Each month, career coach Liz Bentley answers your candid questions about your job.

Your gut reaction to worry about running weekly meetings is understandable. Meetings can be boring and inefficient. In addition, meetings are a reflection of you as a leader and can either help or hinder the important work your team needs to accomplish.

The team seems to fall into one of two extremes: either they have too many redundant, unfocused, calendar-filling meetings, or too few and no one is communicating. There are also many bad meetings that start late or drag on, have unclear agendas, have the wrong attendees, or have conversations that go haywire. Bad meetings can make people lose their attention, lose sight of the purpose of the meeting, and lose the momentum to work together to get things done. Here are some ways to conduct a good meeting.

1. always have a plan.

Running a good meeting requires forethought, skill, and strategy. First, consider the goals of the meeting and what you are trying to accomplish. Here are three overall objectives on which the meeting should focus:

2. Manage the different personalities in the room.

The biggest obstacle to an effective meeting is the people in it. People are complex because they have different ideas and personalities, which can create conflicting dynamics. The easiest way to understand and navigate people is to divide them into two categories: extroverts and introverts.

Extroverts are active personalities who like to speak their minds. They externalize their thoughts and feelings as they are. These people enjoy lively conversations, active problem solving, and brainstorming sessions. They tend to deal with and react to problems on the spot. They tend to dislike groupthink. Instead, they prefer to challenge norms and people's ideas, encouraging them to insist on what they think is the best outcome. They are good at seeing the big picture and coming up with many ideas and solutions.

Extroverts are great at creating momentum and encouraging everyone to think differently, but if they dominate the conversation (leaving no room for others to contribute), become disruptive (taking the discussion off track), or derail the agenda (focusing on ideas or projects outside the scope) This can be problematic. Such people also tend to start and end meetings late.

Introverts are passive and prefer to think before they speak. They often talk in their head. They do not like to speak spur of the moment and would rather be precise, or at least think things through before getting into the topic. Therefore, when discussing an issue, he comes prepared and well-researched, which he feels leads to better results. He also tends to be passive and prefers to follow the group. He dislikes confusion and feels it hinders collaboration. He prefers to listen attentively, not interrupt people and sometimes not speak at all.

Introverts help create a calm and stable environment, but they are unproductive when they do not express their opinions in meetings and then speak up afterwards to the side. They can also become too attached to an agenda and unable to engage in open discussion or challenge norms.

Managing different personalities has a lot to do with being able to manage conflict productively. Ideally, the meeting is one in which all ideas are put forward, ideas are challenged, different voices are heard, and facts and accuracy are considered.

Most importantly, do not demonize one type of person because they are different from you or your group or because they make you uncomfortable. The worst meetings are the ones where everyone says the same thing or agrees for fear of confusion. Diversity of thought is what creates the most stimulating conversations and the best ideas.

To have a great meeting, remember the goals and overall objectives and manage those personalities to achieve productive results. And always start on time and end on time.

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