Career Coaching: 5 Steps to Saving Time in Meetings

Would you like to spend less time in meetings and make the ones you do have more productive? Career Coach Hannah McNamara outlines a simple coaching model which can help you to achieve this.

Step 1: T – topic

Make sure you and everyone else is clear about what’s to be discussed in the meeting. All too often meetings are scheduled into people’s diaries with ambiguous titles such as ‘update meeting’. There’s no point having meetings for the sake of them. The person chairing the meeting owes it to all the people invited to tell them what the meeting is about to give them a chance to prepare.

Not telling people what a meeting’s about is like inviting friends over but not mentioning you’re having a barbecue and you’d like everyone to contribute some food. People come unprepared, are embarrassed and they end up disappearing out to the shops to get burgers, beer and lemonade, rather than spending time with the group. In the same way if you don’t tell people what to prepare, you can’t blame them if they want to nip out to get some information or can’t give you all the facts.

Step 2: G – goal

Without a goal or purpose, meetings drift into pointless debates or points scoring exercises. Starting the meeting with a particular goal in mind means that it’s easier to keep on track, make sure everyone gets what they need and the meeting is more likely to finish on time. Whether you’re organising the meeting or attending someone else’s meeting, think about what you need to get from it and how you’ll know you’ve got what you need.

It’s a bit like when you go into the kitchen, open the cupboards and see lots of ingredients in front of you. There are lots of things you could cook and unless you make a decision on what you’re going to make, you can end up mixing the wrong ingredients together. Setting a goal for a meeting reminds me of following a recipe book.

Once everyone’s clear about what you’re cooking and you know what the dish looks like, it’s easy to follow the steps to making it.

Meetings are scheduled for a variety of reasons and the commonest ones are below together with suggestions on the goal for the meeting:

• To keep ‘everyone in the loop’ – examples of goals: at the end of the meeting for everyone to be clear about what other people are doing and what they need to do to support; to give everyone a chance to air their thoughts and agree on which projects are to be prioritised
• To plan for a project – examples of goals: to leave the meeting with a Gantt chart showing the major activities which need to happen and when; to identify possible obstacles to the project and make a contingency plan
• To formalise decisions which have already been made – examples of goals: to do a ‘sense’ check on the proposed course of action and get everyone’s agreement on it; to inform the rest of the group about the reasons behind the decision.

With the final point on formalising decisions, for the meeting to be productive everyone around the table needs to be aware of what the decision is. This type of meeting often backfires when only a selected number of people have been involved in the decision and present it without getting other people’s input – or worse are trying to conceal the fact a decision has already been made. Unfortunately this often happens in highly political companies where certain people have closed ranks and it has the effect of singling out and embarrassing an unpopular person in front of the group if they hold an opposing view – not good for team working.

Where there are multiple goals for a meeting, the best course of action is to circulate an agenda in advance. Not only does this allow people to prepare, but it also means that it’s obvious there is going to be limited time for each point before you as a group need to move on to the next one. The agenda doesn’t need to be a formal document; it can be bullet points on the meeting invitation. The important point is sticking to the agenda when in the meeting and being mindful of time. If there are important topics to be discussed, don’t leave them to the end of the meeting when you are likely to be running out of time. If items crop up which aren’t on the agenda, agree with the group to ‘park’ them for another meeting or for the AOB section if there is time.

Step 3: R – reality

What’s going on right now? This is the stage of the meeting which can take up the most time if you’re not careful. If there are wafflers in the group, be clear with everyone about what information people will need to know from them and what you don’t need to know. I’ve found that this stage of the process can be made more effective by asking people to answer more specific questions:

• What have you tried so far?
• What worked and what didn’t?
• Who have you asked for help?
• What obstacles are currently standing or could stand in your way?

