Sounds straight forward, right?
Meetings exist because work is rarely done in isolation. Whenever people need to make decisions, share information, solve problems, coordinate tasks, or align on strategy, they need structured conversation and an agreement of what to do next.
In professional environments, meetings create a formal space for communication, accountability, and collaboration. Without them, teams risk duplication, misunderstanding, and missed deadlines (even though all of those happen regularly). At work, despite what you think about your line manager or colleagues, you will encounter different types of meetings, each serving a distinct purpose.
These may include status or progress meetings to review performance against plans, planning meetings to define next steps, decision making meetings to agree direction, problem solving workshops to address risks or issues, stakeholder briefings to provide updates, and retrospective sessions to reflect and improve.
Understanding why a meeting is being held and what type it is helps ensure your contribution is relevant, efficient, and purposeful.
In any case, you may find that governance and bureaucracy stems from chaos, is to some extent the solution, and in in the wrong hands other times it is a complete waste of time.
Bringing Order to Chaos, What’s your meeting about?
What I mean by that is that sometimes the reason the pendulum swings so far and our days become so unreasonably meeting packed, back to back beaurocratic, seems to be because it originates from the disorder, poor decision making and communication, and different expectations of responsibilities.
Think of it between the different of: we want to plan the next stage of the project together and understand what we can improve on from the last quarter, vs we need to do something drastic and radical about the state of affairs we’ve caused and we’re going to have a meeting about it! I’ve also experienced some crazy meetings where I have been invited to other peoples meetings and then they hand the floor solely to me to deliver training! Imagine the surprise…
This might seem cynical, but it is often the case, and one way to resolve it is by identifying ways to clearly communicate at the top levels of decision making and cascade information and work packages clearly and concisely. One of these is to hold a structured meeting, and that’s what we’re talking about here.
Having a Chair (or Senior Nominee/Decision maker)
Arranging a meeting does not automatically make you the Chair. The Chair is not simply the person who sent the calendar invite. The Chair is the individual responsible for steering the discussion, maintaining order, and ensuring that the meeting achieves its purpose.
This role requires authority and situational awareness, and it’s usually evident when that’s lacking in either or just the experience. The Chair must understand the project scope (or for regular meetings and committees this can be called the Terms of Reference), the objectives of the session, and the decision boundaries of those present. Without this clarity, discussions drift into tangents, operational detail overwhelms strategy, or sensitive topics are mishandled.
A strong Chair actively moderates the room, which means recognising when conversation is moving off track and confidently redirecting it. It means calling out when discussion becomes repetitive, emotive, inappropriate, or unrelated to the agenda. It also means ensuring that quieter voices are invited in, rather than allowing dominant personalities to control the space, because the loudest voices are not always the most sensible or correct.
How Long is a piece of String?
Time management is another critical responsibility. Meetings expand to fill the time available unless carefully managed. The Chair must keep momentum, signal transitions between agenda items, and make firm decisions about when to close debate. Meetings online and offline are also a different dynamic, and though face to face meetings have an aura of efficiency and social interaction, online meetings (for me at least) can have an extreme efficiency due to the extreme difficulties of hearing each other if you talk over eachother. the quaking hand systems of teams are helpful to bring order to the chaos, and yet in the same breath, I have been guilty of muting participants and then moving the session on due to conversations derailing or becoming over politicised.
If key information cannot be covered within the allocated time, it indicates either poor planning or weak facilitation, and a chair reflects on that in the meeting dynamically.
Most importantly, the Chair protects the purpose of the meeting. If the session was called to make a decision, then a decision must be made. The chair brings people together to understand the stakeholder voice and impacts to their work. If it was called to review progress, then measurable updates must be captured. If it was called to plan the next stage, then actions and owners must be agreed before closing. Always remain focused, or there is no point to call the meeting and waste everyone’s time unless you are team building and I’d like to know the catering budget and activities.
Meeting Duration Guidelines
| Duration | Typical Purpose | Characteristics | When to Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 20 minutes | Quick updates or relationship building | Informal tone, brief highlights, minimal documentation, focused check in | One to one catch ups, quick status updates, rapport building conversations, coffee meetings |
| Around 30 to 45 minutes | Standard decision and action meetings | Structured agenda, focused discussion, clear actions agreed | Reviewing progress, agreeing next steps, clarifying responsibilities, small team planning |
| Around 60 minutes | In depth discussion with exploration | Allows for presentation, questions, clarification, and structured debate | Complex topics requiring explanation, risk discussions, stage reviews |
| Up to 120 minutes | Multi stakeholder coordination | Broader participation, discussion of dependencies, cross team alignment | Department collaboration, programme level planning, resolving inter team issues |
| Over 120 minutes | Working sessions or strategic workshops | Interactive, problem solving focused, often includes breaks, facilitation required | Team building days, strategy workshops, large scale problem solving, planning retreats |
There is no universal correct meeting length. The appropriate duration depends on the number of attendees, the complexity of topics, decision authority in the room, and the level of preparation beforehand.
Short meetings can be highly effective if they are tightly focused. Longer meetings can still fail if they lack structure or clear outcomes. The goal is not to fill time, but to create progress. A well structured 30 minute meeting can achieve more than an unfocused hour.
