Meetings. Martin Manser
decisions poorly communicated after the meeting
Most of these can be solved by:
▪ better chairing of the meeting
▪ better preparation before the meeting.
case study Larry was called in to solve the problems at the company. He was present at a meeting of the Senior Management Team (SMT). He asked them for the agenda of the meeting and was told there wasn’t one. He asked them for the actions decided at the previous meeting and was told that no minutes had been taken. It was hardly surprising that the company was in a complete mess. Fortunately, Larry knew members of the SMT well, so he could make changes easily and put structures in place, so within a few months the company was making good progress.
Most of the problems with meetings can be solved by better preparation.
Calculate the cost of meetings
Let’s stand back and look at how much meetings actually cost. Suppose there are eight managers in a meeting that lasts three hours. How much do you think the meeting will cost?
Suppose each manager’s salary is £30,000.
£30,000 ÷ 48 (52 weeks in the year minus 4 for holidays) = £625 per week.
£625 ÷ 5 = £125 per day. So £125 is what each manager receives as gross pay per day, before tax or other deductions.
Now let’s work out the hourly rate of pay received. Managers may be in the office for seven hours but how many of those are actually productive? Let’s say five so we have £125 ÷ 5 = £25 per hour: this is the amount of gross pay that a manager is paid per hour.
But we need to multiply £25 by approximately 3 (some colleagues have suggested 2.7; others have suggested 5) to account for general business expenses. We need to think not only of the salaries of those concerned but also of the general costs to the company or organization of each individual’s time. Someone has to pay for electricity, cleaning, buildings and employees’ insurance, and government taxes. These could be allocated to each individual. Such general business expenses are referred to as overheads.
“Time is money”
Benjamin Franklin (1706–90), American statesman, scientist and author: Advice to a Young Tradesman (1748)
one minute wonder In a meeting, I sometimes think that I’m in a taxi and I’m watching the meter go up minute by minute for the fare I will be charged. I can see that time costs money. In the same way, meetings cost money.
£25 pounds x 3 = £75. So £75 is the cost per hour of one manager. Now suppose the meeting lasts three hours and eight managers attend it, then the cost of the meeting is £75 x 3 ×8 = £1800.
This figure is probably higher than you thought.
It also has certain effects: suppose seven managers are waiting for one manager who is 10 minutes late. The amount of money that is wasted while waiting for the late colleague is £88, i.e. £75 ÷ 6 (for 10 minutes) x 6 colleagues = £75.
Suppose also that during the meeting the chairman says that time did not allow them to circulate the paper in advance so every member of the meeting now has to spend 5 minutes reading through the paper, then that costs £75 ÷ 12 (for 5 minutes) x 8 = £50.
This means that you should keep your meetings as short as possible to avoid wasting resources.
Keep your meetings as short as possible to avoid wasting resources.
Who makes decisions in meetings?
Who is responsible for making a decision in your company or organization?
It can be helpful to consider who it is that makes decisions in a meeting: do all colleagues or only some colleagues make the decisions?
The acronym RACI can be used in this discussion.
▪ R those who are Responsible: the colleagues who will be actually doing the task.
▪ A those who are Accountable: those with ultimate authority for the decision, and who could be blamed if it goes wrong.
▪ C those who are Consulted: those colleagues, e.g. consultants, who can give expert advice or others affected by the decision – for instance, those involved in a project or certain stakeholders, such as suppliers or trade unions. Such colleagues are consulted about decisions but do not actually make the decisions themselves.
▪ I those who are Informed: colleagues who only need to be informed about the decisions that have already been made, but need not be consulted and are not responsible for making the actual decision.
Some authorities also add O for Omit for those colleagues who do not need to be informed or consulted about the decision and are not responsible for it, to make the acronym CAIRO (Consulted, Accountable, Informed, Responsible, Omit).
one minute wonder You should support a decision that has been agreed, even if you don’t agree with it.
The significance of this is that time can be wasted and roles confused unless it is clear who it is that actually makes the decision.
You should also consider how decisions are made in your company or organization:
▪ Are decisions made by the leader? This can often be quick and efficient but could be considered harsh as colleagues may not have been involved and may not feel valued as their views are not sought.
▪ Are decisions made by a majority? This can be considered fair but the minority may be reluctant to put the decision into action.
▪ Are decisions made by general agreement (consensus)? This has the disadvantage that it may take a long time to win over each colleague but it has the advantage that colleagues will feel committed to putting them into action as they have been part of the decision-making process.
It is important to be clear about who makes the decision. If you are not clear on this, roles may become confused and time will be wasted.
It is important to know the different roles that need to be fulfilled to make sure that a meeting runs smoothly.
The key roles in a meeting are:
▪ The chair, who works with other colleagues to help prepare the agenda, welcomes newcomers, builds good relationships with participants, keeps the meeting on track and reviews progress, stimulates discussion, summarizes and then makes decisions. This role is important and we devote a whole section to this: see here.
▪ The coordinator/secretary, who plans the venue and time, invites the relevant participants, agrees the agenda with the chair, sends out the agenda and any papers and reports before the meeting, prepares the room for the meeting and makes arrangements for refreshments, etc.
▪ The minute-taker, who will work with the chair to ensure that a full statement of what is agreed at the meeting is recorded. The minute-taker will not write down every word, just significant matters, and will write up the minutes as soon as possible after the meeting, check with the chair that they accurately reflect the content of the meeting and send out the minutes as soon as possible after the meeting. Again this role is crucial and we devote a whole section to this: see