Ever felt like the meetings you attend just seem to spawn more meetings with little productive results? If you have to lead a meeting, then here are five essentials to get the best out of it.
A shockingly large amount of the meetings we attend at work are considered to be a waste of time by those who go to them. Why? Meetings should be an exciting opportunity to talk to the team and take a project forward, yet many of us don't look forward to them or even avoid them if we can. This isn't what a meeting should be, so if you have to hold one, here are five things that you need to be in place for you to get it right.
The right time, the right place
Holding a meeting when most people are on holiday or working away from the office is counterproductive - yes, you may have booked the facility or you're doing a weekly meeting that is scheduled in no matter what - but there's little point if not enough people are going to be there to attend, and you'll only end up rehashing the contents for them when they're back.
Time your meetings for when most people are in the office, but when they're not up against it too - since nobody wants to run over deadline because they were forced to come to a meeting that could have been postponed until later.
The right people
Many people get invited to meetings so that they don't feel left out, or that they want to see what's going to be discussed, or that the whole team gets invited out of habit. It's good to get different opinions, especially if it's a brainstorming meeting where the consensus will be the more, the merrier, but not always.
Who are the key decision makers? Is there anyone there who needn't be or doesn't have the relevant position to go away and take action after the meeting? Choose your attendees carefully - sometimes less is more.
The right agenda
Some managers, excited that they managed to get all the team in one place, try to cram too much into a meeting. Try to keep it succinct and to the point, rather than fitting lots of issues in that can probably wait until later. Like your workload, prioritise the content of the meeting so that it gets an immediate job done, rather than skirt around several issues without a single focal point. This will also encourage people to come back to your meetings, knowing that they are productive!
The right control of the meeting
Whether it's encouraging the normally quiet member of staff, or keeping the agenda on track by stopping people straying from the point- keep an awareness of the time, and how the meeting is progressing. Don't let it derail, and if you're not leading it yourself, choose one of your more assertive employees to do so on your behalf.
The right conclusion
Remember that when the meeting's over, there's still a job to do. Points will have been raised, agendas set for the next meetings, and decisions made. It's always a good idea to write this down, conclude and distribute the meeting results as soon as you can after it's taken place. This will keep it fresh in everyone's mind and also encourage them that you did "get something done" as opposed to that horrible scenario where you have meetings just to create other meetings. Don't let that happen to you!
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