The RARA approach to meeting management is a great solution for getting things done with meetings. This approach can be thought of as time management for meetings. The best known time management principle is to start with A when looking at priorities. So for anyone just starting out running meetings or those who want to improve the meetings they attend, start with the A’s in the acronym RARA (pronounced rah-rah).
The first A in the acronym is for diary. Have an agenda to control the flow and pace of the meeting, as well as keep the group focused. Be sure to review the agenda at the beginning of each meeting, as this is the blueprint for how the meeting should proceed. The agenda should include the 3 T’s of Time, Topic and Speaker. The order of the 3Ts in the agenda doesn’t matter, so if a current agenda format only has two of these three, just add the other one to the end of the existing format. At the start of meetings, be sure to review the agenda to agree on the meeting process, set times, and valid adjustments. Then, use the agenda to bring people back to the current action that needs to be taken in the meeting if any of the participants start to wonder about the designated topic. If there are going to be follow-up meetings, create a tentative agenda for the next meeting as a group before adjourning to get early buy-in.
The second A indicates behavior. Record any action items as they come up during the meeting. Actions should be assigned to attendees or team members using the 3 Ws of who, what, and when before the meeting closes. The 3Ws are recorded in the meeting minutes as a reminder to everyone who has actions when they need to be completed in order for them to be accountable to the group. Individuals or sub-teams not completing assigned actions outside of meetings can cause project delays and cause issues with future meeting agendas. Make sure everyone understands the importance of meeting commitments outside of the meeting on time.
Anyone who manages meetings or wants to improve the time spent in the meetings they attend will find the RARA approach very useful. Starting with the A’s in the RARA acronym can instantly make meetings more efficient and effective.
NOTE: The R’s in the RARE approach represent good historical data. records such as taking accurate meeting minutes and pre-assigning papers of facilitator, recorder and any other that is necessary for the success of the meeting. Most of the information in this article has been summarized from the book “RA!RA! A Meeting Wizard’s Approach” or from speeches by the author of the book. Finding ideas to use RARA before, during and after meetings; read the article “Turn meetings into manifestations of productivity”. For more meeting or time management tips, search this author’s extensive list of articles.