Image courtesy of John Benson’s photostream
In every conference room, in every business, there are meetings being held. Some unfortunately, are less effective than others. Webster’s definition is “A gathering of people for a particular purpose (such as to talk about business).” Time is money in the business world. Are your daily/weekly/monthly meetings a waste of time or are the results building profit?
Here are a few ideas that may improve the outcome of those employee gatherings:
1. Icebreakers: Participation and brainstorming are the keys to a productive and constructive meeting between co-workers. Try using a game or creative thinking activity to promote participation. This beginning assignment will relax the feel of the room. If your employees are too timid to speak up with ideas, nothing will be accomplished.
2. Agendas: Stay on target! Using a meeting agenda will keep your team from veering off into the unknown. It is amazing how fast we can step off track; statistics of your P&L sheet quickly morph into last night’s basketball stats. Using an agenda that everyone can follow along with will hopefully help you and your fellow meeting members accomplish your goals by staying on task.
3. The Leader with a Gavel: Every meeting needs a lead-point. Someone on the team must take responsibility for the time, place and actual effectiveness of the meeting. What may be more important is that said leader needs to push for resolution. What’s worse than one meeting? Having another meeting about the last meeting because nothing was decided upon. Your leader must throw the gavel down. Ideas will be presented, declined and adjusted – but what is crucial is that they are agreed upon. Meetings are generally held to accomplish tasks so don’t just talk in circles; execute.
Try these tips out on your next gathering of co-workers and see if you come out with a more positive, effective meeting. All in favor say aye!