Team meetings: Are they the most efficient way to communicate to a team?

I don't think I'm going to add much that hasn't been already said.

(1) If you need to have a meeting, meeting rules are important to keep the group on task and on time. If a group is meeting repeatedly, often taking a few minutes to let them develop their own meeting rules helps. Here's a list of typical meeting rules:

 Leader arrives 5 minutes early
 Participants arrive on time
 Meeting starts and ends on time
 Prepare a written agenda
 Time elements on the agenda
 Scribe and timekeeper
 Stick to the subject
 Separate venue for limited discussions
 Review & summarize actions
 Begin & end with action log
 Clean up meeting room

(2) If you have to have a meeting, remember the 4-2-4 Rule. Spend 40% of the time preparing for a meeting. Spend 20% of the time in the meeting. Spend the last 40% following up. Good meeting prep (agenda out in advance, materials out in advance so that people aren't reading them for the first time in the meeting, advance one-on-ones with those who may be surprised or unhappy with the meeting content, etc.) will make the meeting more productive.

(3) If you don't need to have a meeting, don't have one. There are plenty of ways to communicate various types of information to a team, particularly if they meet on a recurring basis. Email can be effective, but often everyone is on email overload already. I have found that SharePoint works really well for team communications. Gijsbert mentioned huddles. Virtual meetings (even if everyone is in the same location) can be effective.

Having an agenda before a meeting is always a good idea, but what should be included, and what shouldn't? I always start meetings by stating the purpose of the meeting, and the decision we want to make (or discussions we want to have that may not have to result in anything). The last few minutes should always be a wrap up for "What did we decide?" and "What are the next steps".

I love the book Death by Meeting, by Patrick Lencioni. I highly recommend this as a read for anyone who is in charge of holding meetings.

Thats all great, as stated in the question. Meetings CAN be useful. However the question asked, are there MORE useful tools that can be substituted?

Actually i was suggesting that it depends on the purpose of the meeting. If it is just to share information than electronic channels can be better e.g. email.

If the purpose of the meetings is something other than that than meetings can be still quite effective.

In addition to an agenda, having a set of "our meeting rules" that you stick to for any meeting is also helpful. This should include starting on time, ending on time, and staying on topic (or closely related).

Meetings can be very unproductive, it's true. But creating a set of rules and insisting they are made a part of your corporate culture can help them to become more efficient and effective.

I've gotten used to two type of meetings with the teams I manage.

First of all, I start off every single day with a 'Daily Huddle'. This is a quick stand-up meeting in which every team member anwsers 3 simple questions: What are your plans for today, what are your KPI's, and where are you stuck? This takes just a couple minutes and is a great start of the day and gets everybody 'in-sync'.

In addition I have weekly meetings with a solid agenda and a fixed timetable. But I always start with a round of good news. People tend to forget that a lot of things go well, so sharing positive thoughts at the start of a meeting is great! And... at the end we always do a round of 'famous last words'. This can be famous quotes or something like that. Most of the time it's just plain fun... as it should! This works great.

I like what Apryl said. For a full blown meeting there absolutely must be an agenda and the memo with the PUBLISHED agenda should inclue the reminder that we are sticking closely to the agenda. If time remains we will open the floor to comments. I would have these meeting twice a month,Once a month I would hold a team meeting and the team would produce a published agenda this was their time, Rule no gripes or complaints with out substance..They knew my door was always open and if I was out of town they all had my e mail and cell to call evenings.. It is important to make the team an integral part of the company and know contributions are valued.

It is clear that there are different meeting styles... let's get back to discussing weather
(or not) meetings are the most efficient way to communicate to a team?

They are an extremely efficient and effective way to communicate with a team collectively whether it be via in person,video conference,Go To Meeting etc.

Interesting discussion.

Our research suggests that if the meeting is an information sharing one there are better, quicker ways of doing this.
If the meeting is an insight/update, decison making or proble-solving then meetings can be very effective.

Ken I agree. My response was directed toward Norman.

Jay:

Sorry if I seemed to get off track and you were disturbed, after 40 plus years of managing large and small sales forces and holding meetings I get passionate about this as I feel very strongly that meetings are an important vehicle to communicate as long as there is a formal agenda and timeline.

Man-oh-man did I struggle with this. Then I really got into goal setting several years ago and have never looked back.

The only real "team meetings" that we have are management meetings once per month and a once per quarter company meeting.

The management team meets early Q3 of each year at a company retreat to set goals for the next year. We bring in a facilitator to either help us with our goal setting and/or communication. Once we whiteboard everything, it goes into our Exec Performance System (fancy talk for goal tracking system). We use http://www.nsighteps.com. Once in the system we set deadlines and relevant tasks needed to complete each goal.

Our meetings then center what's in the system. So our agenda looks something like this:

1. New Business That Requires My Attention and/or is not yet in the Goal Tracking System (strategic stuff only, we generally don't allow operations-level / tactical stuff into the meeting)

2. Open up the goal tracking system mark off as complete any goals completed in the last 30 days and discuss any needed learning experiences, follow ups etc.

3. Discuss open open goals

4. We usually conclude dinner and drinks :)

I think this works because we spend so much time on the front end (at the retreat) really fleshing out out vision and goals for the company, that our meeting time is generally spent on just reporting progress, or the lack there of and why.

I find that you have a lot more interruptions and questions when there isn't enough strategic planning on the front end. If you put the goal line in front of them and establish the ground rules, you should be able to minimize the need or prolonged meetings. If it is still happening, then you probably have a people-problem.

I wrote a couple of blogs about the retreat process that we went through if you are interested:

http://massaker.me/people-networks/leadership-goal-setting-for-2010
http://massaker.me/computer-networks/it-best-practices/is-business-life-getti...

Let's not put the "HOW" before the "WHY". Meetings are valuable ways to communicate and collaborate. However, as in any endeavor, it's important to understand what your're trying to accomplish in the meeting before you determine the best way to run the meeting.

Is this a status meeting to bring everyone up to speed on what everyone else is doing?
Is this a planning meeting to discuss strategy, plans, tasks?

Each one requires specific preparation and participation. The most important thing? The participants should know what the end result of the meeting will be e.g. status, planning, brainstorming. It is then much easier to bring participants back on point when they start to "drift".

As the saying goes, begin with the end in mind.

"Update" meetings are a waste in my humble opinion. If people document there updates in a goal tracking or project management system, then I get with them 1:1 to discuss issues if I have any.

It's the update / report on your AOR type meetings that seem to be the most wasteful in terms of time and outcome.

I like the 4-2-4 rule. I have not seen that before.

I also agree with your 3rd rule Eric. When I have a bunch of follow up to do with my managers (usually from stuff that I have flagged in my inbox), I just call them and ask if they have a few minutes to talk and get my updates that way.

Team meetings can be a great tool towards building teamwork, maintaining forward momentum on team projects, providing team/individual recognition, gaining consensus on new initiatives/ideas, and saving the team leader time when sharing information and gathering feedback. To maximize effective time utilization, the leader as well as team members must be prepared and adhere to established time contraints. Leaders should always follow-up as quickly as possible on their team's suggestions and other conversations/questions left hanging. Individual meetings are equally as important for strengthening relationships, providing coaching and feedback, and employee development.

I agree with Ken. There was a time when managers were told that there were three types of meetings; info pass, problem solving, and decision making. Technology, however, has made bringing people together to share information unnecessary. Meetings are still a viable way to get work done but since time is a scarce resource they should be focused on the latter two objectives.