More Productive Meetings
You have the ability to influence a poorly run meeting by implementing a basic strategy!
How to Make Sure You Attend More Productive Meetings
We all dread the meeting invitation, not because of the content, but because a majority of meetings we have to attend are poorly run meetings.
Oh no, not another business meeting request!
Meeting Invitation
We all dread the business meeting invitation, not because of the content, but because a majority of business meetings we have to attend are so poorly run and don’t go anywhere.
You know a good productive business meeting vs. the unstructured, why am I here, one.
Do not let the next meeting you hold or attend be poorly executed.
More Productive Meetings
You have the ability to hold a more productive business meeting by implementing a basic strategy. Everyone can benefit from doing this, but this is an essential skill for line managers.
Establishing your basic business meeting strategy allows you to hold and attend more productive meetings, yes, even if someone else is leading the effort.
Ask Questions
The only difference is, as an attendee you may have to tactfully ask appropriate questions when the situation warrants You can ask the team leader, sponsor, or facilitator about a key point during the meeting.
Be aware of your audience and also who is running the meeting. Too much of a push can focus the attention on you and detract from the meeting’s purpose.
Just mentor the meeting along is my point.
Basic Strategy for More Productive Meetings
Your basic more productive meetings strategy should include the following facilitation and business meeting skills elements.
- Establish and be able to articulate the purpose for holding the meeting.
- Identify the desired outputs for the meeting, or what you want to accomplish.
- Present an agenda with key topics to be addressed and estimated duration.
- Identify someone to take meeting notes or minutes for you.
- Control comments or discussions that are off-topic by focusing on your purpose but allowing comments to be captured in the minutes for review at a later time.
- Stick to your agenda and time schedule if possible.
- If required, establish a follow-up time and date to meet again.
- Ask if there are questions.
- Wrap up a meeting with a summary of accomplishments against your purpose and cover any open items.
Foundation For Productivity
Obviously, there are more steps involved if a meeting is in support of a larger team project or a more complicated effort.
However, I think this basic more productive meetings strategy will form a foundation for you to hold better meetings and influence the meetings you attend.
As our time becomes more compressed, influencing the environment around us can and will provide benefits to you in the long run.
Remember, your success depends upon how effective you are in continuously improving yourself and those around you.
This article was contributed by Kent Jacobson
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