Imagine a scene where leaders enthusiastically review the company's achievements over the past year and look forward to the future direction. The meeting has been going on for hours, and you feel like the leader hasn't hit the point. Some of the colleagues around me were fiddling with their mobile phones offstage, and some were dozing off. Occasionally, leaders will name someone and ask them to share their personal opinions and feelings. This oppressive feeling is not new to many people. In each company or organization, there are all kinds of meetings, such as morning meetings, regular meetings, study seminars, summary meetings, and so on.
Some leaders would rather spend 20 minutes organizing a meeting than communicate the problem in two sentences. It doesn't matter to them whether the meeting is productive, helpful to the team, whether you want to listen, or whether you enjoy participating. All they value is the act of "having a meeting" itself. Is this really a meeting in the true sense of the word? Of course not.
So how can it be called effective, let's take a look at Buffett's management wisdom, in Buffett's management wisdom, what aspects are worthy of our in-depth study and reference?
1. Grasp the beginning of 12 words: I find, I feel, I suggest, I hope
I've found out what kind of problems have been going on with the team lately
I feel what the consequences will be if you don't correct it
What kind of standardized process should I suggest to change?
I hope that you can implement the problems that you are encountering now
In the meeting, if every time the superior puts forward a decision or suggestion, the subordinates nod their heads in agreement, looking very consistent and harmonious, but in fact it does not necessarily mean how high the quality of the meeting is.
From the point of view of subordinates, not raising objections does not equate to real support. If a team is harmonious on the surface, there may be a crisis behind it.
As management guru Drucker said: If there is no opposition, no decision should be made. If there is only one voice in the team, it could mean that no one dares to speak their true minds. The lack of objections may indicate that the issue has not been thoroughly discussed, and the underlying problem may be swept under the rug, resulting in managers not being able to hear the real voice.
Therefore, an effective meeting should belong to everyone. While everyone is not required to speak, it is important that participants understand the purpose of the meeting. People at different levels look at problems from a strategic and tactical point of view, and have different approaches to solving problems. Subordinates may perceive their superiors' remarks as hollow, and this difference in understanding can easily lead to communication barriers.
It is crucial to be clear about the objectives of the meeting. Keeping participants aware of the importance of their presence encourages active participation and effective discussion. Otherwise, many people may only attend in the form of a formality, bow their heads and be busy with other work, do not speak, and may end up suddenly raising objections or asking irrelevant questions, and such a meeting will not be able to achieve the desired effect.
2. The "369 rule" of presiding over a meeting
1. 3 formulas
(1) Meeting + non-implementation = zero
(2) Assignment + no inspection = zero
(3) Grasp the things that are not implemented + hold accountable those who do not implement = implementation
The core goal of convening a meeting is to solve the problem, that is, to implement, if the meeting does not produce concrete results, then it is equivalent to wasting everyone's time, this meeting = invalid!
At Huawei, one of the most common complaints from employees is frequent meetings, and this phenomenon is likely to be in the top three. The normal life of many Huawei employees is busy with meetings during the day and handling emails at night. As the number of Huawei meetings at all levels continues to increase, the number of topics and participants is also increasing, and the duration of meetings is also extended, but the efficiency of meetings is generally not high.
In order to improve the situation, Huawei has issued an internal document emphasizing the need to focus on value creation, reduce unnecessary meetings and PPT production, and put forward specific requirements on how to effectively and efficiently hold meetings at all levels. Based on the standardized meeting management process, Huawei usually plans the important meetings of the following year at the end of the year and publishes the details on the intranet. This is known as a high-level calendar, accurate to each day of the following year. Departments can use this high-level calendar to schedule their own meetings, such as annual debriefing meetings and strategic planning meetings.
Therefore, it is incumbent upon the person in charge of the meeting to interrupt tirades that are off-topic at the right time. Ideally, the meeting length should be limited to 1.5 to 2 hours to avoid exceeding people's endurance limits. The host of the meeting should set a time reminder, such as 60 minutes, 30 minutes, 10 minutes, etc. The decisions of the meeting should be recorded and read out at the meeting for confirmation.
Unconfirmed conclusions need to be discussed separately, and confirmed decisions should be implemented immediately. "Failure to follow up after the meeting is equivalent to an invalid meeting." Supervision and inspection need to be strengthened: Establish a follow-up mechanism after the meeting to ensure that each decision is followed up and reviewed, so that problems can be identified and adjusted in a timely manner to ensure the implementation of meeting decisions. Many business managers lack this awareness and habit, and the top management of the enterprise fails to put forward corresponding requirements.
