I don’t know how many times I have heard the phrase about meetings …
“Yep, we are in a meeting talking about things we should be doing, but can’t, cause we are in meetings talking about it!”
I wholeheartedly agree with cutting down meeting time. Or, at the very least get your meetings on track.
Top 5 Tips
- Set an agenda – send it out prior to the meeting. Also define a purpose.
- Send out meeting docs – to be read – before the meeting.
- Stick to a time-table (Start at X o’clock, XY+Z Topics take X minutes apiece) Make the meetings productive, predictable and as short as possible.
- Designate a meeting facilitator. (Read: Time keeper!)
- Set up defined action items to be done as a result of the meeting
Oh and #6 (an add-on) “Is this meeting really necessary – could I cover it off in a phone call, an email, a conference call (God forbid) or walking to my colleagues desk and having a quick discussion?”
Meetings are a necessary evil, but like all things moderation (pun intended) is the key!
Most meetings do tend to get obscured in petty details and lead nowhere near to any effective decision making
I think preparatory work undertaken before the meeting is most likely to prove fruitful then the actual delibrations during one.
nice,
I think preparatory work undertaken before the meeting is most likely to prove fruitful then the actual delibrations during one.