1. Meeting to Some Purpose
Ashok Korwar
April 07

2. The Tragedy
• Meetings are the very essence of most managerial
work
• Yet few are productive
• Hardly any management thinking has ever gone
into this issue (not even a handful of HBR
articles, no course at IIMs..)
• Generally left to non-managerial (therefore
limited) process functions (like CMM, QMS etc.)

3. So…
• Why are meetings so ineffective and even
counter-productive?

4. Possible causes..
• Is it the way they are conducted?
• Is it the attitude participants bring to them?
– Do some people feel like uninvolved bystanders?
– Do some people feel victimized and afraid to speak?
– Too much polite ducking of issues?
– Does it merely heighten conflict rather than resolve it?
• Is it the content?
– Either inappropriate to the setting or too variable in
content?
• Is it because of what happens (or doesn’t happen)
afterwards?

5. Or, more subtly..
• Different participants in different frames of
mind, at any given time
• Different levels and modes of thinking get
mixed up..

6. Anyway..
• How can we fix this problem?

7. Some thoughts..
• On Content
– And
• On Conduct

8. Hypothesis: the main problem is:
• There isn’t only one kind of meeting
1. Status Review meetings
2. Problem-solving meetings
3. Tactical discussions
4. Strategic deliberations
5. Vision exercises
6. Energizing meetings
7. Communication cascades
So there isn’t only one set of problems!

9. Each of these..
• Has its own value
• Needs to be handled differently
• In content, timing, setting, medium and
length (duration), and attitude/atmosphere

10. If we mix them up..
• If we do problem-solving in status meetings:
uninvolved members get bored or (worse!)
titillated, person involved gets exposed/humiliated
in public, will take care to hide problems in future
• If we do tactical thinking in problem-solving
meetings, problem won’t get solved, people
needed may not be present
• If we do strategic thinking in tactical
meetings, tenor and tone of discussion yo-yos
from high level to detailed, immediate to long
term: participants get confused, run out of time

11. So..
• Let’s look at each of these ‘meeting types’,
both content and conduct

12. 1. Status Meetings
• Aim:
– bring everyone onto same page
– Give preview, notice, of important events
coming up shortly
– Sound early warning signals

13. 1. Status Meetings: Content
• All participants share what they did, what
they are going to do

14. 1. Status Meetings: Conduct
• 15 minute ‘standing’ meeting every day
– or
• 30 minute con-call every week
• Quick round-robin, clarification questions only, no
probing/analysis
• Atmosphere must be relaxed, businesslike
• Follow up: keep me informed what happens, or:
let’s have a separate problem-solving meeting
• Minutes can be brief and must be circulated
immediately (within 6 hours)

15. 2: Problem Resolution meetings
• Content: to solve a specific problem
• Can be triggered by
– a status update meeting
– A customer complaint
– An MIS report
– ………..

16. 2: Problem Resolution Meetings
Conduct
• Should NEVER be done with bystanders, only
with those directly concerned with the problem
• Time: not fixed, whatever it takes to solve
problem
• Attitude should be: here is the problem, we know
what it is, don’t tell me the problem, tell me the
root cause, tell me the solution.
• Atmosphere: intense, serious, probing, relentless.
• Follow-up: a set of actions, with milestones and
metrics

17. 3:Tactical Discussions
Content
• Not strategic
• Goal: solve major and urgent problems
facing organization as a whole.
• Choose max 2-3 topics of importance: how
shall we improve fulfillment rate, how to
control expenses this month, how shall we
win this deal

18. 3: Tactical Meetings
Conduct
• Participants: by role: such as management committee
• Lead presenter should come prepared with presentation
• Monthly
• Date and time set in advance
• Time: fixed within reason: 3 hours max.
• Follow-up: a small set of projects (no programs) with
deliverables, milestones and metrics
• Minutes must be detailed and circulated within 12 hours
• 6 thinking hats can be used to focus discussion

19. 6 Thinking Hats
• By de Bono
• An excellent if artificial-looking device to
achieve ‘thinking together’.
• Get everyone to ‘paint landscape together’,
not take positions, not hold each other to
positions, look at whole picture together.

20. 4: Strategic Meetings
Content
• Goal: to adjust strategy as required
• Is Business Plan on track? What are
learnings from the market? Scenario
analysis..
• What major processes are creaking under
the strain and need rebuilding?
• What major accounts are not growing as
they should?

21. 4. Strategic Meetings
Conduct
• Once a quarter or As required (adhoc is also ok, strategy need not wait
for strategic planning meeting!)
• Full day- as long as it takes. Setting time limits is counter-productive.
• Chaired by CEO
• All relevant participants, including but not restricted to, management
committee
• Choose 2-3 major themes (1 is even better)
• Considerable homework to be done in advance
• Attitude should be: let’s focus on long-term issues, root cause
analysis, process thinking, program management (as distinct from
projects)
• Useful tools: theory of constraints, undesirable effects tree, conflict
cloud..
• Follow up: a small number of programs (not projects), new processes.
• Minutes can be brief and high-level, circulation restricted.

22. 5:Vision Exercises
• Goal:
– To re-examine Theory of Business
– To set new direction if necessary
– To give new life to old strategies
– To build organization, shape values
– To build the management team

23. 5: Vision Exercises
Conduct
• Must be off-site
• Team building, feedback to each
other, expectations from each other – must be
integral part
• Out-of-box thinking, radical prescriptions, open
dialogue must be the norm
• Undiscussables must be surfaced through dialogue
process (ref. Argyris)
• Atmosphere of open-ness, no repercussions, no
hierarchy..
• Minutes are not important, need not even be kept.

24. 6. Energizing Meetings
• Goal: to motivate the troops
• Content: forward looking, simple and
focused
– What we have achieved, why we are great, why
the future is bright..
• Conduct: short, highly energetic
presentations, music and entertainment

25. 7: Communication Cascade
• Goal: to communicate some important message
about the company to all levels
• Content: very important, business or organization
critical
• Conduct: to control transmission loss, ppt must be
standardized, elaborate FAQs worked out, at least
one senior person from outside the unit must co-
lead
• To be held whenever necessary, not more than
once or twice a year