Let’s start with a shocker: you may not need a meeting agenda.
Not every type of meeting requires an agenda. A one-topic briefing, for example, doesn’t need a formal agenda. The calendar invitation, with topic included, likely provides sufficient information. Since no one who’s invited will need to prepare or participate in simply receiving the information, an agenda is pointless.
An agenda is needed when:
More often than not, an agenda is warranted. Don’t let lack of time, procrastination, bad meeting habits, or personal preferences determine whether or not an agenda is provided. Instead, objectively consider these criteria. When in doubt, provide an agenda.
For update, check-in, briefing, ideation, and single-topic meetings, you may not need an agenda. But you still need structure. Structure prevents the meeting from being a free-for-all that accomplishes nothing.
Agenda-less meetings should still be outcome-based with a clear purpose that’s understood by all. What you hope to accomplish (the outcome) will help you determine the type of meeting to hold and whether or not you’ll need an agenda.
Here are three meeting structures for meetings that do not require an agenda:
This technique engages all meeting participants in collaborating to co-create a meeting agenda at the beginning of the meeting. The collaboration process is IDEA (Identify, Determine, Examine, Act), and it goes like this:
Once the top priority issue has been addressed, move to the next item. Of the remaining list, what is most urgent and/or important?
Time allocation for each item discussed should be determined by how many issues actually need to be examined and acted upon right away.
This approach is best suited to recurring meetings like weekly check-ins for established teams. Until the team gets acclimated to this approach, you may wish to use a meeting facilitator who’s familiar with real-time agendas.
This is a relatively new concept that aims for people to start the work that needs to be done together rather than merely talking about it. After all, the biggest frustration about meetings is that they interfere with “real” work… so why not make a change so that progress is made during meetings?
With this approach, individuals choose where to focus their time and do collaborative work. A menu of topics is posted, and sub-groups form. Those topics can be generated by the leader ahead of time or by the group in live time. It’s best to choose small problems or steps within larger problems so that progress can be made during the meeting.
Sub-groups breakout from the full group and work together to discuss, debate, and create solutions. In an open space meeting, no one is bound to a group. In fact, movement between groups is encouraged to ensure that decisions are inclusive and that the right people are consulted along the way.
For first-time participants, this format may seem a bit chaotic. But this structured time is really no different from the rest of the workday with its distractions and competing demands. The difference is in the accessibility to others and in the dedicated purpose of focusing on a selected topic.
Open space meetings are useful for groups that want to encourage input from everyone and workplace cultures that value connections between colleagues.
Like open space meetings, unconferences are a reimagining of traditional formats that miss the mark in getting engagement from all participants.
The typical conference offers a menu of presentations. Attendees follow an agenda, selecting from the presentations offered. Most of these presentations are made by subject-matter experts, entertainers, and those with stories or experience to share. Interaction is typically limited to brief Q&A and networking events built into the event’s agenda.
Unconferences, by contrast, focus on participants rather than presenters. Sessions are created on the spot, in live time, based on participants’ interests, needs, and priorities. People come together because of the high-level topic of interest, but the discussion topics are not pre-determined. Breakout time frames may be planned (or not!), but the topic will not be planned until participants voice their opinions.
Unconferences can be hosted internally or can be used to engage clients (a variation on focus groups) or communities. Cross-functional problem-solving, teambuilding, and brainstorming are also opportunities for an unconference approach.
As described above, you’ll need an agenda more often than not. The benefits of creating an effective agenda include:
To deliver these benefits, use these eight tips for creating an effective agenda.
Include the desired outcome on the calendar invitation, too. Make it the title of the meeting. If you have any conversations about the meeting, mention its purpose (the desired outcome). And, as you open the meeting, clearly state this desired outcome. In other words, this is a big deal and should never be overlooked.
Don’t make participants chase down emails, notes from a previous meeting, or each other to find out what they need to do in preparation for the meeting or as follow up to the meeting. Make it easy for them to see and hard for them to miss what’s expected.
For each agenda item, list the following:
In a previous post from this series, we addressed the various roles and responsibilities needed for effective meetings. Many of the essential roles and responsibilities rotate between team members. Make assignments clear by listing them on the agenda.
Add the names of those who are invited to attend the meeting. Put the names on the agenda. As you list topics on the agenda, be sure that you’ve got the right people included in the meeting. Content should be relevant for every participant in the meeting. If it’s not, there should be a separate meeting.
By allocating time to these two activities at the end of meetings, you’ll save time in the long run.
Allow at least 10 minutes for wrap up. This will ensure that everyone is “on the same page” and knows what the action items are, who’s taking them, and what the deadline is for taking them. Be sure that there’s consensus and common understanding of what was discussed in the meeting and what the next steps will be.
Allow an additional 5 minutes for the appointed process observer’s feedback. Using an assessment form and notes captured during the meeting, the process observer will report on what was effective and what can be improved in the next meeting.
There’s no benefit to cramming too many topics into too little time. Put the most important topic at the beginning of the agenda and the least one at the bottom. Work your way from most to least important and be okay with not getting to everything if one of the higher priority topics requires more time than you allocated.
Be realistic in the amount of time budgeted, too. Sharing a brief update without discussion takes much less time than brainstorming to solve a thorny problem, for example.
Ideally, the agenda should go out at least 24 hours before the meeting. That way, people can prepare and get information/answers they might need to contribute to the meeting. If you’re including pre-work that’s announced in the agenda, allow even more time.
If you’d like to learn more about effective meetings and how to avoid common meeting derailers, join us on for this free, live workshop on People First Leadership Academy.