2306:Improving Time Efficiency in Meetings with Proactive Minutes of Meeting (MOM)

Have you ever wished meetings could be shorter yet more effective? What if a simple shift in approach could save hours of dialogue and expedite consensus? My experience in Seoul in 2014 taught me a transformative method, one that changed my perception of meetings forever.

Rewind to 2014. I was 40 and on the brink of a significant business development. I was gearing up for a trip to Seoul, aiming to finalize a Joint Venture (JV) agreement. After nearly half a year of intense discussions, Toyo Eng and our Korean partners were on the verge of consensus.

A week ahead of this all-important meet, my colleague, Mr. S, approached me with a seemingly ordinary request. "Zucca-san, could you draft the MOM for our upcoming meeting?" I confidently affirmed, having a template on hand. A simple addition of the venue and participant details should suffice—or so I thought.

Upon sharing the draft the next day, Mr. S's feedback caught me off guard. "This isn't what I had in mind, Zucca-san. I was hoping for a MOM that highlighted our conclusions and agreements. Why wait for tomorrow's meeting to draft this when we already know our intentions, as well as theirs?"

Bewildered yet receptive, I took his advice to heart. In a mere 30 minutes, I delineated our hopes and also projected some potential outcomes aligning with our partner's inclinations.

The Power of Proactivity: Introducing the Proactive MOM Approach

When our meeting commenced the next day, Mr. S wasted no time. "Given our extensive discussions leading up to today," he began, "we're all privy to our collective objectives. Hence, we've proactively prepared a MOM. Let's walk through it." Our Korean associates chuckled in approval, applauding our innovative approach.

The result? A meeting we'd anticipated to stretch an entire day concluded before lunch. We found ourselves raising beer glasses in early celebration.

This methodology, which I now refer to as Proactive MOM, isn't about coercing outcomes. When executed with empathy and understanding of stakeholders' concerns, it streamlines the discussion, focuses on pivotal points, and fosters constructive, efficient deliberations.