Every organization holds different types of meetings; while structure isn’t always required for those meetings to be effective, some of them would benefit. Good candidates for greater structure include those that occur often, involve a significant amount of time, or have a high degree of impact.
In cases where structure is desired, Meeting Models are a useful tool. Meeting Models are organization-specific templates that define a meeting’s purpose, outcomes, protocol, and positions/roles involved. They apply to meetings of the same type, even if they are held in different departments or with different teams. For example, consistent department meetings would follow the same Model for their weekly meetings in both Accounting and Operations. The content would differ, but the structure would be the same.
To develop Meeting Models for an organization, there are six components that should be taken into consideration.
Meeting Type
Specific Meetings Where the Model is Applied
Purpose
Outcomes
Protocol
Positions & Roles
Meeting Type
First, select from the list of Meeting Types (described in Chapter Four of Meeting Structure) the one most relevant for the Model you are developing. Selecting the Meeting Type is the first step towards bringing structure to a meeting.
Specific Meetings
The second step is to identify which specific meetings within the organization fall within the Meeting Model being developed. This helps provide specific use cases for the Meeting Model. As the Meeting Model is being developed the organization can ask, “Which existing meetings do we want to conform to this Meeting Model?”
Purpose
The third component is Purpose. While the type of meeting has already been selected according to a general purpose, this section is a place to get more specific about why the company holds these types of meetings. The Purpose should answer the question, “For what purpose does the organization use meetings that follow this Model?”
Outcomes
In the fourth component, desired outcomes are defined. Outcomes refer to the expected results of a meeting. The question, “What do we expect to get out of the meeting?” can help to determine what those outcomes should be. Examples of possible outcomes include:
Clarity of expectations
Visibility into significant victories or setbacks
Documented decisions and action items
Shared information
New ideas
Connection to the group’s shared mission
An appropriate sense of urgency to get work done
Inspiration
Making a decision
It’s not uncommon for a meeting to have multiple purposes. For example, the intention of a decision-making meeting is both making a decision and securing a commitment from the people in the room to support that decision. It is very easy to run a decision-making meeting that achieves the first outcome but fails to achieve the second, and therefore fails to deliver the expected result. Documenting both of these (making the decision and securing commitment) as the desired outcomes for a Decision-Making Meeting Model helps ensure these types of meetings achieve both on a consistent basis.
Protocol
Meeting Protocol includes any details that guide how a meeting is carried out. Is the meeting rigidly structured? If so, what is that structure? Or is it an open forum for conversation? How strict are those expectations?
A daily stand-up meeting, for example, is highly structured. A strict schedule is followed to keep it within a short period of time. There are clear guidelines as to what should be discussed within the meeting and what should be taken up as a separate meeting or conversation. Brainstorming sessions are more freeform, but still have some structure, such as an introduction to the topic and a prescribed way for people to share their ideas. Neither format is better than the other, but standards should be set as to how and when meetings are held so that everyone has the right expectations.
Positions & Roles
The final component of the Meeting Model is identifying the Positions & Roles involved. Answering the following three questions will help make it clear.
Who should be included?
This is not a list of specific individuals but rather the types of people or positions they hold. For example, it could be the members of a department or anyone who is a supervisor.
What are the expected levels of participation?
There are three basic participation levels that could be expected. First, everyone can be expected to participate in a collaborative nature, with everyone included in the conversation. A second type of participation is where the communication is one-way, when some participants are communicating information and the others are primarily there to receive the information. Thirdly, participation may be expected to be confrontational, like during negotiations or employee disciplinary meetings.
What are the Meeting Roles?
This part of the Meeting Model focuses on consistent roles that individuals will play during the meeting. Common types of roles in a meeting, though not required in every Meeting Model, can be Facilitator, Note Taker, Subject Matter Experts, and Time Tracker.
The concepts from this article were taken from Meeting Structure: Achieving meeting effectiveness through structure. Available through The ReWild Group and Amazon, the book explores in-depth this and other concepts while providing illustrations to help business leaders incorporate the ideas into their organizations. Get your copy today to start benefiting from Meeting Structure in your company.