Make the Most of Your Meetings

We have all seen the statistics, but here are a couple that might surprise you. Some research claims that 50% of the time in meetings is wasted and professionals lose 31 hours per month to unproductive meetings. Even if you don’t believe these statistics, you must agree that there is a problem. So let’s look at a few simple ways to make the most of your meetings. I will outline six simple rules to make your meetings more productive.

1-Always provide an agenda: Agendas provide control over the flow of discussions; keep the meeting within a predetermined time frame; and make it clear what the action items are. An agenda template may be helpful for your team, but do not use a recurring agenda. This is because recurring agendas rarely have actions associated with agenda items. If you are invited to a meeting without an agenda, ask for one! Your agenda should include:

• Topics, prioritized by importance - no more than five topics for a typical (1 hour) meeting

• Include attachments - materials to review to help prepare for decision making

• List of details - time, location, attendees, who is taking notes, log in info

• Meeting objective - no more than two sentences stating why you are calling the meeting

2-Create a strategic attendee list: You must have decision makers present. These decision makers must have the authority and ability to decide and move forward. Otherwise you will end up right where you began, with no action items to move your project forward. When selecting attendees, think about:

• Avoiding attendees that have to ‘talk it out’. They will quickly derail the meeting. If they are important to your attendee list, schedule a one-on-one with them before the meeting. Give them a chance to discuss all of their concerns ahead of time and be prepared to make your case so they are already on-board before the meeting starts. 

• Only include key personnel. Ask yourself… do they need to be a part of the process? Are they a decision maker or do they just need to be informed? (If they just need to be informed, make sure you add them to your distribution list and send them minutes after the meeting.) Is their input not only valuable but necessary for making decisions?

3-Create an atmosphere where decisions will be made: Today’s climate is often focused on collaboration. Collaboration is a very important step in preparing for a meeting; or in other words, sharing your team’s idea, pitch or proposal. However, when it is time for the meeting, it is all about making decisions and assigning tasks. Here are some pointers.

• Break it down, make it clear what you expect to accomplish. Remember, all meetings have desired outcomes (decisions), even brain-storming meetings.

• Meetings are not for reporting, reporting can be shared in a report. Don’t waste time with something that can be shared in an email. 

• Do not leave without clear directives for next steps. If you don’t accomplish this, the time was wasted.

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