Keeping your meetings productive is essential to running a successful business. They are the best way to keep communications clear in your office.
Unfortunately, meetings can all too often become bogged down in ambiguity and become directionless, wasting your precious time.
After all, there’s a reason most office memes are about how much everybody hates meetings!
We’ve created a guide below on how you can still keep everybody looped in via meetings, but avoid all the pitfalls that could accompany a badly run meeting.
The Truth Is Meetings Are Good…But They Can Be Bad
Meetings are a tried and true method of getting across the most important strategic points in your business to all relevant parties involved.
Unfortunately, there are two ways most meetings can end up doing more harm than good for your employees:
1. Meetings can go well over the allotted time, sometimes lasting hours. This distracts employees from actually doing their work and leaves them less time to get things done.
2. Meetings can be a distraction. Everyone has their own “Golden Period” – that is, the part of their day when they are most productive. If a meeting cuts into this time period, then employees can be less productive.
Here are four ways to keep your meetings on track:
#1 Decide On The Length Of The Meeting Before The Meeting
First up, you’ll want to make it abundantly clear precisely how long your proposed meeting will go for…and stick to it!
This gives everyone time to prepare for the meeting and schedule their day around it.
You may want to add this time period to your Google calendar invitation. We recommend an hour as your best bet for most meetings. If it can’t be said in an hour, then your reason for meeting may be in need of further refinement.
By knowing the meeting only goes for an hour, people will be more in urgent in getting their point across, saving everyone time and sharing the floor.
#2 Have A Goal To The Meeting
If there is no clear goal for the meeting, then people will tend to ramble during their part of the meeting, in an effort to get their point across.
But knowing exactly why the meeting is taking place will let everyone know how they are expected to contribute.
The meeting can then go from a discussion with no end to a problem solving workshop, increasing feelings of collaboration among attendees.
#3 Always Send Meeting Notes Afterwards
Sending post-meeting notes will refresh the meeting action points in everyone’s mind.
It’s a great opportunity for you to summarize the meeting: if you’re finding it difficult to summarize, then perhaps the meeting wasn’t quite as clear as you’d hoped.
At the end of every meeting, your meeting notes should clearly summarize what tasks are delegated to which person.
Lastly, meeting notes ensure cohesion. During complex or spirit meetings, different people can have different accounts of what was said and who is responsible for what task.
But with meeting notes, everyone has the same version of the meeting in their heads, meaning your tasks are done more efficiently.
#4 Always Have Clear Post-Meeting Actionable Steps
This is by far the most important step in making your meetings efficient.
After all, a meeting is totally useless if nobody does anything after the meeting!
The point of a meeting shouldn’t be to just get together and talk. It should be to come up with a plan, execute on that plan, and then reiterate where needed.
By compiling action steps, you will keep everyone accountable and ensure high priority work gets done on the agreed upon time. This is an excellent time to begin delegating tasks to relevant team members.
Don’t Forget About Your Financial Meetings, Too
There’s no doubt about it: when done right, meetings can elevate the efficiency of your business and lead to significantly higher output.
Of course, this will require consistent effort on your behalf as the business leader.
Now, when you’re leading meetings it’s important to keep one eye – or one accountant – on your finances, too!
So, while you’re busy running your meetings and business, let our financial experts here at The A Firm ensure all your finances are on track, too.
Call us today for your free meet and greet.