Stop wasting time in useless meetings. Take control by following these simple steps and take back the conference room!
If you're like me, a mid-level corporate executive, you spend an alarming amount of time in meetings. At times I feel like handing out business cards with "professional meeting attendee" listed as my job title. In this economic climate we all need to make sure our time is spent in the most productive manner. Here are my steps on how to make meetings productive.
Prepare in advance a detailed meeting agenda. Every meeting should have a specific goal or objective. Who is speaking and when? What do we want to accomplish during this time? There are plenty of reasons for meetings, but they should be specific and communicated to attendees in advance. The worst kind of meeting is one to have just for the sake of meeting. If the meeting leader can't think of a full agenda then there probably shouldn't be a meeting held at all.
There shall be only one person running the meeting. I've been in way too many meetings that had a weak leader, and missing leader, or too many leaders. This creates the rudderless ship scenario and again wastes time. The meeting leader should be clearly marked on the meeting invite and is the person that runs the show.
Keep a firm grip on time. If the meeting leader lets a discussion go over its allotted time they need to step in and move the meeting to the next agenda item. This is not to say cut off people from speaking if the topic is truly important and is accomplishing a predetermined goal, but rather the leader should be aware and limit when a topic is just dragging on. If an agenda item does go over the leader should either stop it or move a subsequent agenda item to another time.
Limit the amount of people in the attendee list. Most meetings have quite a few unnecessary people pile into the conference room or jump onto the bridge line. Too many people in attendance will equal a higher potential for wasted time. If a person is not required there is no reason to be there. Think of the amount of wasted cost spent on people sitting idle in a meeting instead of working.
Follow-up in writing after the meeting. Preferably on the same day the meeting leader should send out a recap or meeting minutes. All next steps and assignments should be clearly communicated with expected completion dates.
Hold people accountable during the meeting time. All too often an item is discussed and some sort of agreement is reached but the details are vague. Did Johnny say he was taking care of that or was that Karen's take away? Make things clear during the meeting. The leader should take detailed notes. Ok so Karen is responsible for the sales forecast figures and Johnny is bringing the donuts on Friday morning. If you are not clear then items will be forgotten about on the way out the door.
评论