1. There are different types of meetings that require different approaches in terms of content, conduct, and purpose. These include status updates, problem-solving, tactical discussions, strategic planning, vision exercises, energizing, and communication cascade meetings. 2. Mixing meeting types can reduce effectiveness by confusing participants and not properly addressing the goals of each meeting. Status and problem-solving meetings require different conduct than strategic or tactical discussions. 3. To improve meetings, the document suggests tailoring the content, timing, participants, and atmosphere to the specific meeting type and ensuring clear follow-up actions.

1. Meeting to Some Purpose
Ashok Korwar
April 07

2. The Tragedy
• Meetings are the very essence of most managerial
work
• Yet few are productive
• Hardly any management thinking has ever gone
into this issue (not even a handful of HBR
articles, no course at IIMs..)
• Generally left to non-managerial (therefore
limited) process functions (like CMM, QMS etc.)

3. So…
• Why are meetings so ineffective and even
counter-productive?

4. Possible causes..
• Is it the way they are conducted?
• Is it the attitude participants bring to them?
– Do some people feel like uninvolved bystanders?
– Do some people feel victimized and afraid to speak?
– Too much polite ducking of issues?
– Does it merely heighten conflict rather than resolve it?
• Is it the content?
– Either inappropriate to the setting or too variable in
content?
• Is it because of what happens (or doesn’t happen)
afterwards?

5. Or, more subtly..
• Different participants in different frames of
mind, at any given time
• Different levels and modes of thinking get
mixed up..

6. Anyway..
• How can we fix this problem?

7. Some thoughts..
• On Content
– And
• On Conduct

8. Hypothesis: the main problem is:
• There isn’t only one kind of meeting
1. Status Review meetings
2. Problem-solving meetings
3. Tactical discussions
4. Strategic deliberations
5. Vision exercises
6. Energizing meetings
7. Communication cascades
So there isn’t only one set of problems!

9. Each of these..
• Has its own value
• Needs to be handled differently
• In content, timing, setting, medium and
length (duration), and attitude/atmosphere

10. If we mix them up..
• If we do problem-solving in status meetings:
uninvolved members get bored or (worse!)
titillated, person involved gets exposed/humiliated
in public, will take care to hide problems in future
• If we do tactical thinking in problem-solving
meetings, problem won’t get solved, people
needed may not be present
• If we do strategic thinking in tactical
meetings, tenor and tone of discussion yo-yos
from high level to detailed, immediate to long
term: participants get confused, run out of time

11. So..
• Let’s look at each of these ‘meeting types’,
both content and conduct

12. 1. Status Meetings
• Aim:
– bring everyone onto same page
– Give preview, notice, of important events
coming up shortly
– Sound early warning signals

13. 1. Status Meetings: Content
• All participants share what they did, what
they are going to do

14. 1. Status Meetings: Conduct
• 15 minute ‘standing’ meeting every day
– or
• 30 minute con-call every week
• Quick round-robin, clarification questions only, no
probing/analysis
• Atmosphere must be relaxed, businesslike
• Follow up: keep me informed what happens, or:
let’s have a separate problem-solving meeting
• Minutes can be brief and must be circulated
immediately (within 6 hours)

15. 2: Problem Resolution meetings
• Content: to solve a specific problem
• Can be triggered by
– a status update meeting
– A customer complaint
– An MIS report
– ………..

16. 2: Problem Resolution Meetings
Conduct
• Should NEVER be done with bystanders, only
with those directly concerned with the problem
• Time: not fixed, whatever it takes to solve
problem
• Attitude should be: here is the problem, we know
what it is, don’t tell me the problem, tell me the
root cause, tell me the solution.
• Atmosphere: intense, serious, probing, relentless.
• Follow-up: a set of actions, with milestones and
metrics

17. 3:Tactical Discussions
Content
• Not strategic
• Goal: solve major and urgent problems
facing organization as a whole.
• Choose max 2-3 topics of importance: how
shall we improve fulfillment rate, how to
control expenses this month, how shall we
win this deal

18. 3: Tactical Meetings
Conduct
• Participants: by role: such as management committee
• Lead presenter should come prepared with presentation
• Monthly
• Date and time set in advance
• Time: fixed within reason: 3 hours max.
• Follow-up: a small set of projects (no programs) with
deliverables, milestones and metrics
• Minutes must be detailed and circulated within 12 hours
• 6 thinking hats can be used to focus discussion

19. 6 Thinking Hats
• By de Bono
• An excellent if artificial-looking device to
achieve ‘thinking together’.
• Get everyone to ‘paint landscape together’,
not take positions, not hold each other to
positions, look at whole picture together.

20. 4: Strategic Meetings
Content
• Goal: to adjust strategy as required
• Is Business Plan on track? What are
learnings from the market? Scenario
analysis..
• What major processes are creaking under
the strain and need rebuilding?
• What major accounts are not growing as
they should?

21. 4. Strategic Meetings
Conduct
• Once a quarter or As required (adhoc is also ok, strategy need not wait
for strategic planning meeting!)
• Full day- as long as it takes. Setting time limits is counter-productive.
• Chaired by CEO
• All relevant participants, including but not restricted to, management
committee
• Choose 2-3 major themes (1 is even better)
• Considerable homework to be done in advance
• Attitude should be: let’s focus on long-term issues, root cause
analysis, process thinking, program management (as distinct from
projects)
• Useful tools: theory of constraints, undesirable effects tree, conflict
cloud..
• Follow up: a small number of programs (not projects), new processes.
• Minutes can be brief and high-level, circulation restricted.

22. 5:Vision Exercises
• Goal:
– To re-examine Theory of Business
– To set new direction if necessary
– To give new life to old strategies
– To build organization, shape values
– To build the management team

23. 5: Vision Exercises
Conduct
• Must be off-site
• Team building, feedback to each
other, expectations from each other – must be
integral part
• Out-of-box thinking, radical prescriptions, open
dialogue must be the norm
• Undiscussables must be surfaced through dialogue
process (ref. Argyris)
• Atmosphere of open-ness, no repercussions, no
hierarchy..
• Minutes are not important, need not even be kept.

24. 6. Energizing Meetings
• Goal: to motivate the troops
• Content: forward looking, simple and
focused
– What we have achieved, why we are great, why
the future is bright..
• Conduct: short, highly energetic
presentations, music and entertainment

25. 7: Communication Cascade
• Goal: to communicate some important message
about the company to all levels
• Content: very important, business or organization
critical
• Conduct: to control transmission loss, ppt must be
standardized, elaborate FAQs worked out, at least
one senior person from outside the unit must co-
lead
• To be held whenever necessary, not more than
once or twice a year