How to conduct an effective meeting

How many times have you thought that meetings are a waste of time?

I am certain that many of us have had meetings happening in a disorganized and ineffective way. Usually we see meetings were we ramble and lost time talking at the same time about different topics without a clear objective.

I have conducted several meetings and I’m certain that in order to be more productive we need to correct the following issues:

• Disorganization
• Not clear objectives
• Individualism
• No timekeeper
• No respect for each other ideas

I’ve read many articles around meetings and I learned that one of the most effective ways to conduct a meeting is applying a concept called PDORA for every team session. This means to define the session’s purpose [P]; the session’s desire outcomes [DO]; a process for determining who will play the roles [R] of timekeeper, minute takes, and scribe; and an agenda [A] with clock times. Additionally, it is important that as a team member we should not bring emotions in group sessions, since emotions can cause disruption, yet we must be respectful when team members provide emotional comets.

If we learn how to apply the PDORA concept, I’m confident that meetings will become richer and productive, but we need to allocate time to integrate team members in order to perform better and reach common goals. We need to define roles in every meeting, so we could at least have a minute taker, a time keeper, and a facilitator. This last role would be responsible for clarifying and assigning tasks to each of the team members. I I I’m convinced that by doing this we will certainly increase meetings productivity and therefore we will be achieving goals and changing our feelings towards meetings.

Here are the key points to follow in every meeting:

• Have a meeting facilitator
• Frame a meeting (ground rules)
• Ensure there is buy-in on the frame
• Have each party express his/her views and concerns
• Ask questions to gain clarity
• View conflict as a problem to be solved
• Ask parties to identify ways to gain win-win situations
• Facilitate until agreement is reached

After some meeting you will realize that by having a facilitator in every meeting you will be able to:

• Give everyone the opportunity to talk and give an opinion about a certain topic
• Trust each other and respect each other ideas
• Change roles and favor each person’s leadership
• Be flexible and adjust your strategies to achieve your goals