Make Your Meetings Worth The Trip
Meetings have their time and place, as long as they have a defined purpose. Projects are known to hit a point where it is time to play catch up. There is nothing more show stopping than to hold a meeting for no other reason than ‘we have to have meetings’, or ‘we always have a meeting at this date and time’. Managing a meeting properly can bring the desired results. A poor meeting lends to wasted time and resources that could have been utilized in more important areas, such as getting the project accomplished. A meeting that solves problems is one thing. A daily hour long status meeting for everyone to report on what they are working on is unnecessary.
The message you desire to spread to the masses should determine who attends a meeting. Dragging individuals to a meeting that has nothing to do with them, while leaving out those who truly need to hear what you have to say and lend input, only misses the meeting demographic. Meetings should have a defined purpose for those in attendance, and action points, assigned responsibilities, and delivery dates must be annotated and given to the attendees after the meeting has concluded.
A meeting agenda involves the participants. What is the message you want to distribute? What are you seeking in accomplishing with the meeting, and what needs to be done to reach those goals? Your agenda is planned and organized to meet these objectives. The plan should involve the attendees early, gaining their energy and passion. Great meetings have everyone’s mindset pointing in the same direction. Therefore, provide short explanations in your agenda for all to see and understand.
Very important. Meetings start on time. Late is a lack of respect, for you against everyone else’s time, and those who show up late to your meeting. At the start, an agenda review provides the meeting with the topics to be discussed and hashed out. Your energy in the start of the meeting permeates towards everyone in attendance.
Management of time is a huge meeting killer. Meetings that discuss off topic areas on a frequent basis accomplishes the theft of time. Staying on track and keeping the momentum of the meeting allows you to get to the main points, gain resolution, and move forward. Meeting management and time is a main reason for individuals to grumble and gripe after the meeting. Three hour meetings is a bad way to gain team buy-in on what you may have to communicate. Reading body language, meeting participation, and the number of people actually paying attention to your message should be apparent to you. If the energy level of the meeting has lapsed, you aren’t giving them what they want or need. Get their feedback and opinions of the meeting while they are there. It will go a long way in conducting positive meetings. Their honesty may surprise you and bring resolution in conducting better meetings in the future. This can even include providing a numerical ranking of the meeting.
The end of the meeting is where you review any assigned responsibilities, set dates and times for future meetings, and gain commitments. Meetings should end on time. Stretching a meeting past its due point usually means the meeting was not conducted in a forward manner, issues took too long to resolve, or the meeting was not planned in a proper manner.
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