Effective Meeting Management for Projects

How you can apply methods used by the ancient monarchs to better engage your team during project meetings.

By Barry Hodge

Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 4

Chapter 1 – Medieval Leadership ........................................................................................................... 5

Round Table Leadership ...................................................................................................................... 5

Immaculate Image Management ........................................................................................................ 5

Carry Yourself with Grace ................................................................................................................... 6

Walk a Mile in Their Winklepickers ..................................................................................................... 7

Do Your Royal Decrees Make Sense?.................................................................................................. 8

Beware of the Five Dragons ................................................................................................................ 8

Imperial Discipline ............................................................................................................................... 9

Lordly Logistics .................................................................................................................................. 10

Court Etiquette ................................................................................................................................. 11

Onwards and Upwards! .................................................................................................................... 11

The Action Log: Your Group’s Sacred Tome of Knowledge .............................................................. 12

In Conclusion... .................................................................................................................................. 13

Chapter 2 - A step by step guide to running a successful project meeting. ......................................... 14

Planning the Meeting ........................................................................................................................ 14

What to Do In the Meeting ............................................................................................................... 14

Review the Meeting .......................................................................................................................... 15

Action Log ......................................................................................................................................... 15

Chapter 3 - 8 Agenda Items for a Successful Project Kick-off Meeting ................................................ 17

Chapter 4 – Run Your Meetings like a King ........................................................................................... 18

In summary ....................................................................................................................................... 18

Introduction Thanks to the Greeks, the English language contains lots of cool words for various fears. Everyone knows about arachnophobia, aka fear of spiders. Coulrophobia-- another common one-- is the fear of clowns.

Then, of course, there are the more obscure fears. People with xanthophobia, for example, fear the colour yellow. There is no proper scientific word for “meeting-phobia” yet, but those of us who work in project management teams know all about it. Tell-tale signs of this nameless but well-known phobia may include:

a vague sense of dread and/or despair uncontrollable sighing compulsive notebook doodling and the sudden urge to be anywhere but in a conference room.

If you or your project team are suffering from any of the previously mentioned symptoms, it’s time to get medieval. In this book I will show how you can apply methods used by the ancient monarchs to better engage your team during meetings. After that there is a step by step guide that you can use to run your meeting effectively. Also at the end of the book there is an 8 step agenda that you can use to successfully kick off your project.

Chapter 1 – Medieval Leadership

Round Table Leadership According to legend, King Arthur was brilliant at organizing meetings and getting his team of knights to work together. He famously opted to use a round table to discuss important matters. Traditional, rectangular royal tables imply a pecking order.

Arthur didn’t want his knights to bicker over who should sit where, so he went with a new type of table design. The round table represents equal access, transparency and teamwork-- three values all modern project managers should adhere to.

Immaculate Image Management Medieval kings believed that their right to rule was sanctioned by the man upstairs. To live up to the hype of their own supposed God-given powers, monarchs spent a lot of time making sure that their image fit the lofty expectations of their subjects. Louis the XIV of France was the master of the razzle-dazzle approach, which is why he earned the nickname the Sun King. In 1682 he wisely opted to relocate closer to Paris. After he moved his court to the ritzy Château de Versailles,

Louis became even more powerful. Through the use of ritual, imagery and fancy real estate Louis was able to control all of France’s most important players for an incredibly long period of time. Louis’s reign wouldn’t have lasted 72 years if he didn’t use his space to his advantage. Too many project managers opt to hide in a corner office and avoid day-to-day business. PMs should follow the Sun King’s lead and place themselves in the centre of the action. As the project manager, you are the centre of the team universe. Think of the human resources surrounding you as planets in your orbit. Whatever behaviours you exhibit, they will imitate.

Carry Yourself with Grace As a project manager, you have the power to make your team follow your orders. But that doesn’t mean that you should assemble your team just because you can or because tradition dictates that meetings must happen every Monday. If there is no realistic need for a meeting, cancel it. When you do call a meeting, make sure that you have something truly important to talk about. If King Arthur was a project manager today, would he get everyone together just to nag them about remembering to turn off the lights and lock the door at the end of the day? Methinks not! Good monarchs hold meetings only when it is absolutely necessary to do so. The Knights of the Round Table got together to ponder big-picture problems, like figuring out how to survive the next Saxon attack.

