From Discussion to Decision: A Five-Step C.L.E.A.R. Meeting Discipline and the Evidence Behind It

Abstract

Meetings take up a huge portion of paid working time and there is limited measurement of the output of meetings. This article looks at a five step meeting agenda, summarised by the words C.L.E.A.R (core issue, latest numbers, expected outcome, action owner, review results). Peer-reviewed studies in organisational psychology and group research, published working papers, management standards and public meeting law were identified and checked for consistency, before being dated. Some of the findings reported are Goal clarity was found to predict task performance in top management groups. Employee surveys estimated the amount of unproductive meeting time at approximately 1/3 of the meeting time, and structured surgical briefings were found to reduce mortality and complications measurably. Costs are shown here at loaded labour rates and not based on published market rates as there are variations in published market rates. The article outlines the technologies used transcription, calendar metadata, task tracking and shared dashboards, and their limitations. It points out that national data on meeting time is missing, there are limited field experiments on bundled meeting rules, and there are limited data outside large English speaking white collar organisations. It should not be assumed the method has to be field tested. Readers are provided with a workable approach, a costing approach, and a research agenda for workplaces, regulators, and researchers.