When South West Airlines chief executive Bob Jordan announced he was blocking his calendar every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoon and forbidding anyone from arranging meetings with him during those hours he was met with a chorus of approval from time-poor executives. The late Feargal Quinn, of Superquinn and Retail Therapy TV fame, would surely have agreed. He took chairs out of the boardroom to make meetings go quicker – less Crowning the Customer than dethroning the board. Whether or not you believe, like Jordan, that meetings aren’t work, what is important is that, in whatever shape or form they come, your organisation’s meetings are at least working. There are a number of reasons why they might not be. One of the biggest problems Maureen McCowan, founder of Soft Skills Success, finds is that, too often, people don’t feel comfortable contributing in the first place. Maureen McCowan “From the participant in the meeting’s perspective, very often it’s not getting that opportunity to have their voice heard, or that they are not comfortable and confident speaking up because they are afraid they are going to make a fool of themselves, say the wrong thing or stumble over their words,” she explains. Lack of ease participating is why so many find meetings little more than a soak of their valuable time. That goes for both in-person and online variants. “On top of that, people are on calls back to back, very often not getting a second between meetings. It’s Teams call after Teams call,” she says. In other cases, the problem is poorly facilitated meetings, hosted by a person with no training on how to execute them in a manner that is both efficient and productive. “A big part of that is lack of planning and preparation,” she says. The person calling the meeting must know what they want to achieve from it. “It’s a simple question but you have to know the purpose of the meeting. Is there a decision needed or particular action required?” she asks. “If it’s an update, and you don’t require input from the others, then why are you wasting people’s time and energy holding a meeting at all?” After that, ensure everyone attending is required. “If someone is not required for the full meeting, allow them to leave or drop off once their business is done so they can go back to doing more productive work,” she advises. All of this must be considered in advance. Apart from wasting people’s time, forcing them to be at unnecessary meetings is a demotivator. It also encourages participants to switch off during the meeting, which isn’t good for group dynamics. Once you have established who should attend, it helps to recognise and manage people’s individual meeting styles too. “If, as a meeting facilitator, you know you have a personality type in the meeting that might be more introverted, more reflective, or who needs more processing time – because not all of us can react and respond immediately to something that is thrown at us – it’s about facilitating that,” she says. One way is by issuing a discussion document in advance. “It’s a way to say, this is what will be up for discussion, we’d really appreciate your thoughts, so please have a read through it in advance,” she says. As facilitator, be aware of subtle changes in people’s body language. If someone moves slightly forward in their seat or lifts their head, it can mean they are preparing to say something. By spotting that and inviting them to speak, you can capture something they might otherwise keep to themselves. Even harder to deal with is the attendee – and there is always one – who tries to take over. It could be that they like to hijack meetings, that they are dismissive of others or that other people simply tend to be quiet around them. “That can be challenging because the loudest voice is the one that gets heard, and they become almost the default decision maker. Yet it doesn’t mean theirs are the best ideas in the room, just that they have the most confidence in communicating them,” she says. Where clients report to her that their organisation’s meetings aren’t as effective as they should be, she suggests they reset the rules. “It’s about setting out fresh ground rules including that they expect people to contribute, that they don’t allow interruptions, and that sidebar conversations aren’t tolerated.” Facilitating effective meetings requires a specific skill set, yet too often it’s something people just fall into doing. If anything, it’s even more important to manage meetings well now, given that the kind of informal get-togethers that take place when people work alongside one another are on the wane, thanks to remote and hybrid working. “As businesses adapt to new workplace models and increasing time pressures, there is a growing focus on how organisations can improve productivity and make efficient use of employees’ time,” says Mia Finnegan, public affairs manager at Dublin Chamber. From a corporate governance perspective, poor meetings protocols represent a reputational risk. Anyone considering going on a board, for example, should be properly appraised of how boards work and how effective board meetings are run. It’s something entrepreneur and experienced non-executive director Donal McKenna provides training on, including through Carmichael Ireland, which provides specialist training and support for the non-profit sector. It includes ensuring that everyone involved in the meeting knows their role and function, including the person chairing the meeting and the person taking the minutes. The latter is hugely important, not least because, in the event of future litigation, the minutes of meetings are key. Donal McKenna He too cautions against allowing any one individual to dominate a meeting, and says that being rude, personal or “constantly spouting on about irrelevant stuff” should not be tolerated at all. At the same time however, dissenting voices are important, as these help guard against group think, he points out. Having a contrarian voice can be a good indicator of a healthy organisational culture. “What you don’t want is nodding heads all the way around the table,” he says. At board level the management of voting should be agreed in advance: whether decisions will be made by a vote, whether that vote is via a show of hands or in secret and whether the chair has a casting vote. All such rules should be written down in your organisation’s governance or directors’ handbook. “If it’s not written down, it doesn’t exist,” says McKenna. A clear agenda is key and, as part of good governance, committee and board members should be rotated out. “If they’re there too long, they get stale. As they say, the new broom sweeps clean,” he says. Staying too long on any committee or board risks friendships developing that can undermine good corporate governance. “They’re afraid to challenge each other,” says McKenna. The chair’s role is vital, and part of it is about encouraging everyone present to speak. McKenna believes no one should speak twice until everyone has spoken once. “Otherwise, people leave a meeting and say, ‘Well actually, I was never asked to talk’ and demotivation sets in,” he says. If the meeting gets fractious, all points should be made through the chair, “so it’s not individual to individual”. The chair should also summarise each decision as it is made, which is directed at the person taking the minutes. Ideally minutes should be sent to the chair within 24 hours and to the other people at the meeting within 48 hours, while memories are still fresh. “Too often they go out two days before the next meeting, a month later, when no one can remember.” Having a detailed agenda with 10-minute time slots prevents meetings from running over. A good meeting is a productive meeting. “What you want is to have people leave their meeting thinking ‘that was a great meeting’,” says McKenna. “Not, as so often happens, ‘Well that was a dreadful waste of time’.”