Meetings. Yay!
If meetings don’t excite you, well, you aren’t alone. We all can recall a time that we sat in a meeting that seemed to go on far too long. You find yourself making awkward faces, holding in those yawns hoping to make it look like you are alert. Thirty minutes have gone by and yet it feels like a full hour already. No one wants to be in those meetings.
Let’s talk about some of the most basic steps that you can take to ensure a productive meeting, and one that people actually enjoy.
Set the Objective
The best way to ensure a quick and productive meeting is to have a very clear objective of what the meeting is for. If you know exactly why you are having a meeting and what you intend to discuss, you will have more control and you’ll be able to move the discussion along quicker.
Invite the appropriate people
One of the worst parts with attending a meeting is finding out five minutes into it that you probably don’t even need to be there. So keep in mind who you are actually inviting to this thing. This seems like a very logical concept, however, we have all been in meetings where we really have no need to be there.
Consider standing
This is an optional tip, but depending on who the meeting is for, you could call a standing meeting. For meetings that are intended to only be about 10 to 15 minutes long, standing meetings are highly suggested. It sets the tone and lets everyone know that it will be short and sweet so we can all get back to work. By standing, we are able to keep the blood flowing and we heavily reduce chances of someone taking a snooze.
Stay true to your agenda
Circling back to your meeting objective, create a bullet point list of everything that you need to discuss and stick to it. Go in order. If you derail from your agenda, you’ll find yourself drifting to new topics which will likely drag the meeting out much longer than intended.
End it with positive vibes
The last thing you want to happen is to end your meeting on a negative note, leaving disgruntled or unmotivated team members to slowly make their way back to their desks only to be thinking about when it is time to go home. Even if the meeting is to discuss the sales team missing their quota, finish it off with some positive reinforcements. Turn the meeting into a short brainstorming session to keep everyone engaged and motivated to hit better numbers for the remainder of the week.
Avoid pre and post lunch meetings
Holding a meeting at 11:30am means that your team members will be thinking about pizza while constantly checking their watch. Holding a meeting at 1pm when everyone gets back means that your entire staff will be on the verge of passing out. Hold meetings early in the morning, or later in the afternoon to make sure that there is nothing else distracting your team.
BONUS TIP: You could even ask your team what they think on this matter. VibeCatch makes it incredibly easy to automate simple and effective employee polls. Click here to see how it works!
