IN or KNOW?
I often hear about how much time project teams spend in meetings. It feels like there are so many meetings that there is little time to actually get the work done. The bigger the project, the more meetings are needed to coordinate and communicate. It comes with the territory.
One idea for improving this is to identify who needs to be IN the meeting and who needs to KNOW what happened at the meeting. These are two very different things and need two different processes. I know some senior leaders who are adamant that not everyone needs to be in each meeting. However, people do need to know what happened.
So who needs to be IN a meeting?
Decision Makers
- When he/she is a decision maker and needs to be a part of the co-creation of a solution
Decision Influencers
- When he/she is a decision influencer and needs to be a part of the co-creation of a solution
Experts
- When he/she has specific expertise or knowledge that may be needed for a decision
Who needs to KNOW what happened in a meeting?
People who are affected, including:
- People who have a task to perform as a result
- People who are affected by the decision(s) made
- People who manage others who are affected by the decision(s) made
- People who must coordinate others who are affected by the decision(s) made
Meetings are an essential tool for project success. Helping to make sure that we OPTIMIZE the use of our meetings (by having the RIGHT people in them) is essential for great results!!
Watch out for our November Partnering Pack for a link to a free course I’ve written on How to Run Effective Project Meetings. This is a part of the new Partnering FIT™ (Field Intensive Training) that will be launched at the DBIA Conference and EXPO in Las Vegas.