How to Conduct Effective Meetings

Before the Meeting

  • Prepare adequately
  • Create an agenda and send it to all participants

During the Meeting

  • Focus on outcomes. Be clear about your intentions
    • Write down the desired outcome for each agenda item
    • Ask people to confirm understanding to ensure everyone is on the same page
  • Review immediately after the meeting to identify improvement opportunities
  • Make meetings meaningful
  • Remember that meetings are a medium for managerial activities

How to Conduct Specific Meetings

Tech Analysis

  • Develop opposing views, demand perfection, and avoid conflict
  • Ensure participants have similar technical competency

1-to-1

Staff Meetings

Workshops

  • Share first, then discuss (allow everyone to share their thoughts briefly on a topic/question before opening it up for wider discussion)
  • Follow reverse hierarchy order (the most junior or least expert people share their thoughts first, then work your way up to the most senior/expert)
  • No laptops—be present
  • Attack the problem, not the person
  • Close decisions by identifying and recording actions, outcomes, and agreements
  • Focus on interests, not positions (identify and agree on needs before trying to solve a problem, so you’re not arguing over philosophical differences)

There are many more techniques you can find online, but the most important thing is to get your team’s buy-in to the ground rules. They should be able to add their own rules and veto ones that aren’t valuable for them. This is what you should do right up front as a team.