Shorter Meetings: Why Every Meeting Needs a Purpose & Agenda

 All of us have all spent too much time in one of those meetings that’s rambling around, falling down rabbit holes, and getting very little accomplished. The minutes–or hours!–are ticking by and you’re wondering “Glory, when are we going to be done with this?!” (Ok, you might not say “glory” but something rather harsher. Fill in colorful language of your choice. *grin*)

There are several reasons that such meetings, unfortunately, occur. However, one of the most common issues is also one of the easiest to fix: Ensure that every meeting has a clear purpose and agenda.

It’s so easy for meetings to wander and ramble, particularly regular meetings, such as staff meetings or 1:1s. The conversation wanders around a random topic and the important issues are either tacked on at the end, rushed, or rescheduled.

Establishing a purpose before the meeting, then reminding everyone about that purpose at the beginning of the meeting allows for everyone to come to the table in the right frame of mind. After all, that same group of colleagues might be working together on any number of different projects or initiatives, so establishing and notifying attendees about the purpose in advance ensures that everyone is on the same page and can arrive properly prepared for the conversation at hand.

Additionally, when you’re thinking about the purpose of the meeting get specific! While you might send the meeting invite out with a title that says “Johnson proposal” You can include additional information to clarify the purpose in the description field. For example- “Purpose: Identify core concepts for proposal and next steps.”

You can also be explicit about any preparation that you want attendees to accomplish in advance.  Example: “Please review compiled research attached prior to the meeting.” Remember, what might seem obvious to you as appropriate preparation may not be obvious to everyone else.

Make a clear call-to-action so everyone knows exactly what appropriate preparation would include in order to be ready for that conversation.

Some meetings, like weekly staff meetings, might cover many different topics. Therefore knowing all those topics in advance allows attendees to prepare more fully both mentally and physically (i.e. bringing the right materials) for the meeting.

Also knowing how many topics you plan to cover and roughly how long each conversation is likely to take allows the meeting facilitator to clarify whether the group is trying to cram too much into one session. Then, if necessary, some appropriate prioritization can happen.

By and large, most people recognize the need for agendas during these types of complex meetings, but those same people often jettison establishing an agenda for the smaller, one project meetings. I would suggest that even a simple agenda can add tremendous value.

Here’s an example of a meeting invitation based on our hypothetical Johnson Proposal meeting:

Team Meeting re: Johnson Proposal

Purpose: Identify core concepts for proposal and next steps

Preparation: Review compiled research attached

Agenda:

Take note of the first and last bullets in particular. Even for simple “one topic” meetings there are two important elements that can be included on any agenda:

1) Start by confirming or clarifying the outcome you’re working toward

2) End with a group summary of the specific next steps, who is responsible for them, and when they need to be accomplished by.

If the meeting organizer provided this information in advance, don’t you think you’d arrive to it better prepared, be able to work with the group more effectively, and quickly move through that agenda?

I have seen teams start using this structure for all their meeting requests and in fact shave significant time off their meetings. This is because they didn’t have to spend the first 5-10 minutes just clarifying what needed to be discussed, and it was clear to everyone when they were straying off topic. Within days or weeks, meetings that had taken an hour were only 30-40 minutes (or less on occasion!).

Would that be a good enough reason to add a little more structure to your meetings?

Obviously, the easiest place to start is with the meetings that you request or facilitate. However, don’t underestimate your ability to influence the meetings of others.

If you get a meeting request that seems unclear, then a gentle question to the organizer might be: “Just to help me come prepared, can you send out the purpose and agenda for this meeting?”

Certainly, if you’re a leader, then you can request that any meeting you are invited to by your direct reports include a clear purpose and agenda (as well as preparation steps or materials, as necessary). You might even give them the structure included above or forward this blog post to them to provide an example of what you’re expecting.

Are you ready to kick it up a notch with your meetings? Take a look at your calendar for the next few days. Is there a meeting for which you could give or request a purpose and agenda? Give it a try perhaps just for a week or two, and see what you notice.

Please comment here with any thoughts or questions about how you might use this process in your situation. Or even better, how adding a clear purpose and agenda has changed your meetings!