As a coach myself, I know it’s much easier to ask these kinds of questions in the privacy and honesty of a coaching session than in front of others in a meeting. So start with using this approach in the meetings with your team. They’ll get used to you asking these kinds of questions and come to meetings more prepared and also taking greater ownership of their work, rather than team meetings being a chance to pass the buck or have a moan about how busy they are. You might want to adapt the questions so you’re taking a less direct approach in meetings with your peers or boss.

Essentially what you’re doing at this stage is information gathering. It can also be the catalyst for ideas for step 4. But before we come onto that, let’s go back to the kitchen cupboard we talked about earlier. Once you’ve decided what you’re going to make, you need to check you’ve got all the ingredients you need and they aren’t past their ‘use by’ date on the pack. If some ingredients are missing, you now know you need to pop out and buy them before you can complete the meal – that’s why this stage of the process is so important.

Step 4: O – options

Essentially this is the step where suitable options are put on the table an evaluated. Depending on the nature of the meeting, this could take the form of brainstorming or it could just be a case of presenting two or three possible solutions.

When I have one-to-one coaching sessions with clients and run team coaching sessions, this can be the most enlightening stage of the process. With some encouragement, people come up with ideas that they either might have been embarrassed to share for fear of being thought silly or ideas which simply didn’t occur to them because they were previously under too much pressure.

In the context of a meeting, however, the set-up isn’t the same. People are eager to get through the agenda quickly and it’s not the place for unstructured blue-sky thinking, especially if you get the sense that a decision has already been made or the group already have a preferred option. It’s a fact of life that the process of deciding on a course of action is tinged with political game-playing or buck-passing – even if people don’t admit to themselves that they’re doing it. We can argue it shouldn’t be like that and try to change the way business is done, but that’s part of a bigger discussion and what we’re talking about here is saving time in meetings.

For you to get what you need out of meetings, come prepared with a couple of well-thought-through options and be ready to present your reasoning behind it. Unfortunately some of the best suggestions get rejected by groups because they seem vague, too hard to do or people say they’ll take too much time. Be ready to counter any objections if you’ve got your heart set on a particular course of action. If you believe that strongly about it, solicit support from the individuals in the group before the meeting so the meeting is held to formalise a decision that you’ve already reached with others (see earlier).

Step 5: W – way forward

In coaching sessions this is the stage when the coachee sets actions to be completed with deadlines of when they are going to do them by. The final stage of a meeting is no different. It should end with everyone clear about what’s going to happen, who’s responsible for making it happen and when. The taking of meeting minutes doesn’t happen as much as it used to in business and people have got out of the habit of making firm commitments to themselves and their colleagues. You can take control back by volunteering to record the minutes, write them up and circulate them. It really doesn’t have to be a big job. After all, it’s simply a list of decisions made, next steps, who is responsible and a deadline. Being in control of the minutes means you can push people to make decisions and commitments by saying, ‘For the minutes, who’s going to do that?’ It’s less intrusive and you’re less likely to be seen as the annoying person who’s always trying to get other people to do things.

While taking the minutes might feel like a pain, it gets things done. When the minutes are circulated quickly the momentum keeps going. It also means people have got something to refer to when they ‘cram’ for the next meeting – you know, when people run around in the hours and minutes leading up to it thinking, ‘What did I say I was going to do last time? Eek! I’d better get it done before the meeting or I’ll be in trouble.’

To sum up, meetings can be made more effective by using some simple tools. Just because they are simple, doesn’t necessarily mean they are easy. It takes work and knowing the model isn’t enough to make a difference. Taking the coaching approach means the emphasis is on action, rather than talk or intellectually knowing something. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”.

© Copyright Hannah McNamara

Hannah McNamara is the Managing Director of HRM Coaching.

Career Coaching: How to negotiate a salary increase

Our Managing Director Career Coach Hannah McNamara was featured in an article on how to negotiate a salary increase for Chemist and Druggist magazine.

Click here to read the article

Interview Coaching: How does it work?

