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The
One Nugget Report from The Project Management Advisor™
Issue 2010-19 - Drive a Tight Agenda, Don't Let it Drive
You
Excerpted from
The Truth about
Getting Your Point Across…and Nothing But the Truth
http://www.project-management-books.com/truth
A colleague of mine was
responsible for running a bi-weekly two-hour team meeting. He
took great care to develop a very full, detailed agenda. As we
would get into the meeting, it would only take us getting to
agenda item one before the meeting was behind schedule. During
the entire time that my colleague ran these meetings, we never
got more than halfway through the agenda before adjourning. The
team got so used to not making it through the agenda that there
wasn’t even an attempt to try to stay on schedule. The agenda
and associated times were completely unrealistic and were
worthless as a meeting management tool.
An effective agenda goes beyond start time,
location, topics, and durations. Effective agendas do the
following: Support the meeting purpose Set the expectations of
attendees as to what will be discussed Inform attendees of any
preparation that will be required prior to the meeting Give the
meeting leader a roadmap for driving the agenda Permit adequate time
to cover each item Allow the meeting leader to adjust the agenda
easily if the meeting gets behind schedule Having said all this,
there is a guiding principle the meeting owner needs to follow: The
meeting owner drives the agenda, not the other way around. There
are times where you may have a concise meeting purpose and specific
agenda items to address the meeting purpose, but the actual meeting
deviates from the agenda. Be open to the agenda change; just make
sure the meeting purpose is still being met. Doing this requires
the meeting owner be very in-tune to what is going on in the meeting
and footing it back to what is happening on the agenda. If the
actual meeting is deviating from the agenda, the meeting owner needs
to consciously decide if the deviation is appropriate or if it needs
to be nipped in the bud. There’s no secret sauce on this; it means
keeping the original meeting’s purpose in mind, observing what is
actually happening in the meeting, and continually assessing whether
the meeting’s purpose is being met.
So, what
are some good tips to developing effective agenda?
Consider these next time you have to plan a meeting:
Have a tight, focused
meeting purpose –
You’ve called the meeting for a reason; make sure that the
purpose is explicit and achievable. A good sanity check on
this is that you should be able to complete this sentence:
“At the end of this meeting we should be able to _______.”
Cross-foot your agenda items
with the meeting purpose
– As you’re crafting your agenda items, make sure that each
item is doing something to support the meeting purpose. If
the items don’t support the meeting purpose either change
the agenda item or change the purpose. Don’t confuse the
attendees by having agenda items that don’t support the
meeting purpose
Be realistic with allocated
agenda item times
– Don’t put overly aggressive times on the agenda that you
in your heart know you’re not going to achieve. Planning 90
minutes worth of meeting in 60 minutes means you’ll only get
through 2/3 of the meeting or the meeting will run over by
at least 30 minutes. Don’t wish for best case; put reality
down.
Distribute the agenda at
least one day before the meeting
– Meeting attendees want to know what is going to be
discussed and if there is preparation that is needed prior
to the meeting. Give them a day if possible to review the
agenda and get mentally prepared for the meeting.
Put the most important
agenda items at the front of the meeting
– Cover your top items first. There are two reasons for
this: first, you’ll ensure that the most important items
get covered. Second, you’ll keep attendee attention better
by covering the most important items earlier. If they are
put later in the agenda then you’ll see some chomping at the
bit as you go through lesser important agenda items first.
Have as your last agenda
item an “action items review” section
– I’ve seen way too many meetings happen in my career where
the end of the meeting comes, everyone leaves, but there is
no agreement on what actions need to be taken out of the
meeting. In your action items review, indicate what the
action items are, who is responsible for each action item,
and when the action item needs to be completed by.
Have a contingency plan in
place for when agenda items run over
– Even with the best-planned meetings, sometimes agenda
items take longer than expected. Have a plan for how you
are going to accommodate the change, which could mean
shortening some other agenda items or eliminating an agenda
item completely
Build tight, realistic,
achievable agendas. You’ll get more done, reduce attendee
frustration, and make the best use of everyone’s time. Just
don’t be a slave to the agenda if you see the agenda won’t
accomplish the meeting’s purpose.
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