An agenda is a tool for facilitators to help them get the most out of a particular meeting. It involves:
- defining the meeting’s objectives,
- determining relevant topics, allocating time, and
- setting expectations for participants.
Much more than a schedule, it is a means for guiding groups of people toward measurable outcomes.
Ideally, the agenda is shared beforehand so that participants know what to expect and can come prepared.
An agenda can help with:
- Scope: Organization and Structure
- Focus: Increased Productivity
- Purpose: Collaboration and Engagement
- Priority: Time Management and Prioritization
- Execution: Accountability and Follow-up
Getting off topic is one of the most frequently cited meeting problems. By following a clear agenda during the meeting, this can be prevented. A study of top management meetings found a significant positive correlation between:
- Having a clear goal for a particular agenda item
- Staying on topic when discussing this item, and
- All three indicators of team effectiveness: task performance, relationship quality, and member satisfaction.
Some specific things that can help improve engagement over just participation:
- Ask talkative people to share only once per topic, if there are many people
- Ask to hear from those who have been quiet
- Announce a time limit for shares, and raise an indicator when that limit is reached (although it does not have to be a hard limit). Make people aware that it’s not about limiting them, but creating opportunity for others.
- Ask follow-up questions after unclear shares about how it relates to the point at hand. This can encourage future participants to think about how their contributions relate.
Improving our capacity for reflection as we move from study and planning to action, and back again.
What did we learn?