Roundtable: Keeping meetings on track

Melita: Hello, listeners, this is Business Spotlight Audio, and I’m Melita Cameron-Wood, the audio editorRedakteur(in)editor. Today, we’ll be talking about meetings and, more specifically, about keeping your meetings keep sth. on tracketw. auf Kurs haltenon track. I know a few of you out there might be be guilty of sth.sich etw. schuldig machenguilty of sometimes going off on a go off on a tangentvom Thema abschweifentangent, which means going off go off topicvom Thema abkommentopic. I know I’m one of those people. Oops!

So, I’m here today in our virtual studio with Business Spotlight editor-in-chiefChefredakteur(in)editor-in-chief, Judith Gilbert. Hello, Judith. 

Judith: Hi, Melita. Great to be here. 

Melita: And I’ve also got our language editor, Richard Mote. Hi, Richard. 

Richard: Hi, Melita, I’ve been look forward to sth.sich auf etw. freuenlooking forward to this one, because who hasn’t been in a meeting that has gone off topic?

Melita: Right? I feel like we’ve all been there at some point, and it can be quite frustrating. Meetings that go off topic lead to reduced productivity, but sometimes, I’m sitting there in a meeting and I think, “How can we avoid this?” Because it’s human nature. People like to talk. I’m curious to hear from you guys. What do you think leads to meetings going off track? 

Judith: Well, I’ll jump in here first. I have to say, Melita, like you said about yourself, I, too, am guilty of this. I organize a lot of meetings, and I really have to train myself to focus. One of the reasons is that, oftentimes, there’s so much going on, so many different projects that are interconnected and they’re all going on at once. So this vernetztes Denken, as the Germans say, leads easily to going off on a tangent. And the other thing is that, in certain meetings, there are often people from many different departmentAbteilungdepartments there, and they all have their agendaTagesordnungagenda and their concerns, and their parallel interconnected projects. So, it’s sometimes hard to stay on track and focus on one specific issueProblem, Frageissue. And also, stress and deadlines can lead to confusion of topics because you realize, “OK, we’re talking about one thing, but actually the other thing has priority.” So, it’s really good to prioritize. I think that would help, in advance of the meeting. And have an agenda that reflects that. 

Richard: I also think that some people just have something they want to talk about and a meeting — any meeting, really — is an opportunity to do that. Also, sometimes in the discussion, points come up that people feel sb. feels strongly about sth.etw. liegt jmdm. am Herzenstrongly about and so they forget that they’re actually supposed to be discussing something else.

Melita: I think sometimes emotions run high and people can get a bit carried away, especially if there’s a topic that they see as particularly urgent. And I think, as well, sometimes, having too few or too many meetings can make things go off track. If a team isn’t talking enough, then there are obviously too many topics to discuss when the meeting finally comes around. But on the other hand, if you’re talking to your team members several times a day in meetings, then maybe the meeting loses significance in your day. So, I think there is that risk. Meetings need to be timed quite carefully to make sure that everybody actually values them.

Richard: Well, having a meeting right before lunch is always dangerous, I think, because people will have one eye on the clock. I’m guilty of that, I have to admit.

Judith: Me, too. Me, too.

Richard: I think, though, when you have to make sure people understand something, a meeting is better for clarificationKlärungclarification than email. Like, you can spend a lot of time reading a long email thread and, at the end, you still don’t know what you need to know. And in a meeting, you can make sure that everybody is on the same page, and that happens much faster. But I think flexibility is keyhier: wesentlichkey, so you should have enough flexibility to have a spontaneous meeting when you need one. But also enough freedom to cancel or end a meeting early if it’s not needed.

Judith: If a meeting’s design sth.etw. konzipierendesigned to address sth.etw. angehenaddress a quick fixLösungfix, you can have a follow-up in two days. If it’s more general, then maybe once a week. In other instances, if it really is about the big picture and long-term planning, then one or two months. I think it has to be obviously adapted to the subject at hand, the size of the group that’s attending and the priority.

Melita: There will be projects that are more demanding that require more regular check-ins. And there will be some routine tasks that maybe don’t require as many meetings, ’cause I think, sometimes, if you have too many meetings, it can also feel a bit like micromanagement.

