Don’t Set an Agenda Before Important Meetings

You’ve probably heard this advice about meetings before: Set an agenda and stick to it. But if the purpose of your meeting is to solve a complex challenge, this advice couldn’t be more wrong. If you’re convening a diverse group to tackle a complicated problem, it’s far better to have the group decide on the agenda together. Plan to spend 10%–15% of your overall meeting time to getting the agenda right: a half hour for a half-day meeting, a couple of hours for a two-day meeting. Start with individual brainstorming so that people can form their own opinions on what the group should cover. Then have them anonymously post their ideas on sticky notes for others to see. Together, everyone should then identify themes and cluster similar ideas together. Once you have a good list of possible topics, ask the group to make final decisions about what should be on the agenda. This process can be time-consuming, but going through it together will ensure that participants are engaged and feel ownership over the process — and the outcome.