This Slideshare presentation is a partial preview of the full business document. To view and download the full document, please go here: http://flevy.com/browse/business-document/complete-toolkit-to-improve-the-efficiency-and-effectiveness-of-meetings-449 Wasting valuable resources in unproductive and inefficient meetings can be one of the biggest avoidable costs for any business. This Meetings Toolkit has been complied to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Meetings with tools and templates designed using direct feedback from many different businesses about the structure and culture of meetings. The kit contains: 1. Powerpoint presentation on the why and how to improve meetings 2. Three Excel templates to assist: 1. Agenda Template 2. Meeting Log 3. Meeting Scorecard These will help deliver better desired outcomes, making meetings work harder for you and more efficient meetings translates into less time spent in meetings.

1. The Complete Toolkit to improve the
efficiency and effectiveness of Meetings

2. PURPOSE, USE & BENEFITS
Meeting efficiency & effectiveness is critical to improve the way to
conduct a business
Purpose
• This Meetings Toolkit has been complied to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of
Meetings
• These tools and templates have been designed using direct feedback from many different
businesses about the structure and culture of meetings
• Previous learnings and existing tools have been leveraged from the business, where
relevant
Use
• Best practice would be to use these tools and templates for all meetings
• However, from a practical perspective, you should use these tools and templates for all
larger, recurring meetings (for both process and departmental meetings) and when it
makes sense for other smaller or ad hoc meetings
• At a minimum, most meetings should have a TOR and an Action Log
Benefits
• Better desired outcomes, making meetings work harder for you
• More efficient meetings translates into less time spent in meetings with more time to „do‟

3. MEETING EFFICIENCY & EFFECTIVENESS
Poor meeting culture is often the core reason for ineffective meetings
Why do our meetings typically go
wrong?
• No clear objective or agenda
• Lack of preparation
• Too many or the wrong people
• Late start or run out of time
• Interruptions or poor behavior
• Confrontational behavior and conflict
• No actions assigned
• Actions not completed
• Trying to solve the issue in the
meeting
Why do we need better meetings?
• Effective meetings are an essential
requirement for managing business
performance
• Effective meetings are critical for
monitoring and sustaining
performance
• Poorly run meetings are a
tremendous source of lost-time and
frustration for many organisations
• Meetings are an opportunity to build
cohesive teams
• Meetings are the time to drive
results, remove barriers and escalate
issues

4. MEETING EFFICIENCY & EFFECTIVENESS
Best practice meetings should align with “The 40-20-40 Rule”
Preparation (40%)
• Prepare and distribute TOR and
agenda
• Agree and assign key roles for the
meeting – Owner, Chairperson,
Scribe and Coach
• Use the agenda to review the list
of required versus optional
attendees
• Complete due action items and
update the electronic action log
• Prepare and distribute any prereading documents with executive
summaries
• Read the pre-reading and clarify
issues beforehand
Execution (20%)
Follow-Up (40%)
• Everyone is responsible for an
efficient & effective meeting, not
just the Chairperson
• Update the electronic action log on
a shared common drive within a
day of the meeting
• Be clear on the roles &
responsibilities of each person in
the meeting
• People are responsible for
actioning their own action items by
the due date and updating the
electronic action log
• Review the TOR and agenda
• Review the action log from last
meeting
• Recap on the agreed Ground
Rules for the meeting and follow
them
• The scribe should update the
action log as issues arise and
review with attendees at the end
• A meeting Coach should be
present for key meetings to track
meeting performance
• The latest action log should be
reviewed at the beginning of next
meeting
─ Highlight any overdue action
items
─ Review completed action items
since last meeting, as required

5. TORs & AGENDA
TERMS OF REFERENCE – [INSERT MEETING NAME]
MEETING NAME:
FREQUENCY:
DATE/ TIME:
DURATION:
LOCATION:
[Is the name descriptive enough?]
..
../ ..
.. minutes
..
REQUIRED ATTENDEES:
• .. (Owner)
• .. (Chairperson)
• .. (Scribe)
• .. (Coach)
• ..
• ..
PURPOSE OF THIS MEETING:
• To [insert a verb – eg. agree, inform, align]
• To ..
• To ..
AGENDA:
1. [Insert a high-level/ generic here – please note that a more detailed agenda
template can be found on the next slide to be used as required]
2. ..
OPTIONAL ATTENDEES:
• ..
MEETING BEHAVIOURAL GUIDELINES:
• Respect each other – start on time, finish on time
• Listen & value each others contributions
• Challenge the issue, not the person
• Clarify each attendee‟s role & responsibility
• Define purpose, agenda & expected outcomes
• Use executive summaries, send pre-reads in advance
• Come prepared – pre-read & clarify issues beforehand
• Keep on topic, focus on the agenda
• Align the rest of the team before/ after the meeting, not in it
• Use the action log, assign responsibilities & timings
• Commit to completing action items with urgency
• Mobiles on silent, laptops only when related to meeting
INPUTS:
• Action log
• [What do people need to prepare
before this meeting to achieve the
expected outcomes?]
EXPECTED OUTCOMES:
• [What do you need from this
meeting? Should be linked to the
purpose/s and used to drive
discussion]
• To [insert a verb – eg. agree,
inform, align]
• To ..

