Make the Most of Your Meetings

Make the Most of Your Meetings Make the Most of Your Meetings A survey of business leaders showed 33% of time spent in meetings is unproductive 75% of the respondents said it is almost essential to have an agenda, yet they use them only 50% of the time Only 64% of meetings achieve their intended outcomeA disciplined approach to making the most of meeting time will help to maximize gruppe effectiveness.Set an objectiveAnswer these three questions. What, ultimately, do I want to achieve by this meeting? What, specifically, has to be accomplished by the end of this meeting? When the meeting is over, how will I know whether the meeting was a success? Use your answers to define your meetings objective. Then make participants aware of the objective up front.Make sure the key people attendKey people are the ones with the knowledge and experience needed to accomplish the meetings objective.Arrange for the proper facility Little things (how the room is arranged, the room temperature, or whe ther theres coffee or not) can make a tremendous difference in the success of a meeting.Write an agendaThere are numerous ways to accomplish this task. Have a planning committee set the agenda, or send out a pre-meeting survey asking people to list one to three topics they want to discuss. When writing an agenda, put the most important items at the beginning.The agenda should be distributed far enough in advance so participants can adequately prepare for the meeting. The agenda should state the date, location, start and finish time, topics to be covered, the expected outcome (information only, discussion, or decision), and time allotted to each topic.Studies show that productivity decreases sharply after about an hour and a half of meeting. If you must have a long meeting, provide adequate breaks.Keep the meeting on trackConsider using a facilitator or getting a team member to serve as timekeeper. If a facilitator is not used, the meeting leader is responsible for keeping the meetin g on course and adjourning on time. You could also assign meeting roles to facilitate progress such as chairperson, note taker, timekeeper or observer.You might also allow the participants to suggest agreements for the meeting before the meeting begins, like those listed below. One person speaks at a timeNo side conversations Everyone participates Listen as an ally Set time frames and stick to them Use a consensus decision-making modelIf, as the leader, you notice that only a few are contributing, you can direct a question to others, such as What do you think about . . .? Should discussion stray from the agenda, you should ask, Is this subject relevant? and have the group determine if it should be added to the agenda or saved for a future meeting.Summarize the meetingIn closing, the leader should summarize the groups accomplishments, review action items (including who, what, and when) and, thank everyone for their participation. The summary of the meeting should be appropriately doc umented and distributed to team members and key stakeholders. Make the Most of Your Meetings A survey of business leaders showed 33% of time spent in meetings is unproductive 75% of the respondents said it is almost essential to have an agenda, yet they use them only 50% of the time Only 64% of meetings achieve their intended outcomeA disciplined approach to making the most of meeting time will help to maximize team effectiveness.Set an objectiveAnswer these three questions. What, ultimately, do I want to achieve by this meeting? What, specifically, has to be accomplished by the end of this meeting? When the meeting is over, how will I know whether the meeting was a success? Use your answers to define your meetings objective. Then make participants aware of the objective up front.Make sure the key people attendKey people are the ones with the knowledge and experience needed to accomplish the meetings objective.Arrange for the proper facility Little thing s (how the room is arranged, the room temperature, or whether theres coffee or not) can make a tremendous difference in the success of a meeting.Write an agendaThere are numerous ways to accomplish this task. Have a planning committee set the agenda, or send out a pre-meeting survey asking people to list one to three topics they want to discuss. When writing an agenda, put the most important items at the beginning.The agenda should be distributed far enough in advance so participants can adequately prepare for the meeting. The agenda should state the date, location, start and finish time, topics to be covered, the expected outcome (information only, discussion, or decision), and time allotted to each topic.Studies show that productivity decreases sharply after about an hour and a half of meeting. If you must have a long meeting, provide adequate breaks.Keep the meeting on trackConsider using a facilitator or getting a team member to serve as timekeeper. If a facilitator is not used, the meeting leader is responsible for keeping the meeting on course and adjourning on time. You could also assign meeting roles to facilitate progress such as chairperson, note taker, timekeeper or observer.You might also allow the participants to suggest agreements for the meeting before the meeting begins, like those listed below. One person speaks at a timeNo side conversations Everyone participates Listen as an ally Set time frames and stick to them Use a consensus decision-making modelIf, as the leader, you notice that only a few are contributing, you can direct a question to others, such as What do you think about . . .? Should discussion stray from the agenda, you should ask, Is this subject relevant? and have the group determine if it should be added to the agenda or saved for a future meeting.Summarize the meetingIn closing, the leader should summarize the groups accomplishments, review action items (including who, what, and when) and, thank everyone for their participatio n. The summary of the meeting should be appropriately documented and distributed to team members and key stakeholders.