How much time have you wasted in bad meetings?  And, how much of other people’s time have you wasted because you led bad meetings?

We’ve all been in those meetings that drag on and on, endlessly beating around bushes, all-the-while making no decisions and taking no action.  You leave thinking, “That was a complete waste of time!”

Meetings are a staple in organizational life though.  Apparently the average worker spends at least 6 hours each week in meetings, while the average senior level leader spends at least 23 hours each week in meetings.  That’s a lot of time.  So, it behooves us to ensure our meetings are efficient and effective.

I want to present to you today a simple principle I call the ADIOS Principle for leading effective meetings.  ADIOS means “goodbye” in Spanish.  Applying the ADIOS Principle enables you to “Say goodbye to bad meetings”.  ADIOS is an acronym: Agenda, Direct, Involve Others, Summarize.

Agenda: Ensure that you send out an agenda to all the participants at least a week in advance of the meeting.  Everything doesn’t need to be buttoned down, but the outline of what the intention of the meeting is, the content for discussion, and time frame should be established.

The primary reason for doing this is because your organization has 2 kinds of people:  Microwaves and Crock Pots.  Microwaves are those people who probably won’t look at the agenda.  They are improvisers.  They can think on their feet and provide valuable input on a moment’s notice.  They can have a tendency to speak before thinking sometimes though.  Crock Pots like to think things through before they offer their opinion.  The agenda enables them to ‘slow cook’ though their opinions prior to the meeting.  This will ensure they provide their best feedback during the meeting and you get valuable input from everyone – Crock Pots and Microwaves.

Direct:  Simply stated – lead.  Move people through the agenda.  If someone is grandstanding and wasting people’s time, thank them for their input and indicate you want to hear from others in the room.  Reign in side discussions.  Those who tend to like the sound of their own voice need to be taught to “WAIT” – “Why AM I Talking?”  And that person may be you.  As the leader you need to direct the meeting.  Keep it on task and on time.  If it gets off task and off time there is no one to blame but you.

Involve Others:  Some of the best input you will receive will be from introverts who don’t necessarily want to interrupt an outspoken extrovert.  That’s why you need to invite input from everyone around the table.  “Thank you Mary for your input.  Bob, what do you think?  Don’t let people just sit there and not contribute.  Work randomly around the room asking people their thoughts.  This keeps people engaged and will create valuable input you otherwise would not have received.

Summarize:  This is where the real value gets created.  After drawing out the contribution of the team, action items need to be established:  What are we going to do?  Who is going to do it?  What is the time frame within which it needs to be accomplished?  All three of these questions need to be answered in order to move forward efficiently and effectively.  What is the action being taken, who is going to take it, and when will it be completed?  This creates ownership and accountability.

Then, all the action items need to highlighted from the minutes of the meeting and sent out to the participants. Attach the minutes with the action items to the email, but put the action items in the body of the email as well to create TOMA – Top of Mind Awareness.

I know, none of this is rocket science.  It doesn’t take a degree in ‘meeting leadership’ to do it.  But if good meeting leadership is so simple, then why do we experience so many inefficient and ineffective meetings?  Well, just because something is simple, doesn’t mean it’s easy – right?  For example, losing weight is simple: eat less, move more.  But it’s not easy is it?

Applying the ADIOS Principle to meeting planning and leadership will increase the value you create in your meetings and enable you to definitely ‘say goodbye to bad meetings.’