It’s the start of the week, and you get into the office fully energized and brimming with hope of starting a productive week. You power the PC and set the workstation then give a round of friendly greetings to other staffers, but before you settle down for the week, you cheerfully turn to your calendar to check how the week will turn out. Suddenly, you quietly frown because your calendar reads meetings, meetings, and more meetings. Does this sound familiar?
Most people do not look forward to meetings. They disrupt workflow and may leave you feeling drained. If possible, we should purge them out of our lives. But, until robots take over our jobs, meetings will remain an essential part of every organization. Here’s some tips on how to make them as productive as possible.
Before the Meeting
Start with a purpose.
The first step to conducting successful meetings is outlining the purpose of the meeting. Before even allocating the date, ask yourself ‘What is the anticipated outcome of this meeting?’ And, ‘Is it necessary in the first place?’ It may sound like a no-brainer, but it is important to ensure the meeting is the most appropriate way of achieving the goal. Weigh up the expected value against the cost in man hours. Also, establish if you need other staff members to help with meeting planning.
If you’re planning for regular meetings, this stage helps to determine how often you need to conduct them. Generally, it is easier to assess value if it is a one-off meeting than it is with recurrent meetings with open-ended agenda. The goals you set for your meeting will guide the framework of the meeting plan.
Plan for the meeting
Successful meetings have a structure. You should, therefore, create an agenda to help you keep everything on track. While you may be tempted to scribble and post it just before the meeting, it’s important to prepare everything in time to ensure you don‘t miss out on important details.
To start off, outline the key topics you want to focus on. For instance, if it’s an annual planning meeting, the themes could be to brainstorm, discuss the results, or come up with action items to propel planning forward.
Assign time blocks to each topic to keep everything on track. Pick sensible timeframes, but always lean on the short side. While there is no ideal length for a meeting, longer meetings don’t usually fit into people’s busy schedules.
When you have sorted the overall framework, add the meat to the agenda. This may include the subtopics on relevant agenda sections. The more details they are, the better.
In addition to the above, choose the meeting attendants wisely. While it is important to involve all project team members on important discussions, consider the impact on budget and productivity.
Before sending out the invitation, confirm the availability of participants. Some people may opt to send representatives in their absence. In such cases, make sure the designated staff has the authority to make crucial decisions, otherwise postpone the meeting.
Organize information share on time
Share the agenda with participants in advance. If you can include them in the meeting invite, the better. Prepare and share any supporting information on time so that attendees can review it ahead of the meeting, clarify unclear issues, and prepare adequately.
You have probably been to a meeting where the facilitator starts distributing reams of paper just before the meeting. The danger of this is that it is difficult to get a sign-off on a huge publication if you distribute the document at the start of the meeting. To make your meetings more productive and efficient provide pre-work in advance. The information you may need to distribute on time includes:
- Charts and links to reports and data.
- Production plans.
- Up to date monthly sales data.
- PowerPoint slides about key discussion topics.
- Notes and minutes of previous meetings or related projects.
During the Meeting
Set the expectations
To set things on the right path, start the meeting on time. As the meeting leader, your main task is to set a positive tone for discussion and help members stay focused and productive throughout the meeting.
To bring everyone on board, encourage the participants to go through the points of discussion; review the goals and agenda of the meeting. You should also introduce the people who will lead the meeting and assign a note taker. The notes will serve as the formal record of the discussions and decisions. They will also help people who didn’t attend the meeting to benefit from the discussion.
Engage all participants
If you pick the right attendees and utilize time effectively, you will build enthusiasm and commitment from the attendees. In the end, everyone will have gained something valuable from the discussion. You want everyone to feel like their contribution matters.
In most cases, great ideas emerge when the atmosphere allows for free speaking and free thinking. To make the meeting more interactive, ask for opinions and ideas from the group. Sometimes, not everyone is comfortable sharing ideas in a group setting, so ask for feedback from the room instead of an individual.
In a typical meeting, you expect participants to have different personalities. There are people who love dominating every discussion point, and there are the quiet ones. Your job as the facilitator is to ensure everyone is invested in the discussion. Also, keep in mind that meetings are not for ambushing people or resolving department turf wars or individual conflicts.
Come up with a follow-up plan
During the meeting, come up with a follow-up plan with action tasks. An effective plan should have the following:
- The details of the actionable item.
- The due date for completing the action item.
- The person responsible for accomplishing the action item.
- And a consensus about the definition of completed action item.
Let the members discuss the practical scenarios and barriers to completing the action items. If there is a need for a follow-up meeting, set it before adjourning the meeting.
Keep track of the meeting
While it is important to encourage free discussion during the meeting, don’t lose sight of the meeting goals. If you have a guiding structure, the discussion should transition smoothly from one topic to the next. If some issues crop up during the discussion, note them for discussion when time allows. To ensure the meeting remains on track, have a plan on how to minimize staff catch-ups and digression.
Closing the Meeting and After the Meeting
Adjourn and provide the way forward
Close the meeting by recapping on what has been discussed and agreed so that everyone leaves the meeting with the same understanding. It is also important to finish the meeting on time. If the meeting attendees fail to agree on some matters, schedule another meeting, otherwise, you may risk implementing half-baked solutions.
Publish minutes on time
Within 24 hours after completion of the meeting, publish the minutes. This will help people to implement resolutions right away when everything is still fresh in their minds.
Conclusion
While it takes a lot of upfront time to prepare for the meeting, the benefits of having a productive and efficient meeting justify the time spent. With a clear goal, agenda, and discussion items, everyone will come to the meeting prepared and leave the meeting knowing what to do next.
