Do you run meetings – or do they run you?

by Katherine Woods and Julie Krysik
Meetings can make a huge difference to any business and can provide a powerful springboard for driving work forward. However, to be truly productive, they need to be run smoothly and effectively.

This article looks at some of the challenges that arise out of meetings that are attended – and often led – by marketing professionals. It also explores the adoption of a different approach that could make your meetings more effective.

Meetings, meetings, meetings

Marketing professionals are busy people who often have to spend a disproportionate amount of their time in meetings. Research commissioned by Meeting Magic shows that, on average, business managers spend between 30% and 50% of their time in meetings. However, for most marketing professionals, this figure may be a gross underestimate.

Julie Krysik, an independent marketing consultant who previously worked as a Senior Brand Manager for Coca Cola and as a Marketing Manager for Kraft comments, 'in my experience, marketers in the FMCG sector may have to spend as much as 80% of their time in meetings.'

There is no doubt that meetings are an important part of business life – but Meeting Magic’s research suggests that only 46% of meetings result in any action. Julie comments, 'although I think that the real figure may be higher than this, there is little doubt that a high proportion of meetings are fairly unproductive. This means that an awful lot of time and money is being wasted.'

So, why do marketing professionals spend so much time in meetings? And what can be done to make this time more productive?

Expectations, expectations, expectations

Marketing professionals find their time is swallowed up by a wide variety of meetings; from detailed briefings with external agencies and suppliers through to meetings with different virtual teams. Each marketing project can involve a different internal product team, so marketing professionals can find themselves in four or five virtual teams at any one time.

Julie explains, 'we like to think of ourselves as the hub of the business wheel – the key point of contact. We’re often looked at as the Project Manager and the people who drive ideas through. We’re used to pushing the agenda, ensuring the alignment of plans, clarifying issues, driving the need for action, calling functions to account and delivering results. So, marketing meetings can easily take up a large part of our day.'

Julie continues, 'although you may be capable of running meetings, there are times when you may be so involved in the project that it is difficult to be objective. These are the times when you may need to step back and decide NOT to run the meeting.'

Results, results, results!

Wherever possible, meetings should actively involve as many of the participants as possible. It can be difficult to take full part in the discussions if you are also focussing on running the meeting.

One solution is to use an independent facilitator. This could be an internal or external person who is experienced at guiding discussions towards a useful conclusion.

An independent facilitator can make a real difference to many different types of meetings – from complex projects or creative discussions through to the development of a new internal or external partnership. Ultimately, the facilitator is interested in one main aim – a successful meeting that produces clear decisions. The achievement of this goal is likely to save your business significant amounts of time, man hours and money.

Outsourcing the facilitation can bring enormous benefits. An external person can be very objective. They can often draw out important underlying issues, which may otherwise have been overlooked. At the same time, the marketing professional is free to put their own view across without feeling restricted. Meanwhile, the facilitator will be capturing the large amount of information that is discussed, saving valuable follow-up time afterwards.

A good starting point is to identify one or two critical meetings. Consider using an independent facilitator for these meetings. You may find that one or two large, well planned meetings could eliminate the need for – and cost of - many smaller meetings.

Copyright © Katherine Woods and Julie Krysik