You want to achieve more with less effort? There is a danger of inefficient meetings that waste your and other’s valuable time. To improve efficiency and effectiveness you have to set a clear purpose and to invite the right people in the right amount.
Meetings are necessary. With more and more “cyber employees” not working in a proper office environment, regular meetings become even more important. Good managers identify the purpose of meetings first. They use that purpose to determine how many people need to be there. The 4 common purposes are:
1. Discussing a problem
Choose 4-6 people to bring needed experience but not so many that the discussion goes off course. Bring in different expertise of different areas.
Don’t believe in more people bring in more expertise. To determine the amount of people taking part is important, deciding who those people are is just as vital or even more.
2. Making a decision
The amount of people attending a decision meeting should be uneven, so there will always be a majority at the end. Research says, that 7 is the maximum number because for every extra person at such a meeting, the likelihood of making a sound decision decreases by 10%. If you get 17 people to the decision table, the chances of actually making a decision goes towards 0.
3. Setting the agenda
Is the purpose of the meeting to convey an agenda and/or set priorities for the day, the meeting should not take long. Make it a stand-up meeting and limited the time for discussion on any point. These meetings are most effective when some well-respected person acts as the leader.
4. Brainstorming.
You need a minimum of 3 people to brainstorm. There are times when you need larger groups. In such cases, you need a strong leader and a set of rules that discourages or eliminates debate and/or criticism. Set a procedure that identifies and reduces the number of suggestions to the useful few ideas.
Conclusion: Find the right number best uneven for your meetings. More important than the quantity of people is the quality. Take some time to think about the personalities that should be in the meeting room.
Sven Franssen