Be early

You need to be in the meeting room before the participants begin arriving to ensure that the room layout is correct, any materials or presentations are ready and, if required, the seating plan is in place. By being early you also have an opportunity – should it be required – to deal with any unexpected occurrence, such as, if the room has been double-booked, incorrect layout, readiness of technology, etc.

Book yourself a separate meeting to prepare

The time you book the meeting room is usually identical to that advised to participants. To allow for room setup, book a pre-meeting slot for as long as you need before the start of the scheduled meeting, and make the necessary preparations. Now you have access to the room for those preparations and, as far as anyone else is concerned, your calendar shows you as ‘busy’ and you will not be interrupted.

Start on time

Unless you have advance access to the room, chances are that you still will be preparing whilst some or all of the participants are in the room. Now the meeting will not only start late, but also a vicious circle perpetuates where participants habitually arrive late because experience has taught them to expect a late start.

So make it your business to be in the room well before the meeting start time, have all your preparations made and, at the publicised time, call the meeting to order and begin. Show participants that your meetings will start as advised.

Dealing with late arrivals

Most participants try to be in the meeting on time, but you can understand why they might wait until the last minute before leaving their own office, if a culture of late-starting meetings exists. Introducing Brilliant Meetings into an organisation will set the expectation for meetings to now start punctually. Having read Part 1 of this book, participants will recognise that they can use any time in advance of a meeting to their advantage if they arrive early.

If someone is late because of a genuine reason outside of their control, they should at least have the manners to phone and advise you of their lateness. Once the meeting is under way, the ‘Apologies’ item gives you the opportunity to enquire about unadvised absences. ‘Has anyone seen or heard from Duncan?’ This sets the expectation that other participants need to contact you should they find themselves running late for a future meeting. Now everyone knows that you expect this same respect from them – Brilliant Ground Rules!

Encourage on-time arrivals – next time

If a participant arrives late without a genuine reason, give them the task of buying coffee for everyone at the beginning of the next meeting.

If key people are late, you will have to make a decision about whether to start the meeting without them. If you know they are going to be only a few minutes late, a late start will avoid the need to repeat information or change the agenda order. But do you have time to wait and still get through all the business in the allocated time? Either way, inform the participants who are already there what your chosen course of action is.

Leave a seat closest to the door for late arrivals

If there is no seating plan, ensure that latecomers have seats available closest to the door, which will make their entrance less disruptive to all.

Health and safety

If there are any participants for whom the location and group is not familiar, consider what information they need to know. It might include the following:

Follow me!

Health and safety is essential for new participants in new surroundings, but typically a little dull and uninspiring.

Make it light-hearted, personal and memorable: ‘In the event of the fire alarm, turn left out of the room, and the emergency stairs are 50 yards on the right. If in any doubt, just follow me as I won’t be hanging around!’

Meeting purpose and objectives

Before the personal introductions, which are necessary only if the group members are unfamiliar with each other, reiterate the purpose of the meeting along with any pre-set objectives. Motivate participants to be engaged in the meeting – give them your vision of what a successful meeting might look like, using emotive, inspiring language.

Confirm that they have the authority to make relevant decisions if this is an anticipated outcome from the meeting.

Agenda timings

If appropriate, reiterate that each agenda item has a time allocated to it, and detail how you will deal with non-completion of any agenda item within that time. A few options are:

Breaks and refreshments

If you did not mention breaks in your introduction, then restate the scheduled timing of breaks now, and confirm if refreshments are to be provided.

Ground rules

Brilliant Meetings incorporate the ACTION PLAN ground rules which clearly state, for all participants, what is expected of them and what is unacceptable. If these ground rules are still new to your organisation it would be worthwhile reminding participants and drawing their attention to the details posted on the meeting room wall.

The Brilliant Meetings ACTION PLAN ground rules are detailed in Chapter 2.

Roles and responsibilities

Confirm which participants (if any) have a role during the meeting. For example, note taker, scribe, time keeper, etc.

Introductions

Starting with yourself, go around the table asking everyone to introduce themselves. You will have set the expectation with your own introduction, but do not give or expect anything other than a brief introduction unless you have pre-warned participants that something more substantial is required. See Chapter 1, Your personal ‘Elevator Pitch’ for more guidance.

How discussions are managed

Set out the rules of engagement for discussion contributions made outside of individual presentations. You might insist that anyone wanting to speak must do so by indicating to you, as leader, that they have a contribution to make. This is quite formal, and more likely to be used with larger groups, but it does stop participants from talking over each other, and gives you the ability to spread contributions evenly around the group. You may decide that the discussion is better dealt with by splitting into subgroups which then present their own theories – or alternatively have no formal rules for contributions at all, which works well with smaller groups.

How questions are handled

Quite often questions are raised that would ruin the flow of thoughts and information if they were immediately answered. Inform the group how you intend to deal with any such questions that are deferred, in order to make sure that they are not forgotten. They could be recorded by the note taker (issue a template) or written in full view on a flip chart or whiteboard, so that the questioner knows their question has not been ignored and also, if practical, so that participants can deal with the question in another part of the meeting. If you have external presenters, make these options known to them also. With smaller, more intimate meetings, this approach could be seen as very authoritarian, but for larger departmental or organisational meetings, it almost certainly will be an essential technique for maintaining the flow of the meetings.

Notes

Announce what level of detail will be recorded in the notes, and when and how these will be circulated. This provides participants with more choice about what notes they take for themselves over and above the official version.

Autocratic

The meeting will give you the opportunity to take soundings and advice from the participants but, ultimately, you will make the decision. As a business leader it could be part of your management responsibility to reach such decisions. It could also be that you are privy to other strategically confidential or sensitive information not available to your colleagues, in which case only you have the full facts in order to make a fully informed decision.

Majority rule

Once the discussion has finished, the options are stated and votes made in support of each one. The number of votes for, against or undecided are recorded in the notes, and the option with the highest number of votes is selected.

Votes can be cast using a show of hands, secret ballot, or an electronic response system for anonymity.

Consensus

Consensus decision making is a process that seeks a level of support from every participant, and an agreement from those not wholeheartedly in support that they will at least publicly support and implement the decisions reached. Typically, these decisions take much longer to reach as concessions are made to proposals in order to reach the terms that even the least supportive can sign up to. If there is just one participant who will not agree, they effectively have the opportunity to act as a ‘blocker’ against a consensus being reached.

Whilst consensus is not common in boardroom meetings, it is very relevant for larger groups taking decisions on new working practices, departmental issues, etc.

When leading a consensus decision-making process

• Review the meaning of consensus and the process of achieving a consensus, then agree on a targeted time period to reach a consensus decision.
• Present the subject and possible outcomes clearly and concisely.
• Encourage all members to present their point of view and allocate enough time for full consideration by the group.
• When discussions reach a stalemate explore the next most acceptable alternative for all parties.
• Distinguish between major objections (which is a fundamental disagreement with the ‘core’ of the proposal) and possible amendments.
• If agreement happens too quickly and easily, be suspicious, explore the reasons and be sure that everyone accepts the solution for similar reasons.
• Differences of opinion are natural and to be expected, they can actually help the group’s decision-making process. The wide range of information and opinions gathered during debates will produce an environment that is more likely to produce acceptable solutions for all.
• Once a decision has been reached, ensure that all the group members feel they have had the opportunity to express fully their individual opinion and that they agree with, and will support, the consensus decision.