According to the late author and management expert Peter Drucker,^[1] “one either meets or one works.”

While our sympathies agree with this, we’ve also experienced effective, well-run meetings that got things done. Meetings either leverage or waste company resources, time and productivity, so the skills required to lead and facilitate meetings have value and import. 

Diagnosing meeting quality does not require a PhD (few things do). As noted in a previous essay, meetings fail for specific, well-understood reasons. 

Alternately, meetings succeed if they adhere to a few basic practices. This starts with asking, “is this meeting necessary?” In Loving Trees is Not Enough, I wrote about primary roles served by meetings:

• Rapid decision making;
• Sharing information and education; and 
• Generating ideas and feedback.

We should be able to state, in one simple sentence, the purpose of any given meeting. “We are deciding how to staff this project” or “we are reviewing the audit results to identify next steps.” If we cannot specify the purpose, then what happens if we cancel the meeting? Per Mr. Drucker, we work.

To keep meetings on track, start on time and with an agenda. Remind those assembled (in one sentence) what we plan to accomplish. The agenda serves to clarify expectations in advance. This helps participants prepare and contribute appropriately, in addition to confirming whether or not they should attend in the first place. Everyone should “need” to be there and have a specific role.

At the end of the meeting, ask “who else needs to know?” Then, you can get back to work.

^[1] His books, including The Practice of Management and Managing in Turbulent Times, remain relevant and timely to this day.