business meeting etiquette

Saying ‘No’ to Meetings
Learning to say no to unnecessary meetings will be an important part of your meetings strategy. It is only by declining inappropriate, or poorly planned, meetings that you will find the time to prepare for and attend those that are of real value.

How often have you agreed to attend a meeting, only to find out that there was nothing to it that couldn't have been dealt with via email or the telephone?
How many meetings have you attended where your presence was entirely superfluous? What about those meetings where the other party's agenda meant that you were put on the spot, and you wished you hadn't attended?

If you start to take responsibility for every meeting, whether you are chairing it or just attending, you will soon find that you are going to fewer and better meetings. You will become more specific about what it is that you want to accomplish and you'll be more focused on achieving a positive outcome.

How to Avoid or Restructure Meetings
If you decide that there are some meetings that you would either like to avoid or would like to see restructured, then there are a variety of approaches that you can adopt. Here are some examples:

Ask for clarification of the objective
If you ask the leader of a forthcoming meeting to clarify the meeting objective, this will encourage them to re-evaluate the best way that this might be achieved. You could also ask about other aspects of the proposed meeting: are the planned attendees the best group, is the timing right and is all relevant information available?

Identify the deficiencies
If your main objection to a forthcoming meeting is that one or more aspects of it are missing or poorly planned, you should communicate this to the leader. This is best done in a constructive working environment, where these comments are unlikely to cause insult or confusion. This strategy works well because it not only affects the meeting in question, but should result in better planned meetings in the future.

Question the need for your attendance
This is easier to do if the leader is your subordinate or a peer, rather than your boss. Where you wish to extricate yourself from a meeting called by your boss a good approach can be to couch your request in terms of an opportunity cost. For example, “Two other people from my section are already attending, so I think it would be a better use of my time to complete the plan for the new project, rather than attend this meeting”.

This couches your request in terms of an opportunity to complete another urgent task. Always make these requests from the team player perspective and stress the benefits, which should be in the best interests of your boss.

Try making your contribution on the telephone
Calling the meeting leader to make your contribution ahead of the meeting may preclude the need for you to attend it. You may wish to follow this up with a written contribution that the leader can table on the day. This approach is can prove very useful if your involvement is superficial, for example if you are needed for your technical opinion in a fairly narrow area.

Simply be unavailable
In some cases you will have other commitments that mean you cannot attend a meeting. You may choose to use this as a valid excuse for skipping a meeting. You may even distance yourself from the message by asking a secretary or colleague to communicate this on your behalf.

Deciding which meetings to attend, or influence in some way, is best done in a considered and direct way. It is in everyone's best interest to attend effective and well-structured meetings. Remember, your time is your responsibility, if you decide that you should not attend a meeting then take action to avoid it.

Unscheduled Meetings
Scheduled meetings require a certain overhead to ensure that they are organized and run properly. In contrast, the unscheduled meeting requires minimal administrative overhead and can represent an efficient alternative. If the number of issues and people involved is limited this can work well. However, impromptu meetings involving a large number of participants are far less likely to produce a worthwhile outcome.

Some individuals try to avoid unscheduled, small-scale meetings where the emphasis is on deciding and doing, rather than just talking. They are likely to call full-scale scheduled meetings without considering the consequences. These often occupy far more time and achieve less. Whether you are thinking of calling a meeting or have been asked to attend one, you should always consider using an unscheduled meeting as a way of limiting your exposure to scheduled meetings.

Optimize the Chances for Success
There are a variety of factors that can disrupt and potentially derail any meeting and you should be aware that there are three fundamental factors that affect the likelihood of a successful outcome, as described below:

Spend more time in preparation
Meetings tend to fail in direct proportion to the length of time they go on for. The effective attention span of most individuals is about 45 minutes. Keep meetings as short as possible, by spending more time in preparation and consultation ahead of the meeting. When presented with accurate and comprehensive information the participants will feel more confident in making decisions.

Restrict the number of tasks
Meetings tend to fail in direct proportion to the number and variety of tasks that they address. Agreement is best facilitated by reducing the issues and tasks being addressed to the smallest number possible. It is also important to ensure that the tasks being addressed are within the expertise of the participants.

Limit the number of participants
Meetings tend to fail in direct proportion to the number of people attending. When three people meet there are three pairs of relationships, when four people meet there are seven pairs and when ten people meet there are forty-five pairs of relationships. Any one of these relationships has the potential to derail the meeting and therefore each additional person increases the risk of failure.

Even an unscheduled meeting should not be convened on a whim, with no thought or preparation; otherwise it will almost certainly fail to achieve its goals. The fact that it has a limited scope and will occupy a short time means that the number of issues being addressed and the list of participants should be carefully planned.

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