Judith: Exactly. That’s a really good pointArgumentpoint.

Melita: How do you tend to react when you notice a meeting is going off track? Do you say something? Or do you kind of leave things as they are?

Judith: Well, as the organizer of many meetings, I try to pull sth. backhier: etw. Einhalt gebietenpull it back. I say it directly. I stop the discussion and tell everybody to return to the topic. I will just say, “Look, the clock is ticking. We’re getting off track here.” And if there’s something that was brought up that really is of immediate importance, then I would schedule another meeting for that. And, depending on what it is and what the context is, I would schedule it right there in that meeting and then move on.

Richard: I think most people are grateful when that happens because we all want the meeting to be efficient. We don’t want it to take up too much time unnecessarily. So, when someone says, “Look, we’re getting off topic, let’s get this done...”, I think everyone is a bit relieved.

Melita: Yeah, that’s a really good point. I think, you know, nobody likes wasting their time. But I have to admit, when I used to live in Germany, I was quite surprised by the level of directness when it came to timekeeping. I was quite thankful for it as well because I wasn’t used to it, and it did mean that meetings were kept shorter. But sometimes, members of the team would say things like, “Is this relevant to me?”, “Do I still need to be here for this?” At the start, I was a little bit surprised, particularly because people saying this weren’t the bosses, they were members of the team. But I think as well, that was quite empoweringstärkend; hier auch: motivierendempowering because it made me realize, actually, everyone’s time is valuable. It doesn’t matter if you’re a juniorhier: untergeordnetjunior member of staff or you’re further up the pecking orderHackordnungpecking order, you are well within your rights to ask whether you need to be there if there is a change in topic that doesn’t actually directly seem to have anything to do with your tasks.

Judith: I would agree with that wholeheartedly. And as somebody, as I said, who schedules meetings often, I’m very grateful if people raise their hand and say, “Look, this really doesn’t affect sb.jmdn. betreffenaffect me.”

Melita: It’s worth remembering that not everyone is going to know your exact task list. So, just being aware of that is a good thing. Maybe going off topic isn’t advantageous for everybody. One thing I wanted to touch on was useful phrases that you would recommend using to get the meeting back on track.

Judith: “Folks, let’s get back on track!” or “Let’s circle back to the point”, “We’re straying off stray off topicvom Thema abweichentopic, guys, and the clock is ticking. Let’s focus” or “That’s another meeting. Not for this one.” Anything like that.

Melita: I like that one: “That’s another meeting, not for this one.” I think that’s a really good way of draw a line in the sandeine Grenze / einen Schlussstrich ziehendrawing a line in the sand and saying that’s a topic, but not for now.  If you think about all of the meetings you’ve been in over the course of your life, are there tips that you think actually make meetings more efficient? 

Richard: I used to work, in my old job, I worked in an advertising agency. And in an agency, you always have a lot of projects happening at the same time, so there are meetings every day. And we had a daily stand-up. It was called that because, literally, nobody sat down. Everybody was standing, sometimes we did it in the hallwayFlur, Ganghallway or wherever it was, and because nobody was really comfortable, the meeting never took longer than necessary. 

Judith: Excellent. 

Melita: No comfortable seats or cushions allowed.

Judith: No, no, no. That’s great. I would say, for me, very clear, specific, measurable, achievable goals. And a good deal of time management within the meeting.

Melita: brilliant (UK ifml.)genialBrilliant, thank you for those tips. I think bearing those in mind can definitely help to make your meetings more enjoyable as well. You don’t want everyone to come out of the meeting thinking, “Oh my goodness, what have I just done with the last hour of my life?” You want to make it feel like a positive experience. So, these goals can help. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me about keeping your meetings on track. 

Listeners, if any of you would like to share your thoughts on this topic, we’d love to hear from you. You can find us on LinkedIn @business-spotlight or on Instagram @business.spotlight_official. Please do share your ideas with us. In the meantime, enjoy learning your business English. Bye for now. 

Judith:  Bye, everybody. Thanks, Melita. 

Richard: Bye.