Do you get frustrated when your time is wasted in meetings? I do, too.
You can improve your meetings and your leadership communication by being a role model for effective meetings. Here are tips to help you become a meeting master.
First, make sure there is a need for the meeting. Is this meeting really necessary, or is it just a habit that we do every month? Could you accomplish the purpose without a meeting?
Next, if a meeting is necessary, determine the purpose of the meeting and make sure everyone knows what it is.
Here are typical meeting purposes:
Planning
“We will use Planning and Decision-making to develop and agree on a work schedule for the new project.”
Problem solving
“We will use Problem-solving to recommend actions that will keep us focused on customer service while we move to new offices.”
Decision-making
“We will use Decision-making to finalize our work on the planned reorganization.”
Dialogue (no decisions)
“We will use Dialogue to discuss pending reorganizations of our three departments.”
Reporting
“Our purpose is to report on the planned reorganization.”
Sometimes there are different purposes for different parts of the meeting.
Your meeting agenda should state clearly the purpose of each agenda item. Don’t just list topics.
