The 25 Minute Meeting

CHAPTER 4 Set up

Deciding to run 25-minute meetings is a great first step. In many cases, this on its own can have a positive impact on your work day. It doesn’t, however, guarantee that your 25-minute meetings will be effective.

Now that we are halving the time, we need to double the value. We need to set ourselves up for 25-minute meeting success.

The 3 P’s of setting up

There are three areas (shown in figure 4.1, overleaf) you need to look at when it comes to setting up and running an effective 25-minute meeting:

Figure 4.1: the 3 P’s

1. Purpose. Why we are here?

2. People. Who do we need?

3. Process. How will we work?

PURPOSE

Before you start inviting people to a meeting you’ve got to think about why you are having the meeting in the first place!

The point of outlining a purpose is to:

• Provide information. Giving people advance notice means they will at least come mentally prepared, and, at best, with all the data, documents and details they need for the topic.
• Encourage willing players. When people know why they are there and their role, they tend to engage and contribute more willingly.
• Keep everyone on track. With a clear purpose we are less likely to get side-tracked or deviate from the meeting plan.
• Decide whether to meet. Yes, really! Nine times out of ten, you will probably find there is no reason to meet at all!

While there are hundreds of specific ...