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When a meeting organizer puts the focus and purpose of the meeting to the test, the result should be measured across two areas - immediate action or more follow-ups. In either case, there is a financial impact to conducting a meeting when there is no clear agenda, no one capable of facilitating the meeting to stay on topic, and no one with the ability to drive tasks towards completion. Meetings like these have a financial impact that costs the organization based on the calculated hourly rate for each participant plus travel costs if the participants are not local. This can be expensive if there are no resolutions and no clear direction because subsequent meetings have to be held which can require additional invitees.
There are three ways to determine if the meeting is financially smart for the organization:
1. Determine
Determine if an email can be sent to the appropriate parties to resolve the issue. With modern technology,
people can instant messenger others who might have the answer to thoroughly answer the email. This would save money overall with the use of corporate technology to make a time-saving and cost-conscientious decision.
2. Identify
Identify how many people need to attend because they are actual contributors to the actions deemed necessary. Count how many should be optionally informed and how many are mandatory because they will make the decision - the ultimate sniff test to weed out the informants .
3. Recognize
Recognize when people just want to take a trip on company dollars with no valid purpose because similar meetings were run using web conference. It's understandable that those who travel are looking for the hotel points and airfare miles to keep status with their favorite travel partners. However, the amount of money spent on the airfare, hotel, car rental, and per diem may be extremely costly when web conferencing is nearly free and allows people to remain in the comfort of their homes.
Next time you think a meeting is necessary, take the chargeback rate and expenses associated to all consultants and time and material costs for employees. Calculate these rates times the length of the meeting. This will determine financially if the meeting was worth being held in-person or in a web conference.
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| INVITE-ONLY... |
There are celebrity bashes, red carpet galas, Super Bowl parties, and special conferences and all have invitation lists which determine who gets in and who will be turned away before they get to the door. The same should hold true for any meeting that an organizer has convened with a purpose. There will be some people who will be invited and others who will not. But it is not okay for someone who was invited to ask someone else to join without request to the organizer. (Yes explain why that person should be invited and let the organizer decide the importance of that person's presence during the meeting.)
Experience has taught me that meetings are only effective if there are less than 7 people present. Any more than that and the discussions go off-topic with increased likelihood of time-consuming recaps to get people up to speed. Eliminate the problem upfront by ensuring the right people are together at the right time to accomplish a goal.
And if what you need is an audience, pull yourself together. Meetings should only be held to inform of a decision or action, coordinate a plan and assign tasks, or resolve an issue. The more meetings you spare people from, the more they will like you and be a captive audience for you in the future.
If anyone's feelings are hurt because they were not invited, it's them not you. After all, purpose goes a longer way than feeling important.
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| POKER FACE... |
In every work environment or business meeting, there will be something idiotic said, a person who knows nothing about what he/she is speaking about, and someone who thrives off making noise on a seemingly calm subject. It is at these times that it is important to wear the poker face instead of demonstrating disgust, disagreement, or lack of support. Once expressions are neutral, no one can push buttons that can cause a temporary loss of professionalism.
So here's three ways to avoid showing facial expressions:
- Turn eye contact to an object that has visual content. Always bring a notebook, computer or tablet to the meeting. Gradually turn to one of these and stare aimlessly like you are focusing on what is written or typed. In fact, you are focusing...on not telling someone how you really feel about what was said.
- Internalize a monologue. Yes this means talking to yourself with no one noticing. No lip movement just intense thought that does not spill into a conversation or dialogue with others. Knowing how to master this is important if meetings take up a major part of your day because patience will eventually run out on hearing nonsense.
- Calmly change the topic. Segue from the existing topic into a new one that diverts the attention and allows sensible discussion to begin. This is a little tricky if the culprits become defensive so be sure to comfort them with a promise to return to the subject if there is enough time.
Poker face is the most valuable characteristic one can have. It disarms anyone from crossing boundaries that can push the limits. It further keeps you calm enough to handle any noise that is not conducive to resolving problems. So let them cry wolf and speak what they do not know. You just FIX YOUR FACE!
Be sure to follow on Twitter @temekoruns
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