Identify the purpose of the meeting, and ask specific questions that will enable the meeting to achieve its purpose.
Reflecting on the real purpose of the meeting will a) help you to identify the questions to ask, or b) allow you to realise that the meeting could be cancelled or replaced by another form of communication.
Specific questions help to cut through the politics, the power plays, and the dreary routines that sadly characterise so many meetings.
Here’s a working example:
Every Monday I meet with 7-10 colleagues for about one hour. Most of the participants are members of Medair’s programmes team – a team responsible for overseeing quality implementation of Medair’s humanitarian interventions in DR Congo, monitoring and reporting on these, and designing new projects.
The typical format involves each person giving an update on what they achieved last week, and what their priorities are for the coming week.
>> Let’s pause to identify the purpose(s) of the meeting:
In my view, the meeting exists to facilitate improved collaboration and mutual support between participants.
Unfortunately, listing achievements and priorities does little to achieve this.
So what questions should be asking the participants?
- Is there anything you’re working on that involves other team members? If so, what involvement do you expect them to have, and when?
- Is there anything you’re struggling with, that you would appreciate support from other team members? Explain what support would be helpful, from whom.
These questions a) help to focus the information each participant shares, b) ensure that the information exchanged serves a practical purpose, and c) create an environment that promotes vulnerability and mutual support, bonding the team and ensuring that challenges are addressed rather than neglected.
So try it, whether for routine meetings or one-offs: identify the purpose of the meeting, and ask specific questions that will enable the meeting to achieve its purpose.