You may have heard about interview coaching and wondered how it works. In this article we cover some of the main ways you could benefit from working with an interview coach.

Far too often extremely talented people fail to perform well in interviews because of nerves or a lack of preparation.  This can mean that the employer is not able to get the information they need from the interview and other candidates end up getting hired.

Interview coaching works by helping you to understand how your skills and experience match up to the job description and then demonstrating it in the interview.  On paper there should already be a good match, otherwise the employer would not be interested in interviewing you.  The meeting is your opportunity to show them what you are made of.

Before your first session with your interview coach, you’ll be asked to think about what you want from your career and to reflect on how you have performed in interviews already.  The recruitment consultancy or interviewer should have given you some feedback on how you performed which you can use to improve for next time.

Depending on the reasons that you have been unsuccessful so far, the interview coach will work with you to either:

• Formulate answers to common interview questions
• Prepare for tough interview questions
• Calm nerves and improve interview confidence

Something our interview coaches are asked all the time is how to answer the “What are your weaknesses?” question.  We are proud to say that we have a proven way of answering the question which means that over 80% of our clients land a new job within 3 months of having their first interview coaching session with us.  There is a particular method which we can show you if you decide to have interview coaching with us.

You’ll get to plan how you’ll answer other interview questions and get honest feedback from us on how you’re coming across.  You’ll get guidance on how to conduct yourself and the questions to ask the interviewer.

If you’re going to be having a panel interview or second round interviews with senior managers, we will help you to prepare for that as well.  All of our interview coaches have previously held senior management and executive level positions, so they can guide you on how to adapt your style to suit the interviewer.

For more information on interview coaching click here.

Other useful articles:

• Interview Coaching: How to handle an interview with the Finance Director / CFO
• Interview Coaching: How to handle an interview with the CEO
• Interview Coaching: How to perform well in a panel interview

Interview Coaching: How tweaking your personal brand can earn you more money

It used to be called your ‘image’ and these days everyone’s talking about ‘personal branding’. It’s easy when you’re job hunting to dismiss personal branding and focus solely on your skills and experience, but this could end up costing you money when it comes to getting the job offer.

In this article, we’ll look at what makes up a personal branding and what you can do to make sure yours gets noticed – for the right reasons!

When we think about branding various company logos spring to mind. As a former Head of Marketing, I know that there’s a lot more to a brand than the colour of the logo or a name and the same applies to you – it’s more than which clothing or shoes you decide to wear to an interview.

So if it’s not about logos or names – or clothes and shoes – what is branding about?

It’s about conveying who you are and the value you bring to the organisation – not just in the words you use, but how you use them. It also includes how you communicate through body language and whether you seem like the kind of person they think you are.

Let’s look at this another way.

It’s a sunny Saturday and you’re in a country village with friends. You spot two beautiful traditional pubs side by side and can’t decide which one you’d like to eat in so you examine their menus. Coincidentally they have the same lunch specials. Here’s what the menus say:

The Plough – ‘Sausage and Mash £4.95′

The Coach and Horses – ‘Traditional locally-sourced, organic Cumberland sausages served with creamy crushed potatoes drizzled with thick onion sauce £7.95′

Based on the descriptions alone, most people would choose to eat at The Coach and Horses, all other things being equal. And notice that the price in The Coach and Horses is more, but seems worth it.

For all you know, The Plough might have won awards for its sausage and mash, but when you read the description you’d think it’s no different from a sausage and mash you could whip up at home or get in your local greasy spoon.

The way that The Coach and Horses describes its special gets the tastebuds going and conjures up a completely different image of what you’ll see on your plate.

It’s all about presentation.

How does this apply to personal branding?

Before you start to write your CV or start preparing your answers to interview questions think about whether you want to be plain old sausage and mash – the same as you could get anywhere else – or if you want to be the kind of sausage and mash The Coach and Horses would serve. The dishes are exactly the same, but with a different spin on the information and giving a bit more detail you can earn a premium on the top.

