in Afghanistan. I was a First Lieutenant serving as the logistics officer for an 80 person Provincial Reconstruction Team. We were assigned the daunting task of overseeing reconstruction efforts in an area the size of Connecticut. This required the coordination of numerous government and non-government agencies, many different branches of coalition armed forces, as well as Afghan provincial and local governments, their army, national police and security forces. This meant a LOT of meetings, phone calls and emails in a rapidly changing environment with high stakes. One of the many whiteboards hanging from the walls of our headquarters bore these words; a stark reminder that any time we spent deliberating, was time the enemy was using to MOVE.

“The enemy has neither body armor, nor Powerpoint; so they will always be faster.”

My experience in the Army was that our view of meetings was for the most part a healthy balance of acknowledging their necessity, as well as their potential to become a “time suck” when allowed to run off track. In an effort to avoid this, we referred to them “briefings”, and often held them standing up. Nevertheless, the speed, portability and professionalism of a Powerpoint presentation was alluring, and along with the projector became an indispensable weapon in the War on Terror. The corps d’elite who attained the highest level of proficiency were dubbed “Powerpoint Rangers” a tongue in cheek comparison with one of the Army’s most elite group of soldiers. Easels with butcher paper were out. Slides projected onto a wall added a degree of cleanliness and precision, two things held in universally high regard. However, this also gave way to two unhealthy fixations, similarly widespread, which would grind communication to a halt: the importance of uniformity, and straight lines.

Slides were reviewed by junior officers before shown to senior leaders, and while they wouldn’t necessarily be able to check accuracy of content, they would dutifully catch any stray bullets (pun intended) irregular margins in the deck, fonts which were found to be “out of regulation”. To soldiers, this was considered an absurdity born of the “garrison Army” with luxuries of too much time and not enough to do. Predictably, it was much less pronounced in wartime, but persisted to a degree, because as the saying goes: “as you train, so shall you fight.” I always thought our briefings were pretty bad. Until I left the Army and started to work in the private sector.

During my foray into the corporate world, I was relieved to see much less scrutiny and reliance on Powerpoint for all things, but quickly realized something worse that made me look back on the Army’s death-by-Powerpoint as the good ol days. Most new managers are not taught how to run an effective meeting, and some rise very high in the ranks without ever learning. We all know when we’re in a bad meeting, and it’s compounded when leadership thinks it’s going well. My recommendation is to embrace these guiding principles, to avoid bogging your company down, demoralizing your team, and wasting time, while your competition is out there making things happen.

Audience

As small as possible to get input and buy-in from the most important parties. The bigger the group, the more people to wait on before you can start, the more irrelevant comments and tangents you’re likely to go down.

Agenda

Distributed in advance. Preferably at 24 hrs, or more if you’re accepting submissions. At a minimum hand it out at the start of the meeting. STICK TO IT.

Time

How long is this going to last? It’s probably blocked on everyone’s calendar, so you’d be better be prepared to stick to it. How many minutes do you have per item on your agenda? Have a plan for where you should be after 15 minutes, 30, 45, etc. Identify a time keeper to help keep it on schedule.

Pro-Tip: Find the guy/gal who hates meetings the most, and watch their face light up when you give them the power to make sure the meeting doesn’t drag on.

Is this list exhaustive? Certainly not. Is it enough to put you ahead of almost all your peers? Almost certainly… unless you work with a bunch of Harvard B school grads, in which case I should probably be reading YOUR blog.