Effective Meetings - 8 To Think About
Does anyone choose meetings?
Meetings - you either like them or detest them. They appear to be a fundamental evil to many. Whether meetings of the board or any business meetings. If you enquire if they are important the answer is likely to be, 'certainly'. Are they effective - most might say, 'Never'. This mindset would appear to infer that it's not the purpose but the content of effective meetings and how they are conducted which can really annoy people.
Do you know anyone that grumbles regarding meetings? Finds them a total waste of time? Possibly, if it is your duty to organise and conduct a meeting you might even meet this with a degree of trepidation and an increase in stress.
Do you have a policy?
It is unlikely for a meeting to be agendaless. The initial entry on the agenda, particularly the very first in a series of meetings, ought to be a synopsis of your meeting strategy. This will establish what you expect to secure from the meeting, how you prefer to operate it and your expectations of those at the meeting. Therefore, in summary you may wish to include:
Do you have a reason:
What is the purpose of the meeting? Clearness here will save a lot of distress when dealing with the meeting.
Precisely how regular?
Specify the frequency of a string of meetings and get input from people attending. Don't forget, meetings consume time.
Exactly what will be the output?
Determine what you expect to be the outputs from the meeting. For example, what will be the layout of the minutes of meetings and any actions that they might incorporate? This is a great time to prompt people that they will be responsible for actions that they receive. If these are not performed in a timely fashion it could impact others at the meeting.
The chairperson:
Who will it be and how will that person conduct the meeting? This may appropriately be a Project Manager, however, others will hold effective meetings beyond formal projects.
The secretary:
Who will it be? Don't call for volunteers at the meeting. Individuals don't like being railroaded into a role they might not like and may not actually be a good match for it. They may also be proficient at saying, 'no'. Invite an individual to become the secretary ahead of the meeting and describe the responsibilities.
Distribution of minutes of the meeting:
This is very crucial. It's usually an excellent strategy for the secretary to distribute a draft copy to those involved and request suggestions on factual matter and to clarify actions and their ownership. Lay down a final date for the suggestions and a final date to complete and distribute the minutes and stick to it.
Control and Management
The principal basis for convening a meeting will be for the control of some facet of a job or string of jobs. They develop into a platform for rearing issues, determining project progression versus any plans and the completion of particular actions. It's a chance for communicating across departments that may not usually be attainable.
Preferably, some sort of decision making will arise. There will have been achievements and this gives the chairperson a chance to compliment the group and individuals providing motivation.
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