Do your meetings get hijacked by people who go off on tangents? Do they drag on and waste your time? Do your meetings include people who don’t need to be there? If so, then it’s time you made your meetings more productive.
Define The Purpose Of Your Meeting
Decide what the purpose of your meeting is and whether it is really needed. If it is to share information, would a report be better? If it’s to make a decision, would it be better to talk directly to the decision-maker instead? You can have a one-to-one with this person in an indoor office pod rather than dragging multiple people into a meeting room. If it’s to gauge an opinion, what about a poll? Don’t hold meetings as a way to share information.
Set A Meeting Agenda
Make sure you know exactly what will be covered in each meeting, and how long it should take, and stick to those timing. Share the agenda before the meeting to make sure everyone is prepared and can offer feedback. If there’s no agenda, reschedule or cancel the meeting.
Make Sure Someone Leads The Meeting
By having someone lead the meeting, they can make sure that all voices are heard and that the meeting doesn’t get off-topic.
Get The Right People Attending The Meeting
The more people who attend, the bigger the drop in productivity. Be selective and only invite people with a specific role. Make sure that key decision-makers can attend. If they can’t, you should postpone.
Consider Competing Priorities
Allow people to decline the meeting if they can demonstrate that it’s not essential to their job. If lots of people will be away or there is a business-critical deadline, it might be better to postpone or cancel a regular meeting.
Set Meeting Ground Rules
Consider banning technology so everyone can remain focused and the meeting doesn’t get stretched out. If you are presenting, make sure it is clear when it is appropriate to interrupt to ask questions or voice concerns.
Ensure Participants Understand Jargon
If your meeting has a diverse audience or participants from different companies or parts of the business, avoid buzzwords and make sure jargon is explained.
Invite Feedback
Ask if there are any concerns or roadblocks. At the end of the meeting, ask attendees for feedback about the effectiveness, duration, timing, and content.
Experiment and Try New Ideas
Think about holding stand-up meetings, as research shows they can cut meeting time by a third. Consider hybrid meetings to allow those elsewhere to attend remotely via video conferencing.
Allocate Housekeeping Tasks By Rotation
When you allocate tasks like time-keeping, note-taking, and getting refreshments, you can eliminate the possibility of discrimination and unconscious bias by using rotation.
Share Relevant Documents Post-Meeting
By sharing the meeting notes, you provide a reminder of the action points that were agreed on and make everyone who attended feel that their input was appreciated. Remember to share any assets that were referred to within the meeting.
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