They may not have the suspense and gore of A Nightmare on Elm Street or Insidious (hopefully), but meetings at work can be almost as scary and lethal. Struggling through meetings just because “we always have a Tuesday meeting” or talking around a subject for an entire meeting without an outcome, are experiences we have all endured. Although I don’t espouse to run the perfect meeting for everyone or every organization, in my experience (both good and bad) there are a few keys to improving your meeting effectiveness regardless of the formality or growth stage of a business.
Ask only relevant people to be at the meeting and give members the ability to not join if they can’t contribute to the discussion.
Be clear on the outcomes, purpose and required decisions and/or decision-makers.Don’t schedule meetings as a habit.
Be open to cancelling or substituting with a short stand-up meeting to cover only key items and communications.
Keep it valuable for all!Keep the meeting focused on decisions and ensure they don’t supplant individual leadership decisions.
Collaboration is important, but don’t hamstring your organization’s agility and time to execute. Wrap up your meetings with key action items and follow-ups.
Meetings are a great way to promote open, honest debate and also to build creative solutions to problems. Feel free to share any innovative meeting tips you might have. We would love to hear them.