How to NOT invite people to meetings

Anyone who’s ever had to call or attend meetings before for any reason knows the difference between a good meeting and a bad meeting.

Often though it has absolutely nothing to do with the topic of discussion and everything to do with the attitudes and egos of the people attending. And sometimes to absolutely disastrous effects.

Think back to your last few meetings, how did they go? would they have gone better if a certain person wasn’t invited? or perhaps if a few different people were there instead?

Thus is the art of:

Not inviting people to meetings.

Meeting invites should be treated like dinner party invites, selective and with intent. Often people are not invited just because of their status, but because they can offer something to the party such as stimulating discussion or to raise the profile or tone of the meeting.

This is exactly what you should adopt when calling a meeting in your workplace.

Is there someone senior to you that will provide little extra for your meeting? Then don’t bother inviting them. A colleague has a differing point of view on the topic just for the sake of argument? Then don’t invite them either.

What are the outcomes?

First of all you need to decide on the outcome of the meeting you want to achieve. It won’t always work out this way but with creative selection of people to attend then you have a much better chance that the intended outcome will be achieved.

So ask yourself, “What is the outcome I want to achieve?”

You might want to have people agree to a new arrangement, or deny a request from another department, perhaps to slow or speed up an internal or external process.

No matter what outcome, you want to ensure you have the best chance for it to naturally occur in the meeting without too much guidance, it is best if it happens of its own accord but sometimes a little prompting in the right direction is needed.

What is on your agenda?

Here is where you will carefully craft the items that you wish to speak about in the meeting you propose to others. These are incredibly important, especially if you are inviting select people to affect a specific outcome. Think about the people you want to invite and how they will read each item on your agenda but also remember to follow some simple rules when holding a meeting.

Rules of great meetings:

1. Have a clear purpose to your meeting.
2. ALWAYS stay on topic.
3. A short meeting is a good meeting.
4. Preparation, preparation, preparation.
5. Remember to include everyone.
6. Ensure the participants are available.
7. Never leave without a decision being made.

If you follow these seven rules of good meetings then you shouldn’t have any problem creating an agenda that is not only effective, but maximises the time spent in the meeting addressing the topics you have brought to the table.

Who should you invite?

The selection of people who will attend your meeting is, of course, the most crucial step. It is these people that will decide the outcome of your meeting.

Before you add a person to a meeting ask yourself the following questions:

• Is this person relevant to the agenda topics?
• Will this person add to the meeting?
• Is this person agreeable or argumentative?
• Does this person often complicate things?
• Does this person raise the profile of the meeting?
• Is it appropriate this person attend?
• What is the influence this person exerts?

Once you’re able to answer these questions it should be a breeze to assemble a “dream team” for your meeting outcome to be realised.

If you want a positive outcome to help move forward with a topic then you would want a person who is relevant to the topic, generally agreeable who doesn’t complicate processes and raises the profile of the meeting.

However if you want a negative outcome then perhaps an argumentative person who does complicate processes that exerts influence over others in the meeting and also raises the meeting profile may be needed.

Know the people you work with!

The quickest way to achieve the steps outlined above is to know the people you work with. It is no good to call a meeting expecting people to behave a certain way to agree or disagree with agenda items if you don’t know them!

If you have been in your role for quite a while then you should already have a clear picture about the people around you, if not ask your fellow colleagues their opinions of your intended invitees or go for a coffee with your invitee and discuss other items (just don’t stray onto your agenda topics!).

Once you have a picture of the people you work with then you can easily qualify or disqualify people to attend your meeting.

Keep it safe, Keep it secret

A meeting should be like a well oiled machine, all its parts working synchronously to achieve its purpose, but add too many parts and it becomes a hassle to manage efficiently.

Once you have set your agenda, selected the participants and called the meeting then don’t boast about the things you are going to achieve in the meeting lest it get back to one of the participants.

Avoid speaking about the specifics of the meeting unless approached by an invited person. This will stop other people inviting themselves and derailing your meeting so you can stick to the seven rules of a good meeting above.

It may sound suspicious to keep it secret, but it will work to your advantage to treat it on a “need to know” basis.

You are the chosen one

Ok so you’ve followed the steps above, now you are staring down the barrel of the proverbial gun that is your meeting. What to do?

First, breathe, don’t fret about what you have just called. Don’t think negatively about the outcome. Don’t worry about the people in the room.

“But I just invited the CEO!” you might be thinking.

Yes, you might have done that, but he or she is just a person, like yourself. Don’t let another person’s position intimidate you as it will only serve to make you doubt yourself when the meeting takes place.

Be positive that the people you have invited are the best people for the outcome you need, think about achieving that goal and how to guide the conversation to the end game you want to see.

Remember, they are attending a meeting you have called. The fact that they have accepted your meeting invitation is indication enough that they are willing to give their time to hear what you have to say.

Use it wisely.