Meetings: 15 useful minutes and lots of fluff.

How often do we hear colleagues say with a burdened sigh, "I spend my life in meetings". It's an all too common lament, but it's not the meetings themselves, it's how we run them that's the problem.

We are big believers that there is no substitute for a face-to-face meeting. They are great for relationship building and if managed properly they can achieve a great deal. We always insist on a meeting for all major decisions, even if we're in and out in half an hour and have travelled by plane, train and automobile to get there. It always saves time in the long run and more importantly you can truly read people, which just isn't possible by email.

So I was intrigued to see a new meeting strategy courtesy of the television show Mr Selfridge. Instead of one or two mammoth meetings a day, Mr Selfridge favoured a series of shorter meetings.  Each meeting lasts no longer than 15 minutes, because according to him, "Everything is said, that needs to be said in a quarter of an hour, after that it’s hot wind."

We tend to agree with this no nonsense approach. Here's a little introduction to our black and white approach to meetings:

1. Be clear on the purpose and get someone to lead. A pre-meeting about a nebulous meeting is just about the most depressing entry in a corporate diary.

2. Meetings: you can't beat them, but you shouldn't always join them. Make sure that your presence is absolutely necessary.

3. Set a time and stick to it. A standing meeting is an interesting way to make this happen but don't get too comfy; don't serve continental coffees or biscuits.

4. Make decisions quickly and unanimously and move on. Topics in meetings tend to be like Watford roundabout. If you don't break off at some point you'll keep on going round in circles forever.

5. Make someone responsible for follow ups and give action points a deadline.