Productive Meetings – Are They Possible?
Productive Meetings – Are They Possible?
By Cindy Stadling CSP, CPC
I hear it all the time, people complaining how unproductive meetings are in their organizations. I have participated in meetings that have proven a waste of time as I am sure everyone reading this has. There are some key areas where meetings fail:
- The chairperson is not skilled or interested
- Often they are too long
- Often the wrong people are attending
- They don’t have a strong purpose and objective
- No one is held accountable to execute on any action items
- In some meetings Egos are running the show
- Often not everyone participates or if they do, they pay lip service
Pretty uninspiring, wouldn’t you say? It doesn’t have to be this way. Here are 7 tips to running effective meetings:
1. Create an agenda – with clear outlines and objectives. The chair is responsible to have distributed in timely manner and making sure only those who need to be there. List the priority items first and leave small agenda items to the end (these could be things that could be addressed in a follow up meeting or email after the fact. The chair needs to keep things moving and on track also recognizing when they need to exercise flexibility. This should be the exception, not the norm. Having clearly defined expectations of the participant’s participation will help make sure everyone comes with the necessary information.
2. Assign a minute taker – having the information captured from all the presenters after the meeting will serve your team well. This will give those in attendance and those who missed the meeting a summary of discussions, any of the decisions that were made, any agreed upon actions. This is also a great follow up and tracking tool for future reference on things that did or did not get accomplished. It is a respectful way to raise accountability.
3. Schedule shorter meetings – these are great 10-15 minute check in meetings. The agenda can go out just prior to the meeting and is very useful for updates on the status of projects or how the team is performing. As a leader it could be beneficial to have two short meetings instead of one longer one – especially if the attendees need only be there for part of a longer meeting.
4. If someone is talking too much, interrupt them and speak to them privately. Be respectful of their contribution as you don’t want to offend anyone and the agenda needs to be followed.
5. Often there are quiet people with great ideas and because they have a tendency to not speak up, valuable ideas and input could be lost. Invite them by using their first name to speak. “Barbara, do you have anything to add to what Henry shared?” If needed, put them on the spot.
6. Occasionally conversations will stray but an effective chair will always bring them back to the topic. Encourage the participant to come back to it at another time.
7. Stick to the Agenda Timing – sometimes new ideas and breakthrough discussions can take time. Take this into consideration when setting the agenda. If the topic is very important allow extra time for discussion. Start and stop on time as participants might be heading to another meeting right after.
These tips may or may not work in your organization, but give them some thought and possibly come up with your own creative ways to run more effective meetings.