If you waste your team’s time by discussing trivial matters all the time, they will tune you out when you need to say something important.

Walk a Mile in Their Winklepickers Successful medieval monarchs were able to sense what all the influential people around them were really thinking. During a meeting, put yourself in your employee’s shoes.

Be empathetic. Does what you have to say really matter to each and every one of your subjects? If your message applies to some but not others, trim the fat. The less people attend a meeting, the more you can tailor your message to address specific issues. Think about your big picture goals from their perspective. Does your team have all the information they need to get to where you want them to be? Make sure your group’s path is clear and that all goals are clearly defined.

Do Your Royal Decrees Make Sense? Cut down on mandatory meetings as much as possible. It may take some time and a little bit of trial-and-error style experimentation to get your team members to think independently, but the payoff-- drastically increased efficiency-- is worth it. Highly independent “round table” calibre workers are able to decide when to attend meetings and when to skip them. Prior to a meeting, it is wise to send out information concerning what will be discussed. You can do that via e-mail, but e-mails are a cheap, easy form of communication. Medieval rulers used scrolls and carrier pigeons to communicate important points ahead of gatherings, but a well-designed handout delivered one week in advance can be just as effective. Instead of a royal seal, use official letterhead and/or a professional looking layout to draw attention to the importance of your meeting agenda.

Also, keep the word count to a minimum. There’s no need to go into detail-- that’s what the meeting is for. Keep meetings short and provide realistic time estimates for each portion of the agenda.

Beware of the Five Dragons In his book King Arthur’s Round Table: How Collaborative Conversations Create Smart Organizations, Harvard professor David Perkins identified 5 negative traits of ineffective organizational communication he called “dragons.” Authoritarianism, micromanagement, lack of respect and co-”blab”-oration are 5 factors that cause communication breakdowns.

Slay dragons in advance of a meeting by getting to know the psychology of your team. King Arthur was well aware of the fact that Sir Kay-- perhaps the best all-around warrior in the group-- also had a quick temper. Conversely, Arthur’s right-hand-man Sir Lancelot had a gentle personality and was a terrific swordsman, but his tendency to get involved in complicated romantic affairs often distracted him from the big picture. Arthur’s psychological knowledge of his men allowed him to anticipate potential problems and avoid surprises. That’s why if you want to become a highly effective PM, simply knowing everyone’s name is not enough. Get to know each individual member of your team by periodically sitting down with them to discuss their unique goals and aspirations.

Imperial Discipline In his controversial but influential book The Prince, Machiavelli famously offered practical management advice to Italy’s royalty. Though it was written in 1513, much of Machiavelli’s advice still rings true today. In one passage, Machiavelli argues that rather than being generous, kings should be stingy. It pays to be tight-fisted about your use of time during a meeting. To make sure the meeting doesn’t drag on forever, everyone should have a copy of the meeting agenda along with a time estimation for each part of the program. Steer the group back to the task at hand if they deviate from the path unless there is a clear, logical reason to do so. If someone on your staff is better at facilitating a meeting than you are, allowing him or her to watch the clock is a wise move. As PM, you can always knight one of your loyal subjects at any time and imbue him or her with whatever authority you deem necessary. If you delegate someone to run the meeting, be sure that whoever you pick is impartial. A minister of time whose direct input isn’t required is more likely to be a better clock-watcher than someone who has a reason to influence the outcome of the meeting.

In addition to delegating a time manager, you may also want to assign someone the job of scribe in order to preserve any good ideas that come up during the discussion.

Lordly Logistics The technological constraints that monarchs had to deal with in the medieval era meant that all leaders had to be a logistical geniuses. Castles and fortress were extremely hard to siege before the advent of gunpowder, so wars were bloody, drawn out affairs. Raising a capable army was a complicated task that took a high degree of political charisma and a nose for strategic details.

Just like medieval monarchs, modern day project managers often deal with limited supplies and tight budgets. That’s why as a PM, you need the people who control HR, equipment, facilities and funding to be 100 percent on your side-- not indifferent to your needs or scheming against you.

To carry out effective meetings, you need a distraction-free space as well as adequate IT support. Secure access to the tools your team will need during the planning phase of a meeting to ensure that your people won’t run into trouble later on.

Court Etiquette Louis the XVI believed that knocking was rude-- that’s why he forced his subjects to scratch on his door with their left pinkie finger when they wanted to get his attention.

