3 Ways To Stay In Control Of Your Meeting
My career started as so many banking careers do, by being the person on the other end of the customer service number on the back of a credit card. The job was interesting, sometimes tedious, and a great lesson in human behavior. In a call center, the Average Handle Time is the amount of time that single call takes. This number has a material impact on the number of calls that an individual agent can take. Another important metric is Initial Call Resolution, which is measured by if the customer has to call back. The most successful agents have both a low average handle time and a high initial call resolution rate. In other words, they both understand and resolve a problem quickly. Little did I know that my entry-level call center job would provide such foundational skills that I’d still be using 20 years later.
The skill of quickly getting to the problem and focusing the discussion to achieve a meeting objective is an advanced communication skill. The strategies below are specifically designed for when efficiency needs to be prioritized because something has become urgent.
3 ways to stay in control of your meeting
1. Claim control from the start
When you are the host of a meeting, you are the leader of that discussion. Too many times, particularly when the other attendees are more senior, meeting hosts don't claim the leadership role as they should. Start the meeting from a position of strength and control by declaring the meeting objective, which should have also been part of the meeting planner. Having a stated meeting objective is critical to call control. Everyone has soap box issues that they like to pontificate on at any opportunity. When you have a meeting objective, it makes it easier to politely point out when someone is going on a tangent and the discussion needs to come back to the task at hand.
How to say it: "That's an important point Brian, I've made a note of it so that we don't lose that idea. We need to bring the discussion back to our meeting objective of X."
2. Ask closed-ended questions
When efficiency is the priority, closed-ended questions are better. While open-ended questions are an important method for exploring ideas and solutions, they aren't efficient. When you're seeking information to understand a problem and potential solutions in a fast way, use closed-ended questions directed specifically to the person best equipped to answer.
3. Keep track of time
Work problems are complex and often times resolutions don’t fit neatly into 30 or 60 minute time boxes. As the meeting host, you are responsible for how the meeting time is spent. A meeting where you only get to the first of five agenda items or where time runs out and people start dropping off before any decisions are confirmed is a supreme waste of time and a surefire way to land yourself in a second meeting. Don’t let this happen in your meetings. You have to not only keep track of time but also be prepared to call attention to what is happening in the moment and course correct during the meeting.
How to say it: "We need to move on from this X topic so that we can get to Y, which is equally important."
“We are running short on time, we can continue to discuss X topic but that will mean we won’t have the opportunity to discuss Y topic. Are we ok with that?”
"We have 5 minutes left. It sounds like we have agreed on X, but still need more information on Y. Who can take the next step to research this before the end of the day and get back to the group? From there we can decide if we need to meet again or can handle by email."
When work falls in the upper left quadrant, prioritize efficiency.
Know when to prioritize effectiveness over efficiency
The strategies above are designed for when you need to prioritize efficiency. Running a meeting this way is perfect for things that have gotten to the upper left quadrant of the Eisenhower Box, they are both urgent and important. For important work that is not yet urgent, it's much better to be effective.
To be effective you have to be willing to be inefficient. This took me way too long to learn. I am goal oriented and driven to produce outcomes so anything that slows down the productivity train used to frustrate me to no end. What I learned was that the best outcomes happen with contribution from the team and that seeking input from the team will always take more time. You have to allow multiple voices to be heard. You have to understand the perspectives of others. You have to be thoughtful. These things are wildly inefficient, but more effective at producing the best possible outcomes.
Conclusion
When hosting a meeting where efficiency is the priority, be sure to have a meeting objective, use closed-ended questions, and manage how time is spent. This shouldn’t be the default setting for every meeting, but reserved for when you have work that is both urgent and important.
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