Personal branding goes a step further: it’s not just about the words you use to describe yourself.

It’s about understanding your customer and in your case, the recruiter.

The Coach and Horses understands that when customers come into the village they are looking for a slice of old England. They want people to take their time with their food and spend more money on drinks (where they earn most of their profits). They want their customers to feel they are treating themselves to something special when they choose to dine with them. They also realise that their customers are mindful of animal welfare and global warming, so they take care to subtly mention that their meat is organic and locally-sourced. In doing so they say a lot about the values of their establishment – one of which is caring for their customers – and give a reason why their food is more expensive than at The Plough. They know that their customers have other options. They manage to clearly differentiate themselves without mentioning their largest competitor.

So when it comes back to you, think about what you stand for:

• What are your personal values?
• What’s important to you?
• How are you going to bring something into the organisation that other candidates won’t?

This isn’t the time to freeze up and say, ‘I don’t know’.

If you’d like to get a pay rise at your next appointment and find a job that’s really ‘you’, it’s well worth taking the time to consider this.

For example, a client I coached recently on getting a new job hadn’t thought about her values. We explored them in a coaching session and she realised she’d been applying to organisations whose values clashed with her own. Immediately it dawned on her that when she went to the interview they’d spotted the mismatch and had decided not to hire her even though she was very well qualified for the job. In that moment she also realised that if she had been offered the job, she probably would have ended up desperately unhappy and within a year or two would be looking to move on again. With this new information she drew up a new ‘wish list’ of companies she’d like to work for who shared her values. These would be companies who would appreciate her for who she was as a person rather than her having to adopt a ‘mask’ at work and constantly adapt her behaviour. She left the session much more confident and sure of herself. It also helped that we rehearsed the answers to the most difficult interview questions!

Interview coaching really helped her get focused and I’m pleased to say she landed a new job within 3 weeks.

The point here is that understanding yourself and your values is absolutely key to being happy in a job. The way you convey who you are the value you bring becomes your personal brand. You know who are and also who you’re not. You feel much more in control of your own destiny and able to reject unsuitable opportunities because they’re not you. When it comes to networking your way into a job, you’re better able to tell friends, work contacts and agencies the kinds of jobs you’d be suitable for and which you wouldn’t.

Your personal brand is fundamental to helping recruiters understand who you are what makes you tick. When you can communicate that clearly, you’ll begin to get the kinds of job offers you really want and deserve.

Hannah McNamara, Managing Director of HRM Coaching is the author of the new book ‘Business Cookery: Tried and tested recipes for business success’. She provides interview coaching in London in person and worldwide over the phone or Skype.  To contact Hannah please use our contact page to send a message or call 020 7939 9910.

Career Coaching: Put Your Mindset to Work

This morning’s news carried a feature on a new book Put Your Mindset to Work: The One Asset You Really Need to Win and Keep the Job You Love.

While we haven’t read that particular book yet, it’s something that as career coaches we come across time and time again – having the right mindset gets you hired.

When we work with our clients one to one we help to draw out of them what makes them tick, what motivates them and what they can add to a company. Far from being about rehearsing stock answers to the ‘What are your strengths and weaknesses?’ question, this is about shifting from a ‘me, me, me’ attitude where you focus solely on what an employer can offer you to how marketable you are as a candidate.  For some of our clients it’s a bit of a wake-up call. Those who really grasp the idea are able to write a compelling CV which really sells them and to wow the panel when being interviewed.  It’s probably why around 80% of our clients find a new job within the first 3 months of working with us.

If you’re looking for ways to really shine in your job search and interviews, by all means give us a call on 020 7939 9910 (+44 20 7939 9910). We’ve got a variety of different coaching options available to suit all circumstances and budgets, so don’t be shy. Even if you decide at the end of the call that it’s not right for you, that’s okay with us, you’ll have spent some time thinking about your career and goals and that’s always a good thing!

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