The office meeting is as integral to office life as the communal kitchen. In the same way that the kitchen, and especially the fridge, needs everyone to look after its upkeep if it is to make everyone happy and not sad, so the meeting needs regular love if it’s to work. It’s all too easy to forget why we have meetings. If not organised properly, plus managed and undertaken with a sense of focus, then meetings very often don’t achieve anything – wasting valuable time in the process.

If you sit in a meeting and are just marking time – albeit happy to get away from your desk for a short while – then something isn’t working properly. Whilst a break from the desk is always important, it’s much better that it’s constructive. If not then job dissatisfaction’s just a step away.

How does the office function in order to achieve its goals?

Meetings are means, not ends in themselves – when it comes down to it, meetings are there to help the office achieve its goals. That doesn’t just mean the manager should sit there and dictate to everyone – in fact that is almost guaranteed to not help the office achieve its goals. If an office or department is to achieve its goals then it’s the functioning of the office that is of the utmost importance. The functioning of an office takes in a number of key factors. These include information, resources, skills, working processes, individual team member satisfaction, team cohesiveness and team morale. If all of these factors are being worked on consistently then an office is much likely to be successful. The meeting is one of the most important ways of improving the functioning of an office.

Understanding the concept of the meeting – as an essential method of aiding the functioning of an office – then you are much more likely to have successful meetings. Because meetings are function related ALL meetings must have a goal:

Reasons to hold meetings

• To disseminate important external information. If everyone needs to know and understand important information a meeting is generally the best way to achieve it – because questions can be asked (and all can hear the answers).
• An idea needs acceptance by all in the department for its successful implementation. Issues can be raised and debated by all.
• To focus everyone on the department’s objectives. This is especially important when changes have taken place in a department. It reminds everyone what he or she is working towards and gives a sense of shared purpose.
• To coordinate the department’s activities. Discussing working methods in a meeting in which all are present is a good way of working out the vest ways of working as a team.
• To gain feedback about working practices and receive ideas about how to do things better.
• To gain feedback about team satisfaction.
• To organise specific projects as a team – to receive wide input about how to achieve goals and how to delegate work.
• Offers the Manager a chance to congratulate the team.
• Chance for all to see what everyone is doing and therefore how their work fits into the whole.

A meeting can do a number of these things at once – but it is important that it does at least one of these things successfully. An uninspiring, irrelevant meeting is worse than no meeting at all.

A Successful Meeting

The agenda leads the way: the agenda is an essential part of any meeting, even if it’s a regular meeting. When creating an agenda you need to think of the essential elements of a good meeting – 1) intended outcomes. 2) The process to achieve this. For specific meetings it’s good to circulate the agenda first – so that all members can prepare and see if they have any amendments. Also they can see if it is important for them to be there – it’s much better that they highlight the fact that they shouldn’t be attending the meeting rather than sit through, bored, an irrelevant meeting.

Is a group meeting the best option? Perhaps a one on one makes more sense for individual concerns or contentious issues. It can be a good idea to alternate a meeting with other forms of information giving – especially if the members of the department just need to be aware of the information. Examples include: emailing them information sheets, giving them printed documents, putting the information on the company’s intranet.

Meeting Ground Rules: plan this with the group. What do you want out of the meeting? What do you and the other participants find useful? How do you keep on subject?

Interactivity: promote a sense of participation by rotating responsibility for chairing the meeting. Promote questioning and debate whilst ensuring the meeting stays on track.

Minutes/Action points: Writing minutes or action points and disseminating them after the meeting is an important way of ensuring the success of the meeting – action post-meeting. It also gives the team a sense of the importance of the meeting and that things can and do change through group dialogue.

As you can see, meetings are not just a part of the office furniture, they weren’t designed just to be endured – a necessary evil. Instead, they can be vehicles for improvement – improvement of team relations, of work-process understanding, of working-methods, of group coordination, of worker satisfaction, of information sharing. Ultimately, a good meeting helps you achieve your goals.