Tips for More Productive Meetings

In modern day business if we are lucky enough to get all the participants we want together physically for a meeting or even have others join digitally, it’s usually a chore and we need to make the sessions worthwhile. No one can afford to have their time wasted, especially yourself.

So, here are a few tips to make your meetings meaningful:

Have a Goal

Don’t call a meeting until you have this sussed. What is it you are calling the gathering for? What is the end goal and what is it that needs to be achieved before everyone walks away? You should have a goal for yourself but also for the participants, why are they being asked to the session, if they are in it, it should be because there is a goal for them as well.

Make sure your goal is tangible and real, simply calling a meeting to make an announcement doesn’t seem worthwhile, we have emails for that. What about the outcome required from the actual meeting?

Only Invite Essential Participants

No one wants to come to a meeting just to observe others working. Only ever invite participants who are essential and link their involvement back to the goal of the session with a clear view in mind as to why the session will benefit or directly concern them.

Clutter drags meetings on and could be a waste of time for non-essential attendees. You don’t want to earn a reputation for dragging people away from their work just for the sake of it.

Enforce a Device Ban

Build it into your culture that meetings are a device free zone. No iPads or smartphones out on the table or in the attendee’s hands. You’re calling a session for a reason because there is something to address and it needs everyone’s full attention. If full attention isn’t required, then it’s likely one or more attendees aren’t essential.

It’s important this mentality is built into the culture of your business or team rather than having to call individual offenders out on a case by case basis. Get your team to buy in to respecting these sessions as standard.

Finish on Time

Your attendees need to know how long they are required for, planning your working day is tough enough without unforeseen delays or overly long meetings. Set a start and finish time and stick to it.

Summarise and Confirm

It sounds obvious but many don’t do it. At the end of any session no matter the length, summarise the discussion and the action points and confirm everything one final time before you end. Make sure every individual who has been given a task or responsibility from the session is clear and aligned with you.