Guest Post: Narasimhan Nagarajan

This is Narasimhan's second guest post on the blog. Here he writes about real-world meetings.

“To be a good leader in the meeting, one needs to be a servant” – Guide to Effective Communication, 1976.

Meetings have become very vital in today’s businesses to collaborate, convey, and brainstorm for ideas, thoughts, opinions, etc.

The toughest part of a meeting seems to be getting ideas or inputs from the participants. Why is this so? It is because few feel that the leader is overpowering and no one listens to their views, or because the leader has not created viable channels for the views to be put forth and so on.

A good leader of the meeting should break down the initial barriers and create an active and positive environment for the meeting to be successful. The leader should recognize the stumbling blocks in the meeting and create objectives which are accurate and definite. Lack of accurate objectives might create unclear ideas about the meeting and might result in deviating from the stated objective.

As the leader of the meeting has the power, it should be used properly to mange conflicts and criticisms, and to motivate the group to think out of the box and come up with new ideas.

Of course the leader has the final say, but it’s important to create an environment where everyone feels free to contribute. The leader should manage the meeting in such a way that the ideas are free flowing and focused by asking for ideas, questions, clarifications, and affirmations. The leader should also be a good listener and should handle creative conflicts in a suitable way.

In a nutshell, all meetings should have an objective, a proper agenda, and the right people to participate, provide, and exchange ideas and some constructive action after the meeting, in terms of delegation of work or future steps. The guidelines for effective meetings are : 1) Prepare for the meeting 2) Prepare to attend the meeting 3) Setup the meeting place 4) Assign a note taker 5) Start the meeting 6) Conduct the meeting 7) Keep the meeting focused and moving 8) Close the meeting with follow up action items.

One such good meeting experience at my work place was to discuss the future applications strategy for a new business initiative. The leader of the meeting was the head of the strategy group who was full of enthusiasm and energy to drive the group, and encouraged the group to come out with more ideas. He was a great listener, managed the creative dissonance with great dexterity and also managed the hierarchy and cultural issues. The ideas from the juniors were also acknowledged and appreciated.

As the meeting comes to an end, the leader of any meeting should delegate duties and inform the group what the next steps will be. This also creates a sense of belonging to the group, and if that is achieved the meeting is successful and the leader is a great leader and as Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Everyone can be great because everyone can serve.”