You might consider this subject more general than technical matters, and you’d be right. Although actually I am writing about the opening and closure of meetings about technical subjects, whether they be about discussions, reviews, decision making or methodology. If as a technical professional and a host of meetings you’ve felt that your meetings haven’t had the right spark of energy, or actually resulted in anything but a room full of hot air, then read on.
The thing is having observed meetings held by technical folk for many years, I’ve noticed a pattern of weakness that I think can be easily overcome. There are two aspects of this pattern:
- Meetings are opened by jumping straight into ‘content’, without setting context or enjoying a momentary chat about the members of the meeting.
- Meetings are closed without clarifying the actions, with target dates, and ensuring that they are understood.
Now I’ve titled this as the ‘art’ of opening and closing meeting for one reason and that is we should always remember that the members of a meeting are human beings with personal lives, financial worries, family matters, dreams, aspirations and possibly back-pain. The reference to ‘art’ is that there isn’t generally a formula for opening a meeting that allows the humanity in for a while. But there are simple things that can humanize a meeting, break the ice and set the meeting up nicely.
Such things may be celebrating a success by the group or by an individual, or sharing some other positive news. It could be as simple as talking about the weather. Whatever your choice of subject, talk about something positive that everyone can engage in. Get faces smiling and a few laughs in before the technical subjects flood in. What you will find is:
- You’ll get more engagement in the meeting from some of the more silent members, if they’ve had a chance to speak
- The body language of the members will become more relaxed
- It will give you a reference point in the meeting should the discussion require a breakpoint
- It will assert you as a human being, and as a leader (by demonstrating your control of a meeting)
- The energy levels of the group will have risen
So I’m going to skip now to the end of the meeting, during which you may have taken notes or had someone record minutes. The ‘content’ of the meeting is over, but the meeting itself is not.
You should always end the meeting by summarizing the content of the meeting, in most cases expressed as the agreed actions with owners. If you hadn’t done so before, an expectation of the timeframe for the action should be discussed. This becomes your indelible record of commitment, and should be published to the group after the meeting. It’s also crucial at this point that if you suspect any action isn’t clear, or hasn’t been understood properly, that this is called out. A way of confirming the understanding is to ask what the output of the action is, such as a paper, a decision, etc. Whatever it takes to be satisfied that the next steps have the best chance of success, you should take it!
Want an alternative view on how best to hold meetings? Then I recommend the following two books:
The Manager's Guide to Effective Meetings (Briefcase Books)
How to Run a Great Workshop: The Complete Guide to Designing and Running Brilliant Workshops and Meetings
