Making Meetings Work for You
Making meetings work for you
Do you dread meetings more than Monday mornings? Do you find them boring, unproductive and far too long? Meetings are central to most organizations; people need to know what their colleagues are doing and then take decisions based on shared information and opinions. How well you present yourself and your ideas, and how well you work with other people, is crucial to your career.
RUNNING A MEETING
Only call a meeting if you and your colleagues are quite sure about its purpose. Once you are certain of your objective, ask yourself whether it could be better achieved through alternative means, such as a memo. Meetings called on a routine basis tend to lose their point. It’s better to wait until a situation or problem requires a meeting. If in doubt, don’t waste time having one.
If you’re sure a meeting is the solution, circulate a memo several days in advance specifying the time and place, objective issues to be discussed, other participants and preparation expected. Meetings should be held in the morning, if possible when people are more alert, and should last no more than an hour. Six is the optimum number of participants for a good working meeting. Inviting the department (more than 10) increases the emotional undercurrents such as, “ Will my suggestions be taken seriously?” Larger meetings can be productive as brainstorming sessions for ideas, provided participants can speak freely without feeling they will be judged.
A successful meeting always leads to action. Decisions should take up the bulk of the meeting minutes, including the name of the person delegated to each task, and a deadline for its completion. Circulate the minutes after the meeting and again just before the next one.
Draw out the quieter members of the group. Encouragement helps create a relaxed and productive atmosphere. Do not single out any individual for personal criticism – they will either silently withdraw, upset and humiliated, of trying to come up with
Do you dread meetings more than Monday mornings? Do you find them boring, unproductive and far too long? Meetings are central to most organizations; people need to know what their colleagues are doing and then take decisions based on shared information and opinions. How well you present yourself and your ideas, and how well you work with other people, is crucial to your career.
RUNNING A MEETING
Only call a meeting if you and your colleagues are quite sure about its purpose. Once you are certain of your objective, ask yourself whether it could be better achieved through alternative means, such as a memo. Meetings called on a routine basis tend to lose their point. It’s better to wait until a situation or problem requires a meeting. If in doubt, don’t waste time having one.
If you’re sure a meeting is the solution, circulate a memo several days in advance specifying the time and place, objective issues to be discussed, other participants and preparation expected. Meetings should be held in the morning, if possible when people are more alert, and should last no more than an hour. Six is the optimum number of participants for a good working meeting. Inviting the department (more than 10) increases the emotional undercurrents such as, “ Will my suggestions be taken seriously?” Larger meetings can be productive as brainstorming sessions for ideas, provided participants can speak freely without feeling they will be judged.
A successful meeting always leads to action. Decisions should take up the bulk of the meeting minutes, including the name of the person delegated to each task, and a deadline for its completion. Circulate the minutes after the meeting and again just before the next one.
Draw out the quieter members of the group. Encouragement helps create a relaxed and productive atmosphere. Do not single out any individual for personal criticism – they will either silently withdraw, upset and humiliated, of trying to come up with