Meetings by themselves are not a problem. They are even necessary and are a managerial attribute of power. You need to get rid of prolonged useless and ineffective gatherings.
The most common types of meetings are:
weekly;
strategic;
workers;
reporting;
gliders;
brainstorming sessions;
business conversations and meetings;
flyers.
All these types can be grouped into four main groups:
by duration: fast (up to 30 minutes) and protracted (more than one hour);
by number of participants: up to 10 people or more;
by goal: labor, political and informational;
by time: planned and unplanned.
Meeting scheduling: required attributes
What you need to plan:
goals;
the agenda;
a list of invitees;
schedule;
information materials;
the person responsible for keeping the record;
speeches schedule.
First of all, the manager should take into account the objectives of the meeting. This is the starting point for the agenda and the list of participants, times and regulations.
The main objectives of the meetings are:
1. New information — for the information meeting:
important news and policy changes;
discussion of plans and strategies;
short-term forecasting;
presentation of new products and approaches;
budget discussion;
personnel issues.
2. Monitoring events and making operational decisions — for regular meetings:
main risks and challenges;
parameters for measuring progress;
assessment of key processes and necessary changes;
discussion of what is happening: what is going well, what needs to be improved;
key lessons and results of action;
coordination of efforts;
communications.
3. Motivation — creative meetings, development of new approaches and team building:
a motivation to act;
collective decision-making;
celebrating individual and collective success.
Thus, the goal affects the type of meeting and the model of its organization. For example, informational meetings are numerous and lengthy. The regular ones are planned, they are faster in time and with a limited number of participants. Creative meetings require special preparation: furniture (usually separate tables), tea, coffee and an informal setting; they do not require a dress code.
Eisenhower matrix for ranking meeting questions
It should be remembered that the meeting is a platform where important decisions are made and problems are overcome. The Eisenhower Matrix is a field where all problems and questions are collected. They are ranked by importance and urgency.
UrgentNot urgent
ImportantAB
UnimportantCD
Square A: important and urgent matters
The square of important and urgent things to do should be empty or few in number. This will show that you are meeting deadlines. If there are a lot of such cases, this is a sign of disorganization. Examples of cases that you can fit into a square:
cases that are directly related to your job responsibilities and affect your performance;
cases whose failure to do so could create problems;
matters related to the health and psychological climate in the team;
cases affecting the safety of the team;
cases whose results need to be approved or presented to your management.
Square B: important but not urgent things
When assignments or tasks are not urgent and there is no specifics about when they must be completed, the contractor sets the timing himself. This square includes all the things that relate to your functions at the enterprise, things that you do on a regular basis, and, as a rule, their implementation is tied to the overall schedule at the enterprise (for example, preparing final reports). Such cases include research assignments that require a certain amount of time, but the amount of labor costs is unclear until they are completed. The tasks of the first and second squares should be constantly monitored, and therefore it is advisable to include them in the agenda of the meetings.
Square C: urgent but unimportant things
These are distractions. Often, they simply prevent you from focusing on important tasks and reduce efficiency. Always keep your goals in mind and learn to differentiate between important and secondary.
This square should include:
meetings or negotiations imposed by someone else;
discussion of issues that subordinates can solve;
discussion of issues not related to business;
discussion of abstract topics.
Square D: urgent and unimportant things
Things in this category don’t promote you in projects, but distract you from working on them.
do not bring any benefit at all;
it is useful not to do them at all;
“time eaters”.
For each goal, the manager asks the following questions:
Who has information and knowledge about the issue under consideration?
Whose interests does this issue affect?
Who does the decision depend on?
Who needs to know the information that will be discussed?
Who will implement the decisions made?
When planning project meetings, the 99/50/1 methodology can be used.
The manager organizes meetings at three important points in the project:
at the start — to immerse all participants in the pace of the project and for team building;
at an intermediate stage — to discuss the results of the work done and further adjustments, if necessary;
at the finish line, when 1% of the total volume remains to be sold, to pre-sum up the results.
This timing will make it possible to use time at meetings more efficiently.
Agenda
The agenda is a plan of tasks that need to be solved at the meeting. It is necessary to clearly define the timing of everyone’s speech, set aside separate time for discussion and feedback from all participants.
When planning a meeting schedule, it is important to consider the following:
the importance of the issue on the agenda;
the schedule of each performance;
breaks, if necessary;
20% of the time for additional important information.
The agenda is sent to all meeting participants.
Agenda with time and specifics of presentations
Agenda:
The results of the work on concluding contracts. Report by Ivanov I. (15 minutes).
Problems in the transport of supplies. Report by Petrov I. (15 minutes).
Project work results and plans. Report by Sidorov T. (20 minutes).
Starting at 11:00 a.m.
The end is at 12:15.
It is necessary to train in conducting quick and effective meetings!
Your time targets are:
Important and Urgent12 minutes
Important and non-urgent
24—36 minutes
Urgent and important: 12 minutes — the Pareto principle works here: 20% of the time creates 80% of the result, with an average meeting of one hour (60 minutes), the most effective time is 12 minutes (20% of 60 minutes).
Important and non-urgent: as a rule, they are planned. The effective time for such meetings is 24-36 minutes. The 60/40 method works here, according to which, when drawing up a plan for the day, 40% of the time should be left free, 60% should be allocated to planned work, including 20% for “unpredictable” ones and 20% for those that arise spontaneously or become concomitant.
With an average meeting time of one hour (60 minutes), the time for planned important but non-urgent tasks is 24—36 minutes (40-60% of 60 minutes).
Unimportant and urgent Delegation and control by phone and other means of communication, no more than three minutes for control.
Unimportant and non-urgent Delegation and control by management, no more than one minute to delegate.
List of invitees
The optimal number of participants in quick meetings is 5-7 people. A composition of 8 to 12 people is acceptable if the meeting leader has the skills of a facilitator.
To generate ideas, set goals and fly, the ideal team is no more than 15 people.
Google has an unspoken rule: the maximum number of participants is no more than 10.
At Amazon, the “two pizza” rule is that the meeting should have as many people as you can feed two pizzas.
There is a rule of 8—18—1800:
no more than 8 people — solving work issues;
no more than 18 — brainstorming, collective problem solving;
up to 1800 people — information and the opportunity to communicate.
A study by Bain and Company says that in decision-making groups, adding more than seven members leads to a decrease in efficiency by about 10%.
Those directly responsible are required to participate in meetings.
Apple displays the name of the person in charge next to each meeting point. Thus, each employee has a clear area of responsibility within the framework of the assigned assignment.
Source: https://lifehacker.ru/kak-planirovat-soveshhaniya/
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