The primary goals of business meetings are to increase team productivity, boost morale and build upon business efficiency. The problem is that business and corporate meetings are falling drastically short of these goals.
If planning your next meeting feels
like a headache or if your team is less than enthused about your upcoming
team meeting, it's time to revamp your strategy. But where do you begin?
Read on to find nine tips
to take your next meeting from boring and unproductive to engaging and
efficient.
1.
Determine Purpose
As the meeting organizer, the
first question you need to consider is, "should this be a meeting or
an email?"
In a culture of meeting overload,
it's vital to determine if the meeting you are planning is the best use of your
team's time and your organization's money.
Using a decision
flowchart will help you determine if the topic should be electronic
or you should proceed with scheduling the meeting.
2.
Form an Agenda
Clarity is key! Building an agenda
will provide structure for each section in your meeting.
Break down each topic or point of
conversation into time increments. Planning the minutes keeps the meeting on
track.
Start with an outline. Include all
items that are pertinent to be discussed:
- Goals and objectives
- Speaker for each segment
- Time allotted for each topic
After you build the outline,
add any additional information needed for each section. Make sure all topics
point to the greater goal and objective.
3.
Your Team's Input
Your team's input is an important
consideration. Share your meeting plan with your team before the
meeting. If team members do not know what the meeting is about, they cannot be
prepared.
If your team is not engaged before
the meeting starts, you've already lost them by your first words.
Bring every member in the loop by
sharing the agenda and allowing the team to weigh in, if necessary. You might
be surprised what they might want to add to the meeting.
4.
Hit Record
The most productive meetings provide
valuable information, tools, and action items. Keeping on pace might mean
participants miss a few notes or comments.
Prevent missed
information or productivity delays by recording meetings and providing
transcripts for your team with a media
transcription service. Transcripts convert
the video file of the session into text that can be easily shared and read
among your team.
Transcripts are a bonus for
increasing the overall comprehension of your team members that learn
best through the written word.
5.
Time Management
Time is limited, for you and your
team.
It's crucial to have a meeting
that starts on time, stays on track, and ends on time.
Staying on schedule will keep
the team engaged, the conversation focused, objectives at the forefront, and
will build trust as you follow through on expectations.
6.
Creative Engagement
Your team has incredible value to
add to the business. Make sure to give room for ideas and innovation during
your meetings.
Providing space for creative
thinking in the workplace opens the door for deeper engagement and
bold ideas to improve the company.
If you have a tight timeline,
utilize a parking lot tool during the
meeting. If an idea or thought comes up that's off-topic, write it down and
make a plan to revisit it during another time.
Your team should feel valued to
share their ideas and know their thoughts will be entertained, even if it's at
a different time.
7.
Short and Sweet
Thankfully, with an agenda,
you can control the length of your meetings.
Keeping meetings short and to the
point will prevent employees from drifting or losing interest.
Your team, when busy, has a lot on
their minds. Meetings that are well-timed and on target will keep team
members from tuning out pertinent information about the company.
Determine the amount of time you
need for the meeting and make sure it's consistent with the engagement levels of your team. After 30 minutes,
the attention span decreases, so plan accordingly.
8.
Action Steps
You've had
a productive meeting and developed several actionable items. How do
you ensure these items don't fall off the radar of those who need them?
Sending a recap email after the
meeting will allow you to reiterate what the role is for each person in
follow-up.
The recap email can contain your
meeting notes, transcript, key takeaways, and action of the meeting.
Recap emails are beneficial for
those who attended the meeting, but they are also valuable for those unable to
attend.
It's never ideal for a team member
to miss a meeting. However, if they do miss the scheduled time, it is easy
to keep them involved and engaged with the whole team.
9.
Seek Feedback
Another impactful way to get
your team engaged is to ask for feedback after a meeting.
Not every meeting will be perfect,
yet some will be great. Gleaning feedback immediately after a discussion
will give you insight as you plan the next one.
Implementing ideas and suggestions
from employees will allow them to feel seen and heard. Encouraging feedback
will shape future meetings build trust with your team.
An easy way to implement requesting
feedback is either at the end of your meeting or within your recap email. Using
this request in the recap email will allow people to respond one-on-one if they
are uncomfortable sharing feedback in the larger group.
Effective
Business Meetings
Planning a meeting for your business
shouldn't feel daunting. Attending that business meeting shouldn't be filled
with dread.
Here's the challenge. Start
implementing these nine tips in your business meetings. The transformation of
your team and the health of your business will benefit as a result.
Will this change your future meetings? Read other helpful tips in the business section of this site.