As PM, you don’t have to be that strict about etiquette, but you should definitely be quick to check any rude behaviours. Remind your crew to silence their phones in advance of the meeting. If someone needs to arrive late or leave early, have them join or leave the meeting during a break so that they don’t cause distractions. Even PMs must follow etiquette. Assigning tasks to absent team members is not only rude, it’s also unbecoming of an effective project manager. After the meeting is over, don’t let everyone just stand up and walk out. Revisit the objectives outlined on the agenda. Get feedback-- was the meeting successful, or is further discussion warranted? It may be wise to leave the room during the feedback portion of the meeting, if you feel that your presence will interfere with your team’s ability to measure how effective the meeting was.

Onwards and Upwards! Round-table style management empowers individual team members to influence the future direction of the project, but that only matters if they are aware of results of their decisions. If your knights can see exactly how their input led to changes in plans, they will be that much more motivated to show up with even more ideas and clever suggestions next time.

After the meeting draws to an end, send out a short note describing the decisions that were made. Issue the post-meeting note as soon as possible, ideally on the same day the meeting took place. If you tasked individual people with specific missions, include those as well along with completion deadlines.

In the days following the meeting, don’t be afraid to ask about the status of various tasks that were assigned. Asking questions shows that you are invested in the outcome. Another way to show that you care about meetings is to bring up meeting contributions during performance reviews. Your meeting all-stars should be recognized for their contributions and those who always try to fade into the woodwork should be challenged to participate.

The Action Log: Your Group’s Sacred Tome of Knowledge Each and every one of your team members should update the action log ritualistically and look at it at least once per day. The action log should be a concise, publicly accessible document containing all the group’s tasks and deadlines. The individuals assigned with carrying out each task should be identified.

Additionally, known problems should also be listed somewhere on the action log so that everyone can be made aware of potential delays. An effective action log policy enhances group autonomy and individual accountability-- two key ingredients of round table style management.

In Conclusion...

Now that you’re armed with a slew of medieval management tactics, you’ll be able to make your meetings more effective, useful and interesting. Before you do here’s a quick review: Round table leadership encourages teamwork, transparency and equal access. Image management means getting involved with the project. Maintain a professional demeanour at all times, but use your power wisely. Calling meetings just to show everyone that you’re in charge will cause your team to not take you seriously. Empathy is key to delivering effective messages, so put yourself in their shoes when formulating the meeting agenda. Mandatory

meetings are less effective than meetings targeted to meet the individual needs of a handful of your employees. Be tight-fisted and maximize the utility of every minute of conference room time. Befriending the IT team, whoever controls the conference room keys and other logistical elements is vital to meeting success, as is preparing in advance. Knowing your team will help you avoid personality conflicts during meetings and establishing rules of etiquette will keep them from talking over each other. After the meeting is over, have someone update your team’s activity log. Send out a recap as soon as you can, while the details of the meeting are still fresh in everyone’s minds.

Chapter 2 - A step by step guide to

running a successful project meeting. Having read how ancient monarchs conducted themselves here is the step by step guide that you can use to run your meetings successfully.

Planning the Meeting Establish the need

• What are the objectives of the meeting? If there are no objectives, is there a need for a meeting?

• What are the required outputs or outcomes? • Who needs to be there to meet these objectives

Set a clear agenda

• Specify the objectives well in advance at least one week before • Allows people to decide for themselves if they are the right person to be there • Set realistic timescales • Avoids surprises or people attending unnecessarily • Allow attendees to do pre-work if required

Identify and overcome barriers

• Anticipate sources of potential conflict • Consider discussing these prior to the meeting • Avoid surprises on the day

Arrange logistics

• Using the right space is key • Consider which tools/techniques to use to achieve objectives • Avoid distractions • Consider getting people out of their usual place of work to get their full

attention

What to Do In the Meeting Follow the agenda

• Make it visible! • Keep an eye on the time and take action if falling behind • Consider deviating from the agenda if everyone agrees

Record group thinking

• Make it visible • Facilitator role may be required separate from meeting lead/chair. For large

or difficult groups, facilitating a meeting is a job in itself…. Consider asking someone for help who’s direct input isn’t required

• Be action oriented not dwell on the issues/problems

• Record any good ideas or issues that you don’t want to lose Structure and definition

