Management meeting: There must be a better way

We’ve all been in this situation: it’s 10pm, we look at our schedule to see what tomorrow holds and find out the two dreadful words ‘management meeting’. The meeting itself got completely lost inside the uncontrollable workload and now that it resurfaced, we have no idea what to talk about, how to pass the two hours allocated in the calendar for the meeting. The first thing that comes to mind is to cancel, but then we remember we already canceled last time… management meetings are important, indeed, that’s what everybody says, but we struggle to pinpoint its importance, and definitely don’t understand how to manage one in such a way that will truly transform it into a valuable management tool.

There Must Be A Better Way

It happens in every aspect of our life. We get a pointed recommendation, or read a well-reasoned article that explains to us how this or that tool will alter our life. We hear from friends who tried it themselves and yes, it works! “You’re not gonna believe what change it brings, you have to try it as well!” We approach it with scepticism — this isn’t the first time we listen, try and get disappointed — and indeed, we are disappointed again. Why it works for others but not for us? The answer might be in our willingness to put in the time and learn the tool before using it. We can cut a slack for ourselves and blame the lack of time, but it is actually us who don’t do the work properly.

And so it goes with management meetings. Like any other managerial tool, there is a method behind running an effective management meeting, and there’s the other ‘method’, doing things just for the sake of doing without truly grasping the implications and abilities of the tool.

Preparations

Whoever tried once baking a cake without a recipe is familiar with the result. It comes out sort-of-a-cake. The texture isn’t right, the taste lack balance and sometimes the appearance is somewhat sloppy. For baking, precision and planning is needed, you can’t just wing it. For management meeting to come out ‘just right’ and promote the company’s goals, an agenda must be set and followed.

First thing is a goal.

What is the goal of the meeting? Indeed the meetings are weekly, at a fixed day and time (we’ll get to that in a minute) but still, routine does not relieve from the need to set goals. The opposite is true. The way to fight routine is by setting goals and routinely checking goals vs. accomplishments.

Ingredients

For every meeting a Leader must be appointed from within the management team. The Leader is in charge of the meeting’s professional agenda. She needs to prepare all the documentation, collect and fact-check the data, and if needed have a pre-meeting with the CEO to get approval of the data that is to be presented in the meeting.

An effective meeting should run with a plan. A Time-Keeper makes sure that ten minutes are indeed ten minutes. A wooden hammer can be provided, or a whistle, a bicycle horn or download the app that makes your favourite noise — what’s crucial here is time management to allow the meeting to move forward with vitality rather than lazily swallow a full half-day.

The CEO opens the meeting with 10 to 15 minutes of goal setting for the meeting + update, pointers and the big picture.

Right after going around the table, 5 to 7 minutes are allocated for each team member for updates from the different divisions. The updates should be those which are linked to other divisions and thus all must be aware of them. Inner-departmental issues that bare no consequences on the strategic goals and general work plan should be saved for around the water fountain chit-chat. Management meetings time belongs to everybody.

After everyone is clear on the day-to-day, it’s time for the main attraction.

To expand the sum of knowledge around the table

The main discussion shouldn’t deal with the day-to-day which was already discussed during the around-the-table updates. The main discussion of every meeting should be used as a tool in the hands of the CEO to make the necessary connection between goals and work plan, thus pushing the company forward.

The recommendation here is to have an open discussion in the first meeting of every quarter in order to pinpoint on the topics the team believes have value and promote success, and is interested in learning them together and acquiring the tools to tackle them heads on. The topics need to be extracted from the goals that are most challenging for the team. A list of topics is prepared, schedule of discussions is set, and a Leader is assigned for each meeting.

The Leader should prepare the discussion beforehand. The idea is to create a true and meaningful discussion, a brainstorming session and for that a catalyst must be found, and a vastness of knowledge must be shared. If there are experts in their fields from within the company who will inject knowledge and depth into the discussion, summon them. If not, an external expert should be invited. The Leader can co-lead the discussion with the expert if the need arises.

There is no point in rolling the same ideas based on the same sum of knowledge around the table. It is crucial that the discussion will open with new knowledge, a fresh angle, and on occasion with an additional voice from outside the company who will provide a different point of view. Otherwise the discussion will die quickly and conclude same as last week, or last year.

In an effective meeting management the CEO is:

• Promoting the topics most important for the company’s growth
• Creating a dynamic agenda
• Empowering team members in preparation and management of the discussions, and their own personal growth
• Allowing herself to listen to other opinions, be generous in giving tools and delegating insights

In cases there are urgent matters on top of the day-to-day, it is advisable to schedule a special meeting to deal with the matter exclusively. There’s also the option of extending a scheduled management meeting but it should be kept in mind that in order to be focused and driven, we all need our routine, the anchors that without them we are carried away from the stuff that really matters, pushing the company toward growth. ‘Urgent’ and ‘crisis’ aren’t a management philosophy.

And so,

• A fixed day and time for management meetings (Sunday in Israel, Monday elsewhere is preferable)
• The fixed day & time should be such that interrupts the least with client relations
• No lateness, no no-shows, everybody clear their schedules
• First week of every month — first fixed topic, for example: development status, projects, production
• Leader is R&D chief / project manager / production chief
• Second week of every month — second fixed topic, for example: budget vs. execution
• Leader is CFO / head accountant / chief economist
• Third week of every month — monthly goals meeting, Top Down meeting
• Fourth week of every month — monthly sales meeting
• Leader is marketing chief / sales chief / account manager