2. 6 steps
(1) Prepare materials before the meeting
(2) Clarify the theme of the meeting
(3) Set up meeting discipline
(4) Sort out the agenda of the meeting
(5) Implement the results of the meeting
(6) Ensure supervision and inspection
A clear agenda should be prepared before the meeting, and the conference organizer should distribute it in writing to all participants before the meeting, so that they can understand the objectives, time and content of the meeting in advance, and have sufficient time to prepare relevant materials and arrange work. It is important to keep a tight watch on each topic and avoid aimless gossip.
It is critical to ensure that the minutes of the meeting are accurate and complete. Each meeting should result in specific resolutions, and each resolution should specify specific personnel for implementation and deadlines for completion. If the implementation of a resolution requires a multifaceted resource, it must be clearly indicated in the record to prevent post-session shifting of responsibility and to ensure that the resolution is implemented. This is extremely critical and is one of the common mistakes made by managers at all levels of the business. Failure to reach a resolution can also lead some managers to perceive the meeting as meaningless, which in turn affects their willingness to chair or participate in the meeting.
Warren Buffett is a champion of minimalism, and in his company, no meetings of any kind, including video conferencing, are popular in many places today. There are no investment Q&A sessions within the company, no bureaucracy and no formalism. Warren Buffett has no investment research consultants, nor will he lead the team to conduct research around, let alone post on Weibo on the way to show that he is busy. Many of his acquisition decisions are made within a short period of time, sometimes without even meeting with the CEO of the acquired company (of course, before carefully reviewing the company's financial data).
3. 9 specifications
(1) All meetings must be prepared: no meetings without preparation
(2) All meetings must have a theme: the purpose of the meeting is clear
(3) There must be discipline in all meetings: the disciplinary charter is announced before the meeting
(4) For all meetings, there must be an agenda before the meeting; Before the meeting, have a clear agenda for the meeting
(5) All meetings must have results: the purpose of the meeting is to solve problems, so the meeting should form an effective resolution
(6) All meetings must have training: special training on "how to hold a meeting".
(7) All meetings must be punctual: start on time and end on time
(8) All meetings must be recorded: there must be an accurate and complete meeting record
(9) All meetings are dismissed, there must be follow-up after the fact: the resolution must have a responsible person and a deadline for completion, and there must be follow-up and inspection
Former Google CEO Eric · Schmidt once said: "Every meeting should have a clear purpose." If the purpose is vague or unachievable, then the meeting should be cancelled. ”
When convening a meeting, it is important to establish clear objectives rather than just a formality. Meetings need to be goal-oriented, but also topically consistent. A common situation in the work is that the leader suddenly informs everyone to gather for a meeting in a short time, and everyone is confused and does not know the content of the meeting after arriving at the scene. This situation is clearly a sign of lack of preparation. It often takes a lot of time to synchronize information, resulting in valuable time being wasted.
Warren Buffett emphasized the efficiency of the meeting, and he proposed: "The meeting should be notified in advance, and the problems to be discussed and solved should be clearly discussed, so that everyone can prepare in advance." "As a meeting initiator, you must be clear about the purpose of the meeting, its objectives, and its value to the participants. Indeed, the meeting was designed to solve problems. For example, if the April target is not met, the strategy for May should be determined after the summary.
However, this is not the case with many in-company meetings. At the meeting, the heads of various departments often pass the buck to each other. Sales blames operations for providing poor leads, while operations complains about low conversion rates from sales teams. As a result, operational meetings have become blame-shifting meetings, where arguments have been debated but real issues have not been resolved.
Another problem with the meeting was the lack of conclusions. It's not uncommon to go to a meeting with one question and come back with more. The result is constant meetings and repetition of old issues. Even if there is a conclusion, no one implements it. There was a lack of inspection and follow-up after the meeting, and the problem was eventually resolved. Until the leader remembered again and called everyone to a meeting. An issue was discussed from the beginning of the year to the end of the year without any results.
Therefore, the meeting must reach a conclusion, and the responsible person must be identified and the follow-up inspection must be carried out to ensure that the resolution is implemented.
The United States Military Academy at West Point has a wise saying:
A flock led by a male lion can defeat a flock led by a sheep. The combat effectiveness of a team depends largely on the abilities of its leaders.
A good leader, both as a leader and a supporter of the team, should say "follow me" to the team, not "give it to me". Especially when the team needs to meet when the team is facing a decision or challenge, the leader should identify the problem and develop a solution to reduce the burden on the team members.
So, ditching those ineffective meetings and focusing on productive meetings is an important sign of maturity for managers.