Meetings and interviews can be some of the worst job experiences.

We can have too many or not enough. They can go too long or you can run out of time. And frequently, people leave with a different understanding of how it went and what happens next.

HR professionals and recruiters have known for a long time the best way to get great, useful information from job candidates is to meet with them and use behavioral interviewing techniques. These techniques help the interviewer start and stop the meeting on time, get and convey the information they need, and wrap up with everyone clear on the next steps.

Wouldn't it be great if all meetings were like that?

The structure of a behavioral interview

What is behavioral interviewing? In a presentation at a San Diego HR Forum event, Dr. Bob Adamik broke the stages of the interview into eight parts. In short, they are as follows:

    1. Socializing: Build rapport.

    2. Positioning: Ensure the space and seating are set appropriately.

    3. Posturing: Set the stage for the interview.

    4. Questioning: Focus on samples, behaviors and patterns.

    5. Convincing: Figure out whether what was said makes sense.

    6. Specifying: Follow up and drill down for more specifics.

    7. Deciding: Make a preliminary decision on whether to go further.

    8. Disconnecting: End with next steps and a timeline

Following this pattern in an interview is a tried-and-true way to open the candidate up, get the conversation going and elicit the information needed.

But how do you apply this to your next meeting? By adding one step, using this process can help you guide your next meeting to a successful conclusion.

First, start by establishing the reason for the meeting. Everyone knows the reason for the job interview, so you will have to clearly define the reason for the meeting. Make the reason clear with a set goal, for example: Determine final submission requirements for TPS reports. Once you have done that, you can follow the interviewing steps just as easily in your meeting.

Start on time with some small talk to build rapport. Ensure the seating is appropriate so that everyone can see, read or hear what is happening. Call the meeting to order and set the stage by clarifying why you are meeting and how you are running the meeting. Then start asking questions so you can elicit the information that will help you determine how you are going to establish the final submission requirements.

Follow up by drilling down into the suggestions to understand whether the suggestions are valid and viable. Decide preliminarily what will work and end the meeting ensuring everyone knows what the next steps are and the associated timeline.

Behavioral facilitating

This suggestion may seem logical for a meeting of two people, but what if you are running a meeting with several people pitching in their suggestions? In this case, it would be similar to conducting a panel interview.

In a panel interview, it is clear that everyone will have a turn to speak and can expect to be listened to during that time, but there is always a person clearly in charge of facilitating the discussion. In the case of a meeting with multiple stakeholders, we can steal a page from the professional facilitators.

Renaissance Executive Forums, a leader in advisory boards to support CEOs, trains their facilitators to process issues using the clarifying questions method. Once the issue is presented, the facilitator goes around the table allowing each person to ask questions to ensure they understand what was said, similar to steps 5 and 6 above.

Then, once everyone understands the issue, the facilitator goes around the table allowing each person to offer suggestions or opinions, similar to step 7 above. At the end of the meeting, the facilitator still closes with the next steps and a timeline.

Using a combination of behavioral techniques will allow you to run your next meeting efficiently and effectively.