Conducting Effective Meetings

Do you have meeting avoidance syndrome? Are you hesitant to schedule a meeting or attend a meeting because more often than not the meetings take more time rather than offer valuable information? If you can relate to these sentiments, you're not alone. If you succumb to these sentiments, you're also not alone.

In order to lead your team effectively, it's important to pull your team(s) together. As team leader, you can develop the skills to make meetings useful information sharing sessions for every participant. But you need to create meeting structure to accomplish your meeting objectives.

Determine WHY your team needs to meet. To share group related information? To welcome new employees? To recognize employee efforts? To train employees? To introduce new policies?

HOW FREQUENTLY should a regular meeting be held? Perhaps you need weekly management meetings; bi-weekly all employee meetings; monthly training meetings. Once frequency is determined, schedule the meetings for a period of several months. Show the employees that you are committed to conducting these meetings.

HOW LONG should each meeting last? Set a maximum length for each meeting type: 2 hours for training, 1/2 hour for management meetings, 1 hour for all employee meetings. Show your employees how much you value their time by sticking to the pre-determined length at every meeting.

Determine a FORMAT and SET AGENDAS for each meeting. Structure the meeting with specific time periods per topic and manage discussions so that the time periods are adhered to.

Set GROUND RULES for the meetings, such as no interrupting people, stay on task, respect each others' time, meetings will always start and end on time, everyone must arrive at meetings a few minutes ahead of starting time, etc. Involve the meeting members in establishing these rules to get consensus and buy-in into the meeting process.

Be FLEXIBLE. As meeting needs change, change the meeting. Ask employees what is working and what isn't working regarding each meeting's effectiveness. Apply their ideas as you redesign the meetings. Give special emphasis to ensuring the meetings meet their needs, not just yours.

Be CREATIVE. See how you can increase employee involvement. Share the leadership role. Let employees conduct training, set agendas, coordinate meeting times, etc. Make sure there's always a FUN component in each meeting to keep employees coming back for more!