So many meetings are a complete waste of time – all talk and no action. Equally, without regular meetings your business will become like a rudderless ship – the team not clear on the direction or the expectations placed on them. So how do we make sure meetings are powerful?
Remember the 3 fundamental rules to ensure EVERY meeting is productive.
- Every meeting should have a purpose and an agenda
- Avoid meetings of discovery like the plague (send reports BEFORE the meeting)
- Have actions, accountability and consequences for inaction in every meeting
A simple weekly meeting format can run like this. Have a weekly one page report emailed through to the team leader every Friday by close of business with a simple format with 3 main headings:
- What were my activities and targets for last week and how did I go (actual to target)?
- What are my current challenges and what support do I need?
- What are my activities and targets for next week?
The activities and targets should come from the team member job description. If you don’t have clear job descriptions with clear and relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) then this reporting system won’t work. Job descriptions should be reviewed at least 6-monthly to ensure they are still relevant.
The meeting can then take place on a Monday for 10 – 15 minutes. Have a stand-up meeting and, better still, capture the activities and targets on a whiteboard as well for everyone to see.
The weekly meeting should have no more than 6 people in it – nobody can manage or lead more than 5 people effectively. Review your organisation structure into smaller teams with team leaders if needed.
Set up a weekly recurring meeting to ensure these powerful meetings happen.
Meetings are for finding solutions or making decisions – Book title by Memo Randoms