Meeting Management

I don’t think any of us can complain that we have too much time on our hands. For those of us in the parking industry we usually have a heavy workload compounded by the fact that we are daily emergency managers. I would like to challenge you to take control of your time and make a conscientious effort to bring efficiency to your day. Let’s start with meeting management. Start with looking at your calendar for the next week and a ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I know why I am being invited to the(se) meeting(s)? I have successfully excused myself from many meetings when I inquired to why my attendance was necessary and what EXACTLY was the intent of the meeting. You are not trying to get out of work but trying to avoid being in a 2-hour meeting when your contribution ends up being less than 5 minutes and could have been answered in an email.

• Do I have adequate knowledge on the meeting topic? This means you need to be prepared. Review the agenda and related documents prior to the meeting.

• Are there any meetings that can be delegated to staff? Sending a staff member as your representative can be a good professional development tool and also provides the employee an opportunity to get a different perspective of the subject/topic.

• Have I set a meeting for an hour or will half an hour or 15 minutes get the job done? For example, I have a colleague that holds an “8:05 am standup meeting” every Monday morning all the staff call in at 8:05 for a conference call, all are encouraged to be physically standing and they share their pressing issue for the week. It has been very effective for their team of eight (8) and the meeting does not last more than 15 minutes.

• Have you provided structure for your meetings?

If you are setting a meeting be very clear as to what the meeting is about. Establish the structure via the topic, meeting expectations and goals. Stay focused on the topic, don’t let the discussion get derailed. Remember you are setting the tone and controlling the meeting outcome. There are a multitude of meeting structures you can follow. I personally prefer the A3 format and find it the most effective for the meetings I set. A3 is actually a paper size but, what I am referring to is A3 reporting as a lean management tool. The outline for a A3 reporting goes like this:

1. Topic Background

2. Current Condition

3. Target Condition

4. Root Cause Analysis (asking Why)

5. Counter Measures

6. Implementation Plan

7. Issues/Follow-Up Items

8. Review Metrics

You will quickly realize that if you use the A3 model most of the time you can not get through the whole topic start to finish, which is fine. You want to spend time analyzing a problem and figuring out why you are having the problem versus jumping to the solution. How many times when we have come to a solution only to realize a major factor was not considered? We obviously want to avoid that situation and take our time for complete understanding of the issue. Remember, we are all in our roles because of our expertise. It is important you control your time so you have time for the things that no one else in your organization can do but you. Finally, please respect the clock. Show up on time, start on time, and end on time. How many times have we been in a meeting, 10-15 minutes have passed, then someone shows up late and you have to rehash the last 10-15 minutes, so they can catch up? Don’t be that person. Five (5) minutes before the meeting ends…wrap it up, assign tasks, give firm deadlines and get commitments. This helps you keep you and your staff accountable to each other and provides subject documentation. When your get into the habit of structuring your meetings, you find yourself being focused and effective. Your meeting participants realize that when you set a meeting you are serious about the issue at hand and focused on facilitating productive discussions, which is time well spent. Good luck!

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