How Do You Get Team Members to Come Prepared to the Meeting?

The Problem: We've all attended meetings where participants were asked to read a document, do some research, or conduct some other "homework" prior to the meeting, but very few people actually did it. Obviously, the intent of assigning the pre-work is to ensure that all attendees are prepared, which should result in a quick, efficient meeting, right? Wrong! Too often some attendees don't complete the assignment as requested, which drags down the entire group. Before you lead your next meeting, consider these tips about assigning pre-work.

Consider these suggestions:

• Give the group a choice about how to complete the prep (either outside or within the meeting). You might say, Everyone will need to review the requirements document prior to our review discussion. We can either do it as a group and plan to meet for a full day or everyone can review it offline, and the group will meet for 2-3 hours to discuss changes. Which approach does the group prefer? Most groups will opt for the shorter meeting. This technique tends to work because the group was given the option to review the document during the meeting and they chose not to do that.
• Assign specific team members to lead certain sections of the meeting (which would require them to have completed the pre-work). When they know they will be asked to lead discussion, attendees are much more likely to have done their homework. No one wants to appear unprepared!
• Try to keep the pre-work brief. The more complicated it is, the less likely attendees are to complete it.
• Ask team members to email you either a list of questions or comments on the pre-work several days prior to the meeting. This acts as a confirmation to let you know that they have indeed reviewed the document. If you don't get feedback from someone on the team, place a call to them asap to request their feedback.
• Give attendees ample time to complete the pre-work. If you ask them to review a lengthy document three days prior to the meeting, it may not provide ample notice. Ideally, let the team select the due date for completion of the pre-work. This buy in significantly increases the likelihood of compliance.
• Discuss the issue of attendees not being prepared during the meeting debrief, and encourage the team to identify approaches to address the issue (e.g. incentives, "punishments", etc.).

Dana Brownlee is President of Professionalism Matters, Inc. a boutique professional development corporate training firm. Her latest publications are "Are You Running a Meeting or Drowning in Chaos?" and "5 Secrets to Virtually Cut Your Meeting Time in Half!" She can be reached at danapbrownlee@professionalismmatters.com