Meeting Rules

Being professional means being able to responsibly handle obligations at all levels of work. Big objectives, like delivering projects successfully, depend on the cooperation of the people involved. But sometimes, even simple things like respecting meeting rules (e.g. starting on time, sticking on the agenda) are not performed - and this may lag the accomplishment of a goal.

Things get more difficult once colleagues become friends. How exactly can you professionalize work when personal relationships are involved? How can you avoid personal excuses from entering into future projects? One way of maintaining professionalism is to abide by simple reminders, and an example of this is by establishing meeting rules.

Agree on the Schedule.

Participants in a meeting should find a consensus on the best meeting time for everyone. This means that the head of the meeting shouldn't arbitrarily assign a time, but should instead consult everyone regarding their preferred schedule. If this is not possible, consider the vote of the majority or the availability of the decision-makers and main project movers.

Doing so will ensure that the participants will neither be caught off guard with the time, nor complain about not being consulted. If they're unable to meet the schedule, they will be able to openly take responsibility and explain why they were not able to comply. In all cases, getting an agreement on the schedule spells better organization.

Prepare an Agenda.

Meeting rules must include control of the content of a discussion. This will ensure that the meeting is not just productive, but that time is not wasted on side-discussions irrelevant to the objectives of the organization.

If there are four objectives, assign a timeframe, a key result area and a person-in-charge for each one. Critical discussions, e.g. issues that generate the most pay-off for the company, must require more time. Meanwhile, lighter topics such as recreation and personal comments or suggestions should be accomplished in ten minutes or so - or may even be better appreciated when written down rather than orally discussed. This will enable everyone to be conscious of their opinions because of the temporal limitation, and will stop straying out of the topics as agreed upon by the participants.

Stick to the Topic.

Sometimes it's very difficult to refrain from engaging interesting ideas that are connected to the agreed topics in the meeting. Hence, the meeting facilitator must have the skills to control the discussion, and nip stray contributions in the bud. If the new issue raised is important, it may be placed in a "parking bay", to be discussed in the next meeting, or only if extra time allows. Participants should be reminded not to take warnings or reminders too seriously; the leader is only abiding by the agreed meeting rules.

Evaluate.

Whenever you've set meeting rules, always make sure that you assess if they have been successfully applied. Did they improve the productivity of the group? Did they improve work relations? Ask the participants if they find the new process effective in respecting the time, effort, and ideas of all the members. Doing so will ensure that everyone contributes to the success of the plans and projects, even if only through one or two meetings.

Resources

• Robert's Rules of Order are the original meeting rules.