Everyone’s experienced a long, drawn-out, unproductive meeting. Effectively utilizing time is a key to workplace success. However, it can be challenging to prioritize and make the most of a meeting. If you want to focus your efforts when you have your team in the conference room, here’s how you can make it happen.
Create an Agenda
First, every meeting should include a pre-planned agenda. It provides clarity for you and your team, plus it can keep you on track. Draw up a draft, send it out to the meeting attendees if they have anything to add. Communication in advance of a meeting can make sure everyone has a chance to provide input, and keeps you on topic throughout the meeting itself.
Keep It Simple
Your meeting must be straightforward. As tempting as it can be to cover everything on your mind when you have your staff in one room, keep it simple. Runaway meetings often happen because there are so many distractions and tangents, but if you maintain focus on the central issues, you can stay on track. Covering ten topics in one meeting is a surefire way to a less productive session.
Recap with Action Items and Deadlines
One way to make sure your employees leave a meeting without feeling satisfied is to create clear expectations during the sit-down. You can do this two ways. Assigning action items during the meaning can help your workers create a specific list of what they are expected to execute. Instead of mentioning that the team needs to brainstorm for the next project, assign one or more workers to come up with a specific number of ideas. Secondly, you can provide clear deadlines for those action items. This prevents inaction or confusion about when items will be completed.
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