5 Principal Methods to Running Effective Meetings

As a project manager you need to be in constant communication with a variety of teams. Whether you are discussing your project with stakeholders, the project team, operational teams, Steering Committees, or others, at some point you will need to call a meeting. You don’t want your meeting to be the most dreaded on the calendar, the one where people fall asleep in the palm of their hand, no! Your meeting needs to be effective and efