Q: “Many of my team members leave meetings frustrated, as the meetings often drift from their original purpose. What can I do to fix this?”
A: It can be very frustrating for all team members to head into a meeting with a goal in mind, only for the meeting to drift in various directions. This can cause misalignment and turn the meeting into an unproductive use of time. Meetings already have a bad rep, so ensuring that meetings are effective is key. Harvard Business Review reported in 2022 that, “92% of employees consider meetings costly and unproductive.” To ensure your meetings are streamlined and stay “on task,” here are a few tips:
- Don’t just have a meeting because it is on your calendar. Stephen Covey has a great quote about this, “Don’t prioritize what’s on your schedule, but schedule your priorities.” Make sure the meeting still makes sense. Is this meeting we scheduled 3 weeks ago still the best use of everyone’s time today?
- Use all the meeting best practices – Send out an agenda before the meeting and an after actions email after the meeting. Invite all parties present to provide feedback or contribute. Start and end the meeting on time.
- Set clear expectations for the type of meeting it is. Is this a brainstorming meeting, are we planning, or reviewing data or metrics? Setting the framework or expectation of the meeting in the agenda will ensure that your team will come to the meeting prepared and in the right headspace. Setting meeting colors, based on the Birkman, is a great way to do this. Check out this article, linked in bio, on how to facilitate your meetings based on the Birkman Colors.
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