6. TORs & AGENDA
There are a number of best practice guidelines to follow when creating
Agendas for your meetings
•
Ultimately the Meeting Owner is responsible for finalising the Agenda, however they may
ask participants to pre-populate agendas before meetings on a shared drive
•
Allocate a set time for each item to help keep meeting on track
•
Identify the type of agenda item to be presented, leading to the expected outcomes:
─ INF: To inform – items will be a distribution of information only
─ ALI: To align – input is desired, be prepared to share ideas and views
─ AGR: To agree – following discussion/ presentations, attendees and key stakeholders
will be invited to contribute to decision making process
•
Avoid „any new business‟, get people in the habit of providing agenda items and any prereading material ahead of time

7. ROLES & RESONSIBILITIES
At a minimum, each meeting needs to have an Owner, Chairperson &
Scribe
Meeting Owner
“To Lead”
Chairperson
“To Facilitate”
Scribe
“To Record
Actions”
Coach
“To Measure &
Track
Performance”
• The leader of the meeting
• Presents the TOR and agenda at the start of the meeting
• Recaps and agrees that everyone is accountable to the agreed
behavioural guidelines
The Meeting Owner & Chairperson may
Objectively facilitates the meeting
be the same person, depending on the
size of the meeting
Manages the agenda during the meeting
Tracks the time against the agenda
Assigns a dedicated Scribe and Coach
Steers the conversation – focuses on the agenda, takes other
discussions “offline”
• Distributes pre-reading 2 days in advance including the TOR and
agenda
• Presents and reviews the Action Log at the start of each meeting
•
•
•
•
•
• Records all actions, decisions and resolutions during meeting
• Updates the Action Log throughout the meeting
• Distributes the updated Action Log to all participants within a day of the
meeting via a shared electronic drive
• Presents and reviews the Action Log at the end of each meeting
• Evaluates the meeting using the standard Meeting Scorecard
• Tracks the meetings performance over time
• Provides feedback on meeting performance to Meeting Owners and
attendees
─ Initially this role will be fulfilled by HR, with coaching role assigned to
individual attendees over time

8. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of contents
•
Purpose, Use & Benefits of this Meetings Toolkit
•
Meeting Efficiency & Effectiveness
•
Terms of Reference & Agendas
•
Roles & Responsibilities
•
Behavioural Guidelines
•
Pre-Reading & Presentation Guidelines
•
Length of Meeting Times
•
Action Logs
•
Meeting Scorecards
•
Meeting Scheduling Guidelines
•
Meeting Acceptance Guidelines

9. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of contents
•
Purpose, Use & Benefits of this Meetings Toolkit
•
Meeting Efficiency & Effectiveness
•
Terms of Reference & Agendas
•
Roles & Responsibilities
•
Behavioural Guidelines
•
Pre-Reading & Presentation Guidelines
•
Length of Meeting Times
•
Action Logs
•
Meeting Scorecards
•
Meeting Scheduling Guidelines
•
Meeting Acceptance Guidelines

10. PRE-READING & PRESENTATIONS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY – TEMPLATE
Why Are You
Presenting?
Executive
Summary
Risks/
Opportunities
• To … (inform, align, seek approval for, update…)
• ..
• (No more than 2 lines per key point, only provide the key pieces of information needed to
achieve your purpose for presenting, save the detail for the appendix if possible)
• ..
You can use this standard executive summary template if one
doesn‟t already exist for the document you‟re presenting
As a rule of thumb, if you‟re not able to successfully convey the
key points of your presentation on one page using these headings
– you might not be ready to present
Risks/
Opportunities
• ..

11. LENGTH OF MEETING TIMES
Avoid the issues related to back-to-back meetings by always scheduling
your meetings to finish at least 5 minutes earlier in Outlook
Current Problem
• Most people feel that meetings are
currently „too long‟
• Some people spend their days in „backto-back‟ meetings that can finish later
than scheduled, meaning their next
meeting starts late
Solution
Length of Meetings Guideline:
• Schedule your meetings to finish
at least 5 minutes early in Outlook
─ “If you schedule an hour,
you will take an hour”
─ Finish early to allow you to get to your next
meeting on time
Current Meetings Length
Recommended Length
30 mins
25 mins
60 mins
50 mins
90 mins
75 mins
120 mins
100 mins

12. ACTION LOG
All key meetings should use the standard Action Log to capture any issues, actions
and resolutions with due date timings and a single person responsible for actioning
The standard Action Log template is included
as a separate Excel model

13. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of contents
•
Purpose, Use & Benefits of this Meetings Toolkit
•
Meeting Efficiency & Effectiveness
•
Terms of Reference & Agendas
•
Roles & Responsibilities
•
Behavioural Guidelines
•
Pre-Reading & Presentation Guidelines
•
Length of Meeting Times
•
Action Logs
•
Meeting Scorecards
•
Meeting Scheduling Guidelines
•
Meeting Acceptance Guidelines

14. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of contents
•
Purpose, Use & Benefits of this Meetings Toolkit
•
Meeting Efficiency & Effectiveness
•
Terms of Reference & Agendas
•
Roles & Responsibilities
•
Behavioural Guidelines
•
Pre-Reading & Presentation Guidelines
•
Length of Meeting Times
•
Action Logs
•
Meeting Scorecards
•
Meeting Scheduling Guidelines
•
Meeting Acceptance Guidelines

15. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of contents
•
Purpose, Use & Benefits of this Meetings Toolkit
•
Meeting Efficiency & Effectiveness
•
Terms of Reference & Agendas
•
Roles & Responsibilities
•
Behavioural Guidelines
•
Pre-Reading & Presentation Guidelines
•
Length of Meeting Times
•
Action Logs
•
Meeting Scorecards
•
Meeting Scheduling Guidelines
•
Meeting Acceptance Guidelines