Article Summary
I recently have found myself re-visiting many HBR articles. The one of recent is “How to Run a Meeting”, by Antony Jay which covers a range of topics and provides sound recommendations on how to be a productive facilitator. The topics covered are functions of a meeting, the distinction in size and type of meeting, ways to define objectives, making preparations, the chairman’s role, and ways to conduct a meeting that will achieve its objectives. Jay points out in the article that there are six main functions of a meeting:
- Meetings define the team, the group, or the unit
- Meetings are the place where the group revises,updates, and adds to what is known as a group.
- Meetings help every individual understand both the collective aim of the group and the way in which their own and everyone else’s work can contribute to the group’s success.
- Meetings create in all present a commitment to the collective aim of the group and the way in which their and everyone else’s work can contribute to the group’s success.
- Meetings are very often the only occasion where the team or group actually exists and works as a group, and the only time when the supervisor, manager, or executive is actually perceived as the leader of the team, rather than as the official to whom individuals report.
- A meeting is a status arena. (Jay, 27-31)
The article points out the different sizes and type of meetings that are most common to the business world. “Meetings can be graded by size into three broad categories: (1) the assembly – 100 or more people who are expected to do little more than listen to the main speaker or speakers; (2) the council – 40 or 50 people who are basically there to listen to the main speaker or speakers but who can come in with questions or comments and who may be asked to contribute something on their own account; and (3) the committee – up to 10 (or at the most 12) people, all of whom more or less speak on equal footing under the guidance and control of a chairman,” (Jay, 31-32) Jay’s focus in this article is mainly on the committee type of meetings but it is important to understand the different type of meetings based on size.
The article does a nice job of pointing out the four categories that help define distinctive objectives in a meeting.
- Informative-digestive
- Constructive
- Executive responsibilities
- Legislative framework (Jay, 35-37)
Jay states that all items on an agenda should fall in one or more of the four categories above.
In preparation for a meeting, Jay recommends that the facilitator go through the agenda in advance and classify each item within the four categories that best describes the function that it is going to serve. “This exercise helps clarify what is expected from the discussion and helps focus on which people to bring in and what questions to ask them.” (Jay, 38) The agenda is one of the key components to having a successful meeting and the author of the article states it is the most important piece of paper that is created for the meeting. (Jay, 39) It is important that the meeting has the right number of people who can add value. Jay recommends between 4 and 7 people; anything above that will put the success of the meeting at risk. (Jay, 38)
The chairman’s or facilitator’s role is to make sure that the meeting achieves valuable objectives. The role requires that they assist the group in finding the best solution in an efficient manner. (Jay, 44) It is vital for the person in this role to foster communication among the team members. The person in this role must also be able to facilitate conflict resolution among team members for the good of the meeting.
Jay suggests that for a meeting to be successful and meet its objectives the chairman / facilitator must do the following:
- Draw out the silent.
- Encourage the clash of ideas.
- Watch out for the suggestion-squashing reflex.
- Come to the most senior people last.
- Close on a note of achievement.
- Publish meeting notes. (Jay, 54-56)
Application
Meetings are dreaded by many of the people at my place of employment. The main frustrations people have with meetings that I found :
- There are managers that call a meeting for the sake of having a meeting that do not seem to have a purpose.
- There are meetings that are held without an agenda.
- People don’t see what progress is made at the meeting because no meeting notes are published. People leave meetings not knowing who is accountable for action items.
I believe it is very important for managers and leaders to set an example of running productive meetings and find ways to prevent frustration. I encourage people to ask for clarification if they are invited to a meeting and don’t understand the purpose and if they do not receive clarification I suggest you decline the meeting invitation. The same goes for meetings to which you are invited that don’t have an agenda. If the requester can’t provide an agenda, I suggest that you decline the meeting invitation until one is provided. I encouraged you to ask at the start of a meeting who will be taking notes and when they will be published. There are a few concepts that the article brought to my attention about meetings that I suggest you leverage if you are frustrated.
The first is to really make sure that your meetings do not have more than 7 people that attend. The article made me reflect on which meetings I have attended or run that have been successful and it seems to be the smaller groups. I recommend that you spend more time reviewing the agendas that your create and map them to the four categories that help define distinctive objectives in a meeting. This will help your evaluate whether the item needs to be on the agenda and to explain to the team members why the item is being addressed.
The article also gave me valuable insight into a mystery that I did not understand about the different type of silence that occurs in meetings The author describes two types of silence: the silence of diffidence and silence of hostility. (Jay, 54) In the first type of silence, I need to try to draw out people in my team that might be shy and encourage them to provide input. The second type of silence is something that I need to be aware of and try to find out why the team member(s) have an issue with me so that I can address the problem.
This article also re-enforced the importance of publishing meeting notes and that the responsibility is that of the meeting facilitator to ensure that this happens. I sometimes get frustrated when the meeting notes are not published in a timely fashion by the scribe of the meeting. I need to take ownership and responsibility in ensuring that this happens and not shift that to the scribe.
I suggest that you take the time to read the article by Jay and share it with your team members and peers and solicit their feedback on how they think you are doing with the meetings that you manage. I know that I am going to do this. Perhaps, this will also trigger many of my peers to evaluate how they think they are doing as meeting facilitators and ask for my feedback.
Works Cited
Jay, Antony. “How to Run a Meeting.”, Harvard Business Review, March-April 1976: Reprint 76204.
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