Meeting management
WHEN you consider how much time is spent in meetings, and how precious that time is, you really wonder why more of us don’t learn to manage them more effectively! The most important thing to remember is that successful meetings need structure. Here are some of the more important structures and procedures to help make your meetings effective: • Set a regular time and a pre-determined length for the meeting. • Make sure the meeting leader is prepared by defining desired outcomes and bringing all important documents to the discussion. • Always select a competent and reliable minute-taker and use the same format for minute-taking at each meeting. Late (or incomprehensible) minutes frustrate everyone but with email you can distribute minutes very soon after meetings so that everyone has, not just a clear idea of what they are expected to do before the next meeting, but time enough to do it. • Develop a standard agenda and send it to all participants ahead of time. Knowing what will be happening helps participants feel comfortable and willing to contribute. • For continuous improvement, give participants an opportunity to critique the meeting at the end. • In order to control the timing of the meeting, you should create a timeline and stick to it. Here is a sample that you can adapt: Once the meeting has begun, take care of some basic issues early: • Introduce any guests or new members • Verify that a quorum exists • Review the group’s goals and progress on the goals • Agree on the meeting’s desired outcomes • Finalise the meeting agenda, include asking for any new agenda items • Prioritise the agenda items with items requiring the most participation coming first and estimate times for each agenda item • At the end of your discussions, summarise all action items and decisions, ensuring that your colleagues are comfortable with the responsibilities they have been assigned. • Be sure to set the date and time of your next meeting, and identify what format that meeting will take. In your wrap-up, thank your colleagues for taking part and congratulate them on achievements to date. If you follow these guidelines, your next meeting should achieve it’s objectives, and your colleagues will certainly thank you for respecting their time. Lara Quentrall-Thomas Managing Director Regency Recruitment Founding Member and First President of AFETT
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"Meeting management"