Are you a meeting manager or a people manager?

I often ask managers this question when I’m facilitating leadership training.

Without fail, time spent in meetings outweighs time invested in the people they lead.

Because meetings are beneficial, here are some techniques to manage agendas and prevent squandering time away on issues that have little or no direct impact on company value.

✔ Deal with operations separately from strategy. Day-to-day operations should not dominate the meeting agenda.

✔ Focus on decisions, not on discussions. Identify the purpose of each agenda item and distribute materials in advance.

✔ Measure the value of every item on the agenda. What is at stake?

✔ Get issues off the agenda quickly. Establish a timetable detailing when and how team members will reach a decision on each agenda item and who must be involved in approving the final strategy.

✔ Put choices on the table. Management can’t make choices without alternatives.

✔ Adopt common decision-making processes and standards. Use a common language and methodology.

✔ Make decisions stick. Establish the resources required to execute the strategy, and the results expected over time.

^{_{Adapted: Michael Mankins (HBR)
Photo: Medium}}