Not everyone is skilled at running a meeting. It isn’t something that is taught to most managers. Ineffective meetings are some of the worst killers of productivity in the workplace. However, everyone understands that some meetings are essential. Eliminate all the fluff and improve your office’s efficiency by running effective business meetings with your team. Here are a few tips to get you started.
- Send out an agenda. Before the meeting, send all of the participants an agenda. This will give them an idea of where they can bring up their own questions or concerns, or allow them to understand what will be discussed. Send it out ahead of time in case someone needs a specific amendment.
- Start on time. Never give people a five or ten minute window to arrive after the meeting is scheduled to start. This only gives people permission to be late. Instead, start the meeting on time and don’t stop and recap when someone new enters the room. Make it their responsibility to find out what they missed. This will train people to be on time.
- Stick to the schedule. Don’t allow anyone in the meeting to get the conversation off track. Follow the agenda, keep questions to a minimum, and provide structure to the meeting itself. This will keep people from becoming long winded and taking up time with issues that don’t need to be discussed in a meeting.
- Keep it short. Finally, the most important thing you can do is keep the meeting short. While your employees are in the meeting, the work they need to be doing is not being attended to. When a meeting is too long, it becomes not only nonproductive but also counterproductive. Take just enough time to discuss the issues and then let everyone get back to work.
Do you want to lead productive meetings in your office? CornerStone Dallas Staffing Agencies can provide more tips and ideas.