Many organizations around the world have meetings each week. Though they are important, a high percentage of employees feel they are waste of time and productivity. If your company wants to have effective and productive meetings, there are some things that can help them be more successful.
Shared here are some tips to help employers run more efficient and effective meetings that will leave employees excited and ready to get to work.
Set the Mood for the Meeting
Having meetings in the break room of office does not create excitement for the meeting. If you have important meeting coming up, consider renting a conference room. Chicago conference rooms are the perfect setting for gathering employees for an engaging meeting.
Make Objectives Clear
For an effective meeting, have defined objectives. These will be the purpose of the meeting. Ask yourself what outcome you want and how you hope employees will feel. Setting up a meeting with a vague purpose will never be good for your organization.
Consider Which Employees to Invite
Some employers invite all employees to every meeting. If the meeting is to discuss changes, invite employees who will be directly affected. When employees attend meetings that doesn't involve them, they won't help and spend time on other tasks.
Stick To Your Schedule
If you want to make the most of your time during the meeting, outline the points to discuss and stick to them. This will give time to discuss everything. Give a list of scheduled topics to employees so they can focus.
Keep Talk Time Fair
Every organization has one person who enjoys putting in two cents more than anyone else. Don't allow the person to hijack too much time and not give others enough time to add their input. Before you begin the meeting, set ground rules to handle the meeting.
Ban Technology During Meeting
This may sound extreme, but reality is that people who bring smartphones and tablets with them focus on them instead of the meeting. Instead of contributing, they scroll social media, email and play games.
Begin And Stop On Time
If you have meetings regularly, plan to start and stop each meeting at the correct time. If you get an image of having meetings too long over scheduled time, people will make excuses not to attend.
However, if you always end on time, you will be sure to have all employees in attendance each time. Meetings are most effective when they last one hour or less. Any longer than 60 minutes will mean people start to lose interest.
Plan To Follow Up
It is common for each employee to leave a meeting with a different interpretation of it. To reduce confusion, send follow up emails highlighting the main points of the meeting. Document the tasks delegated, responsibilities given and any deadlines for assignments set.
The most important thing is to make sure everyone who attended is on the same page once the meeting has concluded. Meetings can be productive and valuable to an organization. The key to effective meetings is taking necessary steps before and during, to ensure success.