Managing People & Teams » Meetings » How to Lead an Effective Meeting

How to Lead an Effective Meeting

Leading meetings is an important aspect of a manager’s role. Whether your meetings are formal and structured, or
informal and flexible, following the advice in this guide will help you lead them effectively.

Make the necessary arrangements

Try to hold the meeting at a time and date that is convenient for all participants. If you use shared calendars in
your organisation, it is a good idea to take a look at your attendees’ schedules to make sure that your proposed
meeting time doesn’t clash with any of their other appointments. If anyone is dialling in to the meeting from another
country, be considerate of any time difference there may be.
Think carefully about how long your meeting will take, allowing an extra 15-20 minutes for questions and answers.
Identify the best medium for your meeting (e.g. face-to-face, teleconference, video call) and make sure an
appropriate location for the meeting is booked for the necessary amount of time well in advance.
Make sure your chosen meeting location has all the equipment and facilities you might need (e.g. flip chart,
projector etc).

Be prepared
Create an agenda for your meeting. Even if you choose not to follow it rigorously at the time, having a written note
of all the items you want to discuss will help you stay on track.
Agendas should clearly indicate the nature of each item to be discussed in the meeting, the required outcome,
the time allocated for it, and the name of the attendee who will be introducing it.
Prioritise the agenda points so that the most urgent and/or critical items are discussed first.
If appropriate, invite attendees to suggest their own agenda points and sumbit their questions for the
meeting a few days before the meeting. This will help to ensure all the necessary items are discussed and that
attendees are engaged and feel involved with the meeting.
Circulate the agenda to all attendees two to three days before the meeting, to allow them to prepare. It is also a
good idea to send the attendees any other documentation that you intend to use in the meeting (e.g. reports,
spreadsheets) along with the agenda.
All key issues, decisions and action items should be captured in concise, accurate minutes. If another attendee
is acting as minute-taker, spend some time with them before the meeting to explain how you would like the minutes
to be recorded. Further advice is available in Top Tips for Using Agendas and Minutes.

Choose the right style

As part of your preparation, consider how formal your meeting should be. Informal meetings can be
particularly effective for holding regular group discussions, for discussing non-critical issues or for leading
meetings with fewer than 10 participants. Formal meetings, however, are more appropriate for addressing serious
or critical issues (e.g. the organisation’s performance or finances) or for leading meetings where there are several
(i.e. 10 or more) attendees.
In formal meetings, the agenda is closely followed and attendees tend to participate at pre-defined points of the
meeting, or when invited to do so by the chair.
In informal meetings, the agenda is used as a loose guide to help everyone in the meeting stay on track. An
appointed meeting leader or chair opens up the discussion but attendees are generally able to contribute to the
conversation more freely than they can in formal meetings.

Get the meeting off to a good start

At the start of less formal meetings, you may wish to consider allowing a couple of minutes to allow attendees to
settle down and gather their notes together. However, for more formal occasions, such as board meetings, or
when time is in short supply, it may be more appropriate to get the meeting under way as soon as possible.
When you are ready to start the meeting, thank the participants for attending, and set some context before
addressing the first agenda point.: remind everyone why you are meeting and what the anticipated outcomes of
the session are

Adopt a clear communication style

As the leader of the meeting, it is important to articulate messages, ideas and opinions clearly and succinctly,
and encourage others to do the same.
 Avoid relying too heavily on technical terms, jargon or slang.
Always address participants politely and respectfully, and respond sensitively to their ideas and suggestions.
Use positive language during the meeting. This involves phrasing requests, ideas and questions in a positive
way, e.g. suggesting solutions to problems, helping and encouraging others and focusing on what can be done,
rather than what can’t. This will help to foster a positive environment within the meeting, and will encourage
attendees to participate more actively.

Listen carefully
When others are speaking, it is important to pay close attention and demonstrate that you are listening to what
is being said. This involves maintaining eye contact with the participant who is speaking, nodding to show
understanding, and not becoming distracted by anything else around you. Further advice is available in The Five
Components of Active Listening.
Keep an open mind when others offer their ideas and suggestions. Even if you feel confident you know what
particular participants are going to say, it is still important to allow them the chance to speak and to give their views
due consideration.

Encourage participation
As the meeting progresses, it is likely that different attendees will contribute their thoughts and opinions at various
intervals. However, some participants may not feel comfortable with offering their thoughts unprompted. It is
therefore a good idea to ask from time to time whether anyone has anything to add or suggest before
progressing on to the next agenda point.
Encourage attendees to ask questions and test their understanding as the meeting progresses.

Drive the meeting forward

Be firm, but flexible. As each agenda point is discussed, new issues or topics of discussion are likely to arise. If
these are relevant to all the attendees and are pertinent to the objectives of the meeting, it is a good idea to
explore these new topics, if you have time. However, it is also important to ensure that the discussion does not
stray too far from the planned agenda. If this happens, suggest that you discuss these issues with the relevant
individuals after the meeting.
Ensure that there is a logical process for making decisions during the meeting. If decisions are to be reached by
mutual consent, check that everyone is in agreement with a proposed solution before moving on to the next
agenda point.
As the leader, you should manage time within the meeting effectively. Refer to the timeframes you included in
the agenda to make sure that each point is addressed within the time allocated. If a particular agenda item is in
danger of running over time, encourage the participants to draw the conversation to a close and, if appropriate,
start to reach some decisions.

Close the meeting effectively

Once the agenda points have been covered and any questions have been answered, it is important to bring the
meeting to a logical conclusion.
Try to ensure that a set of clear outcomes can be identified at the end of every meeting.
Aim to distribute action items logically and fairly.
If any issues cannot be resolved within the meeting’s allocated timeframe, make sure these points are at the top
of the agenda for the group’s next meeting.
Finally, thank participants for attending and contributing to the meeting.
Be sure to send any follow-up documentation to attendees promptly; you might want to ask your minute-
taker to do this on your behalf.

Identify improvements for next time

After the meeting has taken place, spend some time reflecting on how effectively you led the discussion, and
whether you would do anything differently in the future. It is a good idea to make a note of these points to remind
you of what worked well, and what you might improve next time you lead a meeting.
You might also find it helpful to solicit some feedback from your attendees from time to time to find out how
productive they find your meetings, and how effectively they feel you lead group discussions.
Related Items
Related Resources
Top Tips for Using Agendas and Minutes
The Five Components of Active Listening
How to Have Better Meetings