Should ETH introduce rules for meetings?
We have only heard from advocates of this topic, which is why two ETH employees argue for meeting rules at ETH. Do you think differently?
For
Ursula Suter, Employee in Study Administration at the Department of Architecture
In my many years of working at ETH, I have regularly experienced invitations and meeting agendas that initially seem innocuous but eventually end up running out of control – in terms of both time and content. In these cases, I often ask myself what the costs are and whether these financial resources could be put to better use elsewhere. But how can we avoid these costs in the first place?
Drawing up a carefully prepared list of invitees is an important first step towards ensuring a productive meeting. Lots of people go to great efforts to invite whole groups of people to meetings, regardless of their individual expertise, roles or areas of responsibility. Moreover, I often notice that the latter in particular are not defined properly or are not communicated clearly enough.
With fewer participants – but the “right” ones – we can not only reach the meeting’s objectives more quickly but also increase the satisfaction of those who have invested time and prepared for the meeting.
“Drawing up a care-fully prepared list of invitees is an important first step towards ensuring a productive meeting.”Ursula Suter
To identify the right participants, I recommend structuring meetings and putting together clearly defined packages of topics and agenda items. In the run-up to your meeting, it can often make sense to conduct a preliminary survey of participants and analyse the results so that you can build on the findings.
Meetings should be strictly managed, with personal comments only permitted right at the end under the agenda item “Miscellaneous”. If you notice that more in-depth discussion is required for certain topics, these must be added to the agenda for the next meeting and the invitation list should be revised accordingly.
To make sure all participants are on the same page and to increase their level of commitment, I believe it is essential for any (partial) outcomes from a meeting to be recorded in brief minutes and the final outcome to be documented in a list of resolutions.
Speakers should generally keep things brief without having to resort to time limits, though the chair of the meeting should be responsible for this. Another way to keep meetings short is not to offer seats or drinks.
If we apply even just a few of these rules as best as we can, we as employees and ETH as our employer will all benefit.
For
Tomas Aliaga, Software engineer at the CSCS Swiss National Supercomputing Centre
Having first studied the topic in a university course and experienced it for over a decade during the course of my professional experience, I can testify as a user and organiser that rules are crucial for successful meetings.
I believe rules are not set to be followed blindly, but to either improve an outcome or curb potential damage. I don’t stop my car at the red light just because there’s a traffic rule telling me to do so; I hit the brake because I know it helps me avoid a collision, even when none seems imminent.
When meetings turn out to be repeatedly unproductive, they incur losses in terms of time and energy, and they have financial implications. It is easy to spot when people are drained of energy from attending too many meetings. It is also easy to see how a meeting with a dozen participants that goes on for hours can quickly drive up operational and opportunity costs, especially when senior staff are involved. Ultimately, we are responsible for what we spend on meetings. But unlike money, we can’t get time back. Here are two principles that may prevent us from losing time and energy with meetings.
“Rules should be set to either improve an outcome or curb potential damage.”Tomas Aliaga
The first rule could be to determine whether a meeting is really necessary. Does it have to be synchronous, or could it be asynchronous? The all too familiar phrase “an email would have been enough” hits the nail on the head here. Clarifying the topic, the goals, the people who need to attend and why before the meeting would already go a long way.
The second rule could be to determine what type of meeting we want to have and to ensure that everyone taking part makes all the necessary preparations. Some meetings are about creative brainstorming, whereas others are about making a major decision. For the former, we want to ensure that everyone is ready and able to openly share their ideas. For the latter, we want to ensure that all the required information is documented and that action items are clearly defined.
The challenge is to find a minimum set of rules that help participants achieve the goals of a specific type of meeting while making the most efficient use of resources. Even if we never manage (or need) to do so at the ETH level, bringing about a small improvement is already a reason to celebrate.
This article appeared in the current ETH magazine "Downloadlife (PDF, 2.7 MB)".
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