"A
meeting is a place where people take minutes and waste hours." Is this statement true
of your meetings? Here are four strategies for running meetings that are more
productive and don't waste hours:
1. Have a Purpose for Meeting
"We
always meet every Thursday at 4" is not a sufficient reason to meet. You should be able to state the purpose for
meeting in one succinct sentence. Make
this sentence your "opening statement" at the meeting and write it at
the top of your agenda. Some examples:
"We will decide how to pilot our new flex-time policy." "We will
draft the high-level project plan for the software upgrade." "We will
review the data from the survey and decide our next steps." If there is no
purpose or if that purpose could be better achieved through different means,
don't meet.
2. Have an Agenda
The
agenda should include who will handle which topic and how long it should
take. Send the agenda out before the
meeting so the attendees will know what/how to prepare and what will be expected
of them. Once you have an agenda, stick to it.
3. Stick to the Time
Make
the most out of everyone's time by starting and ending the meeting on
time. If people tend to come late, start
on time anyway and don't repeat everything each time someone comes in late;
eventually, people will get used to showing up on time. Have someone keep track of time during the
meeting so everyone stays within their allotted time and there is time to go
through the whole agenda.
4. Set the Ground Rules
If
the group will meet often or for a long period of time, it's important to spend
the first few minutes of the first meeting having the group develop ground
rules for things such as the use of laptops/phones/email during meetings. People are more likely to hold each other and
themselves accountable to the ground rules if they helped to develop them. Write them on a flipchart and post them in
the meeting room or on the agenda sheet for the next meeting. Remind people of them at the start of the
next meeting.
If
you follow these strategies, your meetings will become more productive. You'll achieve the purpose stated in the
agenda while respecting people's time.