Meetings that decide: five simple rules
A successful meeting is not measured by its length but by what comes out of it. Five rules so that every meeting produces a decision or an action.
One hour, eight people, a lively discussion. Afterwards, everyone has a different idea of what was decided. The following week, the same topic is back on the agenda.
The problem is not the number of meetings. It is what they produce.
Five rules make the difference.
A written objective. Before inviting anyone, state what the meeting must produce: a decision, a choice between options, an action plan. If the objective fits in one line, the meeting is useful. If not, an email may be enough.
The right people, and only them. Invite those who decide, those who bring essential information and those who will carry out the work. The others will receive the summary.
Shared preparation. Documents circulate beforehand, not during. The meeting is for deciding, not for discovering the topic.
Time kept. An announced length, an agenda followed, and someone who brings the discussion back on track when it drifts.
An explicit close. The last five minutes are used to restate: what is decided, who does what, by when. Those three lines are the minutes.
Applied for a month, these rules often reduce the number of meetings. Above all, they change the team's energy: people know why they meet, and they leave with something.
These rules work better when they are worked on together, as a team, rather than imposed by a memo. That is the purpose of CONTRESENS Corporate Workshops: half-day or full-day workshops for up to ten people, on concrete topics such as effective meetings, public speaking, delegation or workload.