What is the best way to hold company meetings so that they are not time-wasting, don't get off track, or turn into arguments and pointless exercises?

Have Your Say Feb. 15, 2013 - 06:53AM JST ( 20 )

Order by Time Order by Popularity

20 Comments

0

cl400Feb. 15, 2013 - 07:45AM JST

Tie everybody to their chair and zap em accordingly.
1

ElvensilvanFeb. 15, 2013 - 07:51AM JST

Set a specific time table for the meeting and keep the schedule, finished or not.

Also, instead of discussion or consultation meetings, where the speaker asks questions to everyone, do the questionnaire beforehand, and just report the results.

At first, many will feel the pressure of the tight schedule, but most will cope up (after a few meetings) and keep things short and straight to the point.
-2

japal4649Feb. 15, 2013 - 09:28AM JST

Hold the meeting while standing - i.e. no sitting down on chairs.
8

FrungyFeb. 15, 2013 - 11:05AM JST

Don't have a meeting. I don't mean this flippantly. Far too many meetings are pointless, and we've reached the stage where there are pre-meetings for meetings (seriously, one isn't enough), information meetings (I have email, I can read... I do not need to have it read to me like a child in kindergarten), motivation meetings (You pay me a fair wage and don't waste my time with meetings, then I'm motivated), etc.

My first boss had a great line he used to use at meetings, "Meetings are for making decisions, not doing work."... he used to roll this line out every time it became clear that someone had not prepared properly for a meeting and was trying to fish for information by wanting to "discuss" every point. He used to have someone prepare a careful pre-briefing document detailing the issues to be covered in the meeting, which was sent out a week before the meeting, with a request for department heads to add additional information specific to their departments by no later than 3 days before the meeting.

We had a few new managers try to "ambush" us with extra information in meetings and my boss used to just throw them out of the meeting with a warning to include all the relevant information in the briefing or don't bother coming. Nobody did it more than once. It also stopped a lot of office politics and backstabbing in meetings.

Each issue was discussed for precisely 10 minutes, at which time the boss, having heard all perspectives, would call for a vote on the issue (although he retained the right to veto any decision he didn't agree with, but he always explained why he was veto'ing, and I never had cause to disagree with him).

We never had a meeting longer than 1 hour, and most meetings were over in under 30 minutes. The key is, "Meetings are for making decisions, not for work.".
-2

BertieWoosterFeb. 15, 2013 - 12:26PM JST

Hold them once every ten years, limited to 30 minutes.
-1

JimizoFeb. 15, 2013 - 04:12PM JST

I attend one meeting a week on average in Japan and I can attest that the image is true. The threat of a trapdoor into a shark tank may speed up decision-making but I wouldn't bet on it. Cut the number of meetings, limit the time strictly and never do it after lunch.
0

AKBfanFeb. 15, 2013 - 04:17PM JST

Don't have a Japanese chairman for the meeting.
0

tmarieFeb. 15, 2013 - 04:41PM JST

Time limits and decide what the purpose of the meeting is - deciding? Information? To many meetings in Japan are all about letting the old boys talk and peacock, taking votes that mean nothing in the long run (everything's already been decided) and... more peacocking. I think the one of the downfalls of Japan Inc is their love of useless meetings that do nothign but waste time and hurt moral.
1

SquidBertFeb. 15, 2013 - 05:02PM JST

Everyone keep quiet and let the Big Man talk, then go back to doing what need to be done.
0

Thunderbird2Feb. 15, 2013 - 11:59PM JST

Don't have them... I hate having to take minnutes (>.<)
-2

Thunderbird2Feb. 15, 2013 - 11:59PM JST

minnutes = minutes
-1
theFuFeb. 16, 2013 - 12:44AM JST
- Time Limit - 50% of what is needed. 10 minutes is a good starting point.
- Fixed agenda - do not discuss anything else.
- Do not allow Japanese upper management in the room.
- Track actions outside the meeting. Don't waste time with action updates during meetings.
Perhaps only having meetings during the morning and afternoon corporate exercise times? You know - when they play that song over the speakers for 5 minutes?
0

Xeno23Feb. 16, 2013 - 05:13AM JST

The best way is to have a strong meeting leader / driver; one who knows how to keep meetings on-track, when to explore topics, how to define and make decisions / set actions, etc.; but this is the hardest thing to get. The vast majority of people just don't have this skill set; it's not intuitive and it's difficult to train up.

I've been at companies that required managers and team leads take courses in effective meeting management, and more often than not, this devolves into a very process heavy meeting, where the topics, agenda, and outcome start to take second place to insuring all the stages of an "efficient" meeting are fulfilled. I've seen time limits to meetings only spawn more meetings; meetings to plan meetings.

Much of the cruft in meetings is due to the need for sorting out ineffective team structures, coordination, communication, task direction, etc.; so next to strong meeting leadership, having a team that really knows what it's doing, works collaboratively, and in which everyone is busily involved in clearly productive efforts naturally reduces meeting time by huge degrees.
-1

umbrellaFeb. 16, 2013 - 07:39AM JST

Meetings are for me, a great time for snoozing or doing a crossword. Productive?? Hardly ever. But Japanese in general seem to like meetings.
1

PeaceWarriorFeb. 16, 2013 - 02:22PM JST

Have your meeting just before happy hour.
-2

BertieWoosterFeb. 16, 2013 - 04:16PM JST

We used to have weekly staff meetings at the university I taught at in Tokyo.

The Bucho was proud of running his department by "consensus."

It was a complete sham.

He would introduce a topic, we would be called on to give our opinions, and finally the Bucho would present the decision and plan that he had made before the meeting.

This and other brilliant management procedures (sarcasm) were what led me to start my own school.

I'm glad I did.
1

lucabrasiFeb. 16, 2013 - 04:21PM JST

@Bertie

Sounds like the wife and me.

"You want four kids, I want two. Let's compromise and have two!"
1

FrungyFeb. 17, 2013 - 07:01PM JST

BertieWoosterFeb. 16, 2013 - 04:16PM JST The Bucho was proud of running his department by "consensus." It was a complete sham. He would introduce a topic, we would be called on to give our opinions, and finally the Bucho would present the decision and plan that he had made before the meeting.

He probably was running the department by consensus. The normal pattern in Japan is to discuss all the agenda items before the meeting one-on-one or in small groups before the meeting and arrive at consensus. The actual meeting is just for communicating the final decision.

The trick in Japan is to know there's a meeting coming up, find out what's going to be discussed and then promote your perspective for the week before the meeting. You'll be surprised how often you find your viewpoint being parroted back in the meeting (without acknowledgement of course, but who cares).
0

sidesmileFeb. 18, 2013 - 12:24PM JST

My "boss" has never really got used to the whole business of "bossing" so the meetings we have are usually with him standing at the head of the table asking middle management for opinions/advice/thoughts on what he should do. Works well enough I suppose but generally pointless. I just thought thats how meetings should be.
0

cwhiteFeb. 23, 2013 - 11:59PM JST

no speaking only gestures, but seriously have an agenda of 3 or less items and just get to the point. Standing would actually work quite well. Don't hold meeting with everyone, just the people involved with that topic. Then just post it to the internal social network.