Guest Post: Tien-Shih Chen

Gavin Chen is one of my students. Here are a few of his thoughts on what many consider to be the least important part of their day:

When people think of bad meetings, the first thing that comes into their mind is “wasting time”. However, according to Steve Kaye, a leadership expert, “Bad meetings waste a fortune. My surveys show that companies waste almost 20% of their payroll on bad meetings.”[1] It is true that bad meetings not only waste time but also reduce productivity, and further affect the payroll insidiously. Hence, there is no doubt that good and effective meetings are critical to firms.

“How to run a meeting like Google” [2] is an article from BusinessWeek. The author, Carmine Gallo, interviewed with Marissa Mayer, Google’s VP of search products, who holds about 70 meetings a week. Google is well-known for its creative culture, so there must be some tips that are worth a try. I consider the 3 major points Marissa mentions are extremely critical of running an effective meeting:

1. Set a firm agenda
A clear and precise agenda is essential to an effective meeting. A well-designed agenda can save people a lot of time and guide attendees in the correct direction of the meeting.

·      2. Stick to the clock

It’s pretty obvious; don’t waste time and focus on the schedule. However, I don’t know for sure if I like the idea of a giant clock, because the clock may put too much pressure on some people. Sometimes, haste makes waste!

·      3. Assign a note-taker.

It’s a good idea to keep everybody on the same page during a meeting. Also, the notes are excellent for people who miss the meeting or for attendees who just want to review.

Also, I truly like the rule “Discourage politics, use data.” The master of management, Peter Drucker says, “The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.” A data-oriented meeting means that decisions are made based on real data and customer feedback, not just personal preferences.

Besides the advice from Marissa, I would like to add a key concept that I learned from Public Speaking taught by Professor Chris Labash:

Do we REALLY need a meeting?

Prior to deliberate how to run an effective meeting, people should ask themselves the most important question: do we really need a meeting? Any unnecessary meeting is literally inefficient.

Generally speaking, the article is worth a read to get some ideas on how Google-style meetings operate.

[1] http://stevekaye.com

[2] http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/sep2006/sb20060927_259688.htm