Ultimately, meetings should exist to move work forward. If no decision, clarity, or action emerges, the duration becomes irrelevant.
Decision Making
In structured project environments, the Chair is often a senior decision maker or nominated representative who has the authority to commit resources or escalate issues, they’re the authority on the matter or can bring the stakeholders together and balance the distribution of the tasks. Without that authority in the room, meetings risk becoming performative discussions rather than productive governance moments.
A well chaired meeting reduces the need for reactive follow up meetings. It reinforces accountability, strengthens communication, and prevents the cycle of disorder that leads to calendar overload in the first place.
Preparing or Serving the Meeting/Committee
Meetings often descend into chaos simply because there is no shared understanding of their purpose. When expectations are unclear, discussions drift, decisions stall, and participants leave unsure of outcomes or next steps. The problem is rarely the people in the room. It is the absence of defined intent.
Structure does not have to mean heavy bureaucracy. Not every meeting needs formal papers circulated weeks in advance. Often, a short scoping sentence in the invite is enough. For example: “Purpose: Agree actions for the next project stage and confirm owners.” A quick three point agenda can provide all the focus required.
This clarity helps attendees prepare appropriately and gives the Chair a reference point to steer the discussion back on track if it wanders. A few lines of framing at the start can prevent confusion, save time, and ensure the meeting actually moves work forward.
Meeting Context and Collaborative Cloud Space
For more substantial meetings, preparation is key. Before the session, brief attendees via email or a messaging platform with a clear outline of the purpose, key context, and any immediate actions that have led up to the meeting. For complex or ongoing work, create a shared folder on a drive, or a dedicated Microsoft Teams channel, where agendas, minutes, supporting documents, and updates can be stored and accessed by everyone. Encourage participants to use this space consistently, so it becomes a single reference point for the project, a record of compliance, and a resource that can be revisited later if needed.
Providing context at the start of the meeting is equally important. Open by summarising what has happened in the lead-up, why the meeting is being held, and the intended outcomes—unless the meeting is purely for reporting and discussion, in which case it is clear that the purpose is to share updates. This helps attendees understand how their input fits into the bigger picture, how previous actions have progressed, and how they can adapt their work or collaborate more effectively based on the information being shared.
Minutes and Action Based Minutes
Ask a colleague to be secretary if they can support this to minute the meeting and record actions, deadlines, next meetings, any dependencies or key information and who is responsible. Otherwise, learn to multitask and make notes of the key actions and do an action minute summary with the item, owner, and deadline/
If no one is available to minute or record, you can create there minutes based on actions quickly and tell people this is what you are doing for efficiency. This means that after a discussion decision has been made or a way forward, note this, and then who is responsible to see it through, and when by.
At the end of the meeting, the Chair, or a nominated person (like you!) should clearly summarise decisions made and the next steps, assigning ownership and responsibility for each action. Allow a brief Q&A to clarify anything before closing, and signpost who will follow up outside the meeting if needed. Afterward, ensure minutes or a concise email are shared with all attendees, updating project logs and communications. Even if only a few actions were noted, a short follow-up email confirming decisions and next steps helps maintain clarity and accountability.
The Right People in the Room
It’s the person who called the meeting’s responsibility to who should, could, or can contribute in a meeting. That can be quite challenging at times, especially when people who should be contributing; don’t, or equally when people that shouldn’t; do.
Generally there are a few reasons for this and why meetings get derailed, shut down, or ignored.
- If it is definitely someone’s responsibility i.e. through seniority, they should be invited anyway. Regardless of disposition, they may contribute or block decisions, but that is the nature of calling a meeting.
- If someone doesn’t feel it is important, or that it is not their responsibility, they’re generally not the people you want to be in the room. But sometimes you need to ensure they are there anyway to ensure they have voice in decisions that will impact them or their team.
- When there are larger problems at play and the people in the meeting think that something else should be a priority, then make the initial topic about something else.
- Te chair doesn’t steer the meeting, manage boundaries and scope of discussions, or have interest to develop this area of work.
- Meetings can be quite daunting, or intimidating if you are not used to that way of working. It can be threatening and there are times where participants might become defensive of their work or ways of working, or equally aggressive. This is often when there is something to hide or they are not aware or are actively choosing to do something a different way, or not at all!
Deadlines and Next Meeting
Along with the minutes and actions section, make sure you’ve agreed a timeline or date for any actions, and then if there is a follow up meeting, try to agree this too. If you cant get a firm yes from everyone, let them know you’re going to pencil something in the calendar for same time in 2 weeks and we’ll circle back (and actually do it). If there’s any issue with it they can propose a new time, or failing that they might be one of the people I introduced in the first paragraph!
Key Takeaway
To hold an effective meeting: set a clear purpose, provide context and a brief agenda, designate a Chair to steer discussion, manage time, keep conversations on track, and summarise decisions and actions at the end. Follow up with minutes or a concise email to confirm ownership and next steps, and store all materials in a shared location for reference.
Find out more in our leadership articles and see out Project Management minutes and other templates for download.
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