Planning better meetings in management
As a manager, one of my tasks is to create a meeting calendar with my team. As in music, this is all about finding the right rhythm – and the right content. When I plan my meetings, I can follow a few rules. We’ve summarized them for you below.
Each type of meeting has its own rhythm
Our founders Christian and Michael like to compare meeting plans to a drum kit. Some drums are beaten to a slow rhythm. Others are played quickly, and every now and then, a stand-out sound is added. In this way, my daily work routine becomes a complete song with different frequent meeting types.
The common rhythms for meetings are daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly. Which interval I choose is up to me and my team. There’s no right or wrong here. The only important thing is that we stick to the schedule once it’s been set, meaning, when a meeting is scheduled, it takes place. If we play too much free jazz (everyone meets when he or she wants to), it becomes quite exhausting and the success might diminish.
Don’t forget: Meetings are also needed with other leaders. They can happily last a little longer if they produce good results. After all, planning and coordination are among the most important tasks of leadership.
Plan meetings with clear goals and topics
One of the biggest mistakes I can make in my team meetings is not setting clear goals or topics. All team members talk about some problem from the daily business. Even if all questions about this problem have been clarified at the end, I haven’t made any progress with my actual goal. Therefore, an important rule to follow is: Only what’s relevant for this type of meeting will be discussed.
If I set an agenda in advance, productivity increases. If I also set a purpose, I can identify when the meeting has been successful. A concrete action list at the end helps to make sure that everything was implemented and not just talked about.
We like to distinguish between three types of meeting purpose: brainstorming, information sharing, and decision making. For example, if I want to decide something at the executive level, I can send the necessary information to all the managers ahead of time. Then the actual meeting agenda can stay short and sweet.
Planning meetings – without forgetting the purpose
No matter how well I plan and run meetings, they don’t help my business if they don’t fit in with our Purpose, Vision, Values, and Strategies. Every time I schedule a meeting, I ask myself: How does this agenda fit with our overall Purpose? Are today’s resolutions leading us to our Vision? Are we behaving according to our Values in the meeting room? What Strategies should we follow? If I always keep that in mind, I can’t go in the wrong direction.
CoA Academy has a secret tip for all Chiefs: weekly one-on-one meetings with each of my employees help me to be better aware of successes and problems, to get honest feedback (also about personal goals, motivations or concerns), and to make processes more agile.
I learn everything that helps me grow as a Chief in the Chief of the Year Remote Leadership Program. Enroll today and become the best leader you can be!
