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Empty Conference Room. Photo Credit: bps101.net

A random survey among employees in select organisations reveals an aversion towards staff and departmental meetings. Reactions discovered from the study shows that people often consider meetings to be boring, unnecessary, and at best a waste of productive hours that could be better utilized. Brian Tracy, a renowned leadership and time management expert, notes that meetings could be a major time waster. He explained that meetings account for about 25 percent of time spent in workplaces. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Meetings can still be one of a company’s most potent tools for reassessing its strategy, aligning individual goals with corporate objectives, and evaluating progress. How, then, can organisational leaders and departmental heads make productive use of employee work hours without compromising the effectiveness of meetings? Ask yourself, “Is this meeting really necessary?” This is, perhaps, the first point to consider before deciding to call a meeting. This centres around the goal of the meeting. Ordinarily, one can come up with a hundred and one reasons why a meeting may be important even when it is not so. However, asking oneself if the meeting is really necessary implies subjecting the idea to examination – one that requires a typical “yes or no” response. Is the meeting really important in the first place or are there alternative ways to arrive at the purpose for which you were going to call the meeting. Even if you decide that a meeting is really necessary, does it have to be in person? Consider a telephone or video conference call, which can save time, money, and energy. Telephone meetings, by their very nature, tend to be shorter than face-to-face meetings due to the unit costs incurred on airtime use. To make telephone meetings productive, it is essential to write down the topics to be discussed for the meeting. One may discover, while writing the points to be discussed, if the meeting is necessary at all. It is also essential to review the number of attendees and limit attendance to only the employees who absolutely need to be there. Punctuality is crucial After deciding to call a meeting, ensure that everything is done with respect to time. This is a resource most people would wish to expand, but sadly everyone is limited to 24 hours, which is sufficient to get one through accomplishing tasks set for a day if properly planned. Fix a start and end time and stick to it strictly. Good meetings start and end on time. When you start late, you inadvertently penalize the punctual and reward the tardy. People get accustomed to coming late because they know nothing significant will happen until well after the announced start time. To curb this tendency, meeting facilitators should start precisely at the time scheduled for the meeting, avoid recapping for latecomers, and consider locking the doors to the meeting room once the meeting starts. This puts late comers in an embarrassing position which they would work towards avoiding in subsequent meetings. Another strategy may involve the removal of all extra seats once the meeting starts so that latecomers are forced to stand. Determine the meeting agenda beforehand This involves making out an agenda or a list of everything that has to be covered in the meeting before time. It also involves determining the desired outcome of the meeting.Where possible, get this circulated at least a day to the meeting so that participants know what is expected of them. If the meeting involves a review of documents, status reports, or other material, sending them to attendees prior to the meeting saves time and might even make the meeting unnecessary. Plan the agenda in such a way that the most important issues are addressed first and ensure that each item is summarized after discussion. Restate the main points of the meeting so that members are reminded of the rationale and objectives of the meeting. Stick to the agenda and avoid side talk Side talk is one of the biggest distractions in meetings. It easily veers the meeting away from matters of importance and wastes time. If that happens, you risk losing control of your agenda and the meeting itself. If the issue is not one that needs to be addressed immediately or does not need to be resolved for the meeting to continue, consider placing it on hold so the meeting can proceed. You can note down these issues and possibly deal with them much later. Take minutes and draw up concrete action points A strategy for getting utmost effectiveness out of meetings is to keep precise notes and to distribute the minutes of the meeting within 24 hours after conclusion. This ensures that attendees leave meetings with actionable tasks, each with clear and memorable motives. Agendas prepared ahead of time, followed by meeting minutes prepared right after the meeting, ensures that members have a clear understanding of what is required of them and the allotted time within which it should be executed. This is crucial to a productive outcome. Additional strategies like giving a 5 – 10 minute social time before starting, holding stand-up meetings, etc. can also be adopted to create a relaxed atmosphere and make meetings more effective. Ultimately, every good meeting achieves its desired purpose or moves you closer to a desired outcome. All it takes is better planning, structure and management.