Meeting PREP
We created PREP, a practical tool that helps us plan for and navigate meetings. It is now used daily by many of our client organisations to help them have much better meetings and solve many of the common meeting irritations.
At TFP our definition of a meeting is:
When two or more people come together with a clear purpose, to have meaningful discussion, to share thoughts, to create solutions to decide on outcomes”
This may be common sense, but we find that even with the best intentions, many meetings often lack purpose and structure.
We created PREP: a practical tool that not only helps us plan for and navigate the meetings we facilitate but is now also used daily by many of our client organisations to help them have much, much better meetings.
PREP is an acronym for the following 4 important meeting elements:
- P is for Purpose
- R is for Roles & Resources
- E is for Expected Outcomes
- P is for Plan
In this blog we share our thinking about each one.
P is for Purpose
Perhaps not surprisingly, the first P in PREP is have a clear Purpose.
Ask yourself:
- Why this meeting?
- Why now?
- Why this group of people?
Without such clarity it’s possible that the initial reason for calling the meeting (that seemed important and obvious in the moment) turned out to be simply calling a meeting for ‘meetings sake’. Alternatively, you might conclude that a meeting is indeed needed, and that with further reflection you were able to get to the heart of why.
Ideally, clarity of purpose should be connected to the team's goals, the organization's goals, the higher purpose. In other words, if we didn't have this meeting, what would be lost? But without that clarity of purpose right at the very beginning, that meeting may result in a nice chat: good to have maybe but what did it achieve? Did it add value or simply add to the ‘noise’ of an already busy day?
We couldn’t say it better than this description from a meeting participant: “It would be really great somehow, to have a clearer big picture summary of the meetings purpose displayed somewhere, making it easier for all participants to understand the context, why they're there and to have it to have it displayed visually.”
We agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment and always advocate that the meeting purpose is either physically in the meeting room, or if you're working online to have it in a space, such as Miro or Mural or whatever online space that you're using.
R is for Roles and Resources
Who and What do we need for this meeting to take place?
It’s understandable and usual for both these things to be largely overlooked. It feels efficient to invite the usual group or the obvious people and to run the meetings in the usual place. However, by operating routinely you might be missing the opportunity to invite in fresh eyes, ears, thinking and perspective. Also never underestimate what a change in environment can do to refresh conversation and spark new ideas.
Moreover, people often tell us that a common meeting irritation is when they don't know the purpose of the meeting or why they’re required to attend. If you’re thoughtful and intentional about PREP, you’ll know who to invite and the setting you need.
E is for Expected Outcomes
Having a good meeting purpose can be so powerful it can do the heavy lifting all on its own. That said, when a clear purpose is partnered with specific outcomes, the potential for a valuable session is 10 times that.
Ask yourself:
- What outcomes do we need from this valuable time?
- Do we need a decision? A plan? A solution? A solved problem? A strategy?.......
The more clarity you have about the outcomes you need, the easier it is for a group to discuss with intent before converging towards a meaningful close.
The final P is for Plan - most commonly known as the agenda
While the word agenda is used the world over, it has become so overused that its lost its efficacy.
On top of that, meeting agendas have become synonymous with the perceived endless blah, blah of everyday meetings. In other words, the term agenda often has a negative connotation. Business as usual agendas are often no more than list of topics with time allocations.
Our preference to rename this as a Plan is more than just a play on words. The word Plan has a different feel; on that is intentional, proactive and forward moving. A Plan can be flexible, can be replanned to account for real-time needs. It is a Plan that describes the time we’ll spend together. It opens the opportunity to shift mindset towards intentional discussion. The Plan captures how we’ll move through a conversation, giving clarity to roles, contributions and decision-making.
Key takeaways about Meeting PREP
- PREP is the hero – it’s like having a superpower when to comes to transforming meetings and daily work-life.
- Do PREP whenever possible before the meeting.
- Share PREP with participants before a meeting so that people are clear why they’re required and what they can contribute.
- You can send PREP as part of the calendar invite – a minimum should be Purpose and Expected Outcomes
If you feel as though you’re in so many meetings you just haven't got time to do the PREP, no matter, here are two of practical solutions:
At the beginning of the meeting, take five minutes with the people you're with and do PREP together.
If you have a regular, repeating meeting, do the PREP together with the group at the end of the meeting for the next session.
The benefits of both these methods are that you won’t have the weight of meeting preparation all on your shoulders. Your mindset and approach will be we’re in this together and people will have participated and have their skin in the game ready to make the next meeting a success.
To conclude
We often say, if you do nothing else to change your behavior around meetings, if you could only do one thing: PREP.
We run training sessions for people and teams within organisations who want to be better at facilitating meetings, and PREP is a big element of this. Find out more here.