Four Tips to Make Meetings More Productive

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We all experience too many meetings in our daily work environment. Have you ever heard anyone complain that they don’t have enough meetings in their week? I certainly haven’t met anyone who wishes for more meetings or that their meetings could be longer than they already are. If that’s the case, then why do we have so many meetings that run so much longer than necessary?

It really comes down to a lack of focus. When people see a project coming or feel a need to coordinate efforts, their first response is to hold a meeting. But when they attend the meeting there is a lack of clear direction. Who is in charge? How should the meeting go? What results should the meeting accomplish? Because most meetings lack focus, they wander aimlessly for 95% of the time allotted, only to see a mad dash for results in the last 5% of the time, which usually causes the meeting to run overtime.

Here are a few simple steps to help you get the best—not the worst—out of your meetings:

Remember: time abhors a vacuum. This is especially true with meetings. If you schedule a meeting to last two hours, it will almost always take the entire two hours. Next time, try to hold that same two-hour meeting in 45 minutes. It will cause everyone to be much more focused from the outset.
Have a focused agenda. The agenda should answer four key questions:
- What – as in what is the end result the meeting should accomplish?
- Who – as in who will have the opportunity to speak?
- How long – as in how long should each individual be allowed to speak?
- When – as in when should the meeting be wrapped up with enough time for delegation of action?
Someone must facilitate. If there is no clear leader or manager, one meeting attendee must have responsibility for keeping the agenda moving along. In fact, even if there is an organization leader present, it may be wise to designate another attendee as the facilitator—someone who checks the clock and makes sure the meeting stays on topic.
Remind meeting participants to come prepared. Meeting participants should bring a list of tasks or items to discuss within a group. I have my clients set up a group category for tasks that correspond with a particular meeting group. That way, when they show up at the meeting, they can pull up their task list and be prepared for items to discuss.