Mark Hamade

How effective are your meetings? Here is an easy quiz to check the success of your meetings.

1) Who leads your meetings?
a) No one
b) Whoever has the loudest voice
c) A facilitator

2) What happens to the ideas in your meetings?
a) We discourage new ideas
b) We make fun of them
c) A scribe writes them on a chart pad

3) Do your meetings have an agenda?
a) What’s an agenda?
b) I saw one once in an article
c) Yes!

4) Who attends your meetings?
a) We discourage anyone from attending meetings
b) The entire staff plus any homeless people in the neighborhood
c) Only those who can contribute

5) How long are your meetings?
a) As long as it takes to get everyone to agree with me
b) All day usually
c) An hour or less

6) During a meeting do you:
a) Break a foam cup into bits
b) Prepare for the next meeting
c) Focus on the topic

7) How soon after the meeting do you issue minutes?
a) If you think I want to publicize how much time we wasted, you’re nuts
b) Within a few months or so
c) As soon as possible, if not faster

Score: Subtract five points for every (a)
Mark a zero for every (b)
Add five points for every (c)

If your total is:

* Negative: Ask your boss to move you to a position that does not require meeting attendance.

* Zero to 10: Try to stay home on days of important meetings.

* 15 to 20: Attend a workshop on planning effective meetings.

* 25 to 35: Congratulations, your meetings are successful.