So am I saying that a meeting agenda is a bad idea?
Surely it’s a good idea? And I’m sure you can think of at least five good arguments in its favour.
For example, an agenda will:
- Encourage attendance: participants will understand the purpose of the meeting, and why they need to be there.
- Give participants more control: they can decide they don’t need to attend, or suggest additional topics to discuss
- Set the tone: participants know that the meeting is serious, and that outcomes are required. No-one needs to be nervous about what might come up.
- Make meetings more productive: participants know in advance which issues are up for discussion. They can prepare, and the meeting can reach decisions.
- Ensure decisions can be recorded: everyone understands who is responsible for the actions agreed at the meeting.
Those are all good arguments – but the truth is that agendas work better with some character types than with others!
Why introverts like an agenda…
Introverts prefer to have an agenda in advance. That’s because they don’t necessarily like surprises, and don’t like working things out on the spot, especially when that involves other people. They’ll want to know what’s going to happen in that time – because their preference is to have the space to reflect and prepare.
…why extroverts may not …
Extroverts will be far more comfortable with meetings that have a flexible agenda, or none at all. And they may have lots of great ideas. They may not want to be constrained by a logical structure.
They will value a goal or direction of travel to be clear at the start, but may not need or appreciate a set of milestones to point the way.
This can mean that you go off on a whole load of blind alleys so here is the twist in the tale – you should always have a clear structure. In fact if you are time limited and you are dealing with people who are ‘agendaphobic’ you should even have a clear idea how long you want to talk about each topic. You just don’t need to share or impose this at the start – use it to manage the flow.
So in conclusion…
Yes, of course you should prepare and send out an agenda for your meeting. That’s good practice.
Just be aware that not everyone wants a detailed agenda in the moment – as long as there is a clear purpose and direction.
You can use your agenda without sharing it to manage a spontaneous and flowing conversation that actually is very structured.
Good luck with your more productive meetings!
David Solomon
Managing Director, Sun and Moon Training
@SunMoonDavid
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