How to Purposefully Invite People to Meetings!

How to - Purposefully invite people

Have you ever been in a meeting where you wondered if you really needed to be there?

Attending meetings unecessarily is a huge tim waster and a big energy drain for everyone concerned.

By using Purpose as a simple, powerful Pre-Meeting Structure, you can have an immediate influence on getting the right people to your meetings, and save the 'wrong' people heaps of time.

Why is Purpose important ?

Purpose is simply defined as "the main reason for the meeting - what we hope to achieve"

Purpose is distinct from the name or topic of the meeting. Whilst the topic you type in to the Subject Line of your Meeting Email may imply a purpose, it is common for people to come along with very different expectations of what the meeting will actually cover.

By defining the Purpose clearly, it becomes more evident who should attend, it helps people come prepared, and it creates more focus on the outcomes of a meeting.

Purpose and People?

Defining the purpose helps clarify who the important invitees should be. For example..

a. If your meeting is to solve a problem, it makes sense to invite ONLY the people who have an intimate knowledge of the problem.

b. For a decision making meeting, you can ensure tha the people who are authorised to make the decision ARE present.

Think about who comes to your meetings, and whether they are all required.

How purposeful are your meetings?

Consider that many of the meetings you initiate do not have clearly defined purpose.

For example, a staff meeting is typically a real mix of items, some which are updates, some decision making, some more strategic. With such diffuse purpose, it is difficult to ensure that all the right people are there for each item. Therefore, some people feel their time is wasted on some topics, whilst others lose interest on other topics.

Defining and separating out the different purpose of your meeting topics for different occasions will have a dramatic affect on the productivity of your staff meetings, and you will likely see more varied participation depending on the Purpose you define for each one.

What can you do?

To put these concepts into action, here are a few practical ways to use Purpose as a powerful structure and ensure you invite people Purposefully.

1. Singular purpose; Whereever possible, focus your meeting with a single over-arching purpose. Avoid multiple topic meetings with varying purposes. Move items that do not fit your purpose to another occasion (or deal with them on the phone)

2. Invite with Purpose; Whenever you invite to a meeting, define the purpose in one sentence, or in 2 or 3 bullet points. Do this by typing "Purpose" in the notes section of your electronic calendar invite and writing it in.

3. Invite People Purposefully; Type the names of meeting guests in the notes section and next to each name type the role or inputs you see them providing. This will force you to think through why your are inviting them. It will also encourage others to think about whether all the right people are invited, and opt out if they see they can't really add much value.

4. Pose a Purposeful question; To encourge Pre-work, type a Question for people to reflect on that frames the purpose. This will further reinforce why people are turning up.. and cause them to be more focussed when they arrive

Example of Outlook Diary Invitation

Subject:	Problem XYZ
Time:	Thursday, 1st Sept
Location:	Fishbowl Room
Purpose; To identify what is behind the regular re-occurence of XYZ Problem, and agree a course of action we can implement within 2 months to solve it. People; Harry - knows the problem well Jo - has background on the overall project Sue - can authorise a change to project scope Frank - understands the IT implications Do we need anyone else? Question: What do you think are the underlying causes, rather than the surface issues?

Purposeful Preparation improves Productivity

Spending just a few minutes to establish the purpose and invite the right people will save a lot of wated time down the track.. People will experience less time in your meetings wondering why they are there.

And if they do show up unecessarily, they will read your Meeting Invites more carefully next time. You will soon become known as someone who runs purposeful and productive meetings.

by David Pointon FAST Meeting Co