• Record expectations at the beginning of the meeting • Revisit the objectives for clarity • Capture and agree next steps during the meeting – make it visible

Practice good meeting behaviours

• Arrive and start on time Try and arrive early for meetings so you can set up and be well prepared when everyone else arrives

• Advise during expectations if people need to leave early etc. • Request phones to be turned off or on silent

Review the Meeting Evaluate effectiveness

• Capture Benefits and Concerns at the end of the meeting • Review how fully the objectives and expectations were met. Where not fully,

consider a next step to address • Lead and facilitator could do structured feedback after the meeting to consider

what worked well and what didn’t Circulate notes and next steps

• Visibility of next steps and responsibility • Consider central log of next steps for ongoing/regular meetings • Send out on the same day as the meeting

Follow up on next steps

• Determine how people will feed back actions • Agree who will arrange follow up meeting (if required) • Set dates for completion and chase up if necessary

Coach each other

• Provide feedback following the meeting • Reinforce behaviours that should continue • Constructively challenge undesired behaviours – keep it factual

Action Log Next Steps/Actions should be visible throughout the meeting and then finalised at the end – ensuring everything has been captured

• Including the Concerns captured as well as any review of Objectives & Expectations

• They should be agreed at the end of a meeting with clear actions, owners and dates for completion

• Actions should not be assigned to someone if they aren’t in the room • Everyone must agree who and when these should be done by • Be realistic with timescales

• Hopefully promotes joint accountability rather than 1 person taking all of the actions

A central log of next steps can help monitor and manage these – and gives a trigger for people to feedback their actions rather than progress them in isolation

• Good for ongoing/regular meetings to keep track of actions and ensure nothing is missed

• Good for extended/long term actions that are difficult to track

Chapter 3 - 8 Agenda Items for a

Successful Project Kick-off Meeting

Project Vision – ask the project requester to describe why the project exists.

What are you trying to achieve? What does a successful solution look like? Is the project needed by a certain date?

Measures – How will success be measured?

How will you know when the project is complete? How will you know the vision has been realised?

Project Scope – what is going to be done and more importantly what is not being done.

What is in scope for this project? What is out of scope for this project?

Project Proposal – review project start up documentation

Check that the project start up information has been completed correctly. Make sure it does not contradict points 2 and 3 above.

Stakeholders – who is involved and/ or affected by the project

Who is the sponsor of this project? How important is it to them? Who will be the lead from the business area requesting the project? Who are the project team members and what will they do? Who else has a vested interest in the project? Who else has information that the project needs?

Other Projects – are there any relationships to other projects

Are there any other projects that need to be completed before this project can start? Does this project have any dependencies with other projects? Is this project sharing resources with any other project?

Project Risks – is there anything that could trip up the project

Are there any project risks that we know now i.e. key people on long holidays, likely change of policy internal or external, unknown expenditure etc?

Who is Doing What – does everyone know what they are doing

Who is going to do what after the project kickoff meeting has finished. Are people clear on what tasks need to be done? Do they know if they are waiting for someone else to complete a task first?

Chapter 4 – Run Your Meetings like a

King

Now you know how the ancient monarchs did it hopefully you now feel more confident going into your next project team meeting. If you follow the step by step approach in chapter 2 you will not go wrong in being fully prepared for your meeting. The better prepared you are the more in control you will be of the meeting. Greater control will lead to an increased chance of achieving the project meeting objectives.

In summary Be like King Arthur and show leadership at your meetings. Present a fantastic image just like King Louis XIV. Only hold meetings when necessary, like to discuss the current Saxon attack. Wear the shoes of your project team and think from their perspective. Send out your carrier pigeon before the meeting so everyone has the information before they arrive. Make sure you slay the dragons of your team and know what makes each one tick. Be tight fisted with the time and make sure your project meeting does not go off course and spend a long time discussing one particular item. Prepare your resources by turning up early and making sure your meeting room is set up correctly. Be like King Louis XVI and make sure everyone follows the meeting rules; turns up on time, switches their phones to silent etc. Motivate the team and capture actions in a log. Doing this will make you truly a king of your meetings. For further help with your meetings you can also download useful templates from projectnewstoday.com If you are having difficulty with your meeting preparation, there is also the opportunity to receive one on one coaching from me at projectnewstoday.com I would be happy to help you so please get in touch. I hope you have found this book useful and from now on you will run your project meetings like a king.