Efficient meetings

I have been on an interesting meeting lately. The big boss joined the meeting in a rush, told taht he has only 10 minutes time - and left after about 15 minutes. At the beginning I thought that he is just a fan of Parkinson's Law (I wrote earlier about my opinion on this) - but observing the situation I learned the following things:

• Have a team that you can trust.
  There were 3 other people in the meeting and I think he has chosen the attendees very wisely. There was one who I imagine to be a creative head with ideas and he was the excited. The second was the critical eye and the third the one with the technical know-how.
  
  
• Have very few and clear goals and have your team be aware of those.
  When the big boss joined the meeting he clearly stated his goals. However, the team already knew since one or two weeks ago (because they already told us in advance to get prepared).
  
  
• Don't give others too much time to answer your questions.
  If the others have too much time to respond to your questions they can talk you into something step by step. If one has only few time to respond to your question the other has to get to the point directly.
  
  
• Ask the most important questions that are needed for you to make decisions.
  Those questions can be: What do I get? What does it cost?
  
  
• Trust your team.
  Seem to be a double entry - as already mentioned above? - No, the point is: Setting up a team you could trust is one thing. Actually really trusting the team members is a second step that clearly came out at the meeting in my opinion. When the big boss left, he left in the full trust that his team will manage the details.
  
  
• Be prepared.
  The big boss had an overview about the topic and situation and he had some important background information.

Related posts: Parkinson's law and quality, Why investing enough time rules, How to rebuff somebody.