Have you ever wondered how much time we spend attending meetings daily? I am pretty sure in an collaborative environment like ours, the number will be quite high. But have you also wondered how many of those times we felt that the meeting was a waste of our time? – Either because we had nothing to contribute, or because no decision was taken at the end, or because only the bosses kept talking all the time, or because the content of the meeting was poorly prepared or simply because the meeting either started late or ended late throwing your calendars haywire!
As we start becoming busier in the new year, I would urge you to think deeper and promise to yourself that you will do your best to make our meetings timely, sharper and efficient, whether you are a meeting organizer, leader or just a participant. Here are my guiding principles of conducting productive meetings in mind:
1. Only invite necessary and relevant people: Having people in the room only due to hierarchy or to keep in FYI is a waste of their time
2. Be disciplined on time: Block the right time duration based on the content – not too long, not too short. And then ensure that the meeting starts and finishes on time
3. Assign a meeting leader: This is the person who calls for the meeting and leads conducting the meeting
4. Have a clear objective/outcome defined and communicated at the beginning: It is imperative to know what you want to achieve from the meeting (just like a KPI), so that it can be measured at the end if the meeting was successful or not. (Personally, this is the most important for me!)
5. Assign a note-taker: Someone needs to capture the key outputs from the meeting
6. Be well prepared: Prepare the content and presentation well; anticipate questions beforehand and be ready to deliberate
7. Send pre-read material (if any) well in advance: Sending material only sometime before the meeting is of no use
8. Speak up: Seat at the table = voice at the table. There is no point having a meeting being dictated only by a few
9. Do not be on your phones or laptops: There is nothing more disrespectful to everyone around than that. (if there is a work exigency, excuse yourself out of the room)
10. Ask for feedback: If you are truly focused on learning, ask for feedback from peers/managers on how you did in the meeting
Hope the above helps as we all build an organisation that’s highly efficient, agile, productive, driven by excellence and respectful of everyone around.
Vinz's World 