In some organisations there is a shared fantasy that the place would run perfectly well if there was never another single meeting. Note: this IS a fantasy.

Have you noticed that it’s always other people’s meetings, never yours, that are at fault? Here are ten common problems with meetings. Are any of them yours?

1. The meeting is unclear about its purpose.
There are really only three types of meeting: briefing, problem-busting and decision-making. A frequent problem is that the person chairing the meeting is clear which but the attendees believe it is for something different.

Cure: Name the purpose in the invitation and repeat it throughout.

2. The wrong people are present
At its worst, everyone attending is a deputy or a bystander. The deputies then need to have later meetings with their principals, then the principals need to meet to have the meeting they all should have had in the first place – and that’s how meetings get a bad name

Cure: Make attendance a priority and allow no deputies. If you cannot apply this rule, postpone or cancel the meeting.

3. The wrong medium is being used
Video and teleconferencing is seductive: it can save travel time and money. But until the typically minimal investment in technology improves, it is hopeless for quality discussion.

Cure: Keep it for very small groups, for simple training, for low key decision-making and for sharing information.

4. The agenda is the wrong agenda
Boards pride themselves on their strategic role. But how often is a Board agenda actually about a great many small operational issues? Result: the important items get sidelined and frustration grows.

Cure: Match agenda to purpose.

5. Long, rambling papers
The longer the paper, the less likely its author is to have spent quality time preparing it. This makes it even less likely that meeting-members will have read it, especially as the longer the paper, the more probable it is to have been tabled on the day.

Cure: First, enforce the two sheets of A4 rule. Secondly, say that if a paper does not meet a deadline it cannot be considered. Make it clear that you expect papers to have been read. Don’t waver.

6. The Chair cannot chair
A bit like being a parent, it’s assumed that when the time comes we will be able to do it. When the standard of chairing in an organisation is high, that’s fine, but when it is low, bad habits are passed on. At a minimum, any Chair must be able to deal with conflict effectively because conflict is at the heart of any good meeting. And that means being able to listen mercifully, act swiftly to control miscreants, encourage the timid and declare that enough is enough.

Cure: ask for feedback from the members of your meetings. If it is still a mystery, get a coach who can observe you in action.

7. Bad behaviour is the rule
Symptoms here include: people who show off, sulk, haven’t read the papers, bring their in-trays, doodle, make last-minute apologies, breeze in late and depart early (usually the same people).

Cure: Short term – confront them. Longer term: get their feedback on why they are so disaffected. Much longer term: agree a meeting protocol of ground rules.

8.The meeting gets transfixed by its task
It tacitly agrees to ignore the relationships and personalities – all that messy human stuff. If you never review your meetings process (as opposed to your task) you are likely to be in deep trouble. A veneer of rationality disguises the swirl of emotion that can wreck the apparent logic.

Cure: Institute a regular, brief but rigorous review of the process of every meeting: how do people feel about how it has gone? What stopped them from making these points earlier in the meeting?

9. The minutes are gobbledegook
Minute-writing is an art – and like all art, often tells you more about the person who created it than it does about anything else.

Cure: Ask yourself why you have minutes at all. For most meetings, brief action points are enough.

10. No one acts on what has been agreed
Ah. Here you have a serious problem. Essentially, no one is taking the meeting seriously. The issue here is your leadership.

Cure: there is no simple cure. Consult your coach!