No Agenda, No Attend-a

​I have attended and led hundreds of meetings throughout my career. Likely, so have you.
 
There is one thing I require for every meeting. I don’t know who coined the phrase, “no agenda, no attend-a,” but they are right. An agenda should be a requirement for every meeting.
 
Agendas are a leadership tool, not just a list of “to dos” or outstanding topics to discuss. People who use an agenda well lead their teams to accomplish what they said they would do.

Agendas create clarity and control.
An agenda clarifies why you’re meeting and guides those in attendance towards the necessary goals and outcomes.
 
An agenda fosters accountability by making sure everyone has the same information and is working towards the same goals. It establishes transparency of what will be discussed and decided. It allows people to formulate questions and (when sent ahead) gather information that may be needed. A great agenda makes sure the most critical issues are addressed first, and the team knows what actions need to take place.
 
Agendas are roadmaps for discussion and decisions.
An agenda is a valuable tool for guiding a team to agreement or consensus. A leader should intently listen to the group’s conversation and identify when the group arrives at where it needs to go. This allows the conversation to move on in the spirit of completion and time management.
 
Yes, leaders should always reserve the right to change course. This means holding space for additional agenda items. It also means honoring or optimizing the moment if the team makes incredible progress and/or stumbles into a barrier it cannot resolve.
 
I’m a big fan of including the “other” section as part of an agenda. This allows people to share ideas or concerns that haven’t been identified. I rarely write an agenda without it.
 
Agendas are plans.
Give yourself plenty of time to write an agenda. Like all good plans, more than one draft may be necessary as you process your approach. Identifying the best way to gather consensus or group decision-making also takes time. You need time to reflect on important questions, such as: Can the group get through this entire agenda during the meeting? What items need conversation for the group to make a decision? What updates does the whole team need? What are going to be tricky points to navigate?

A practiced meeting leader will have two agendas: the one distributed to the team and their personal one. The personal one includes notes and details that allow them to manage the meeting well. This could mean added context on a certain aspect of the project; it may include details needed to make a decision or discussion timing to ensure there is enough time for all the items to be addressed.
 
Agenda authors/leaders should proactively consider all the above points to write an effective agenda. They then should share the agenda in advance so team members are prepared when the meeting begins.
 
But let's be real. Time and energy aren’t always available to put into a well-developed agenda. However, please don’t go into a meeting without one. A quickly written agenda distributed right before the meeting is better than none at all.
 
For Reach Partners, agendas are a tried-and-true approach to effective project management. It’s one of the tools we employ to make sure projects get done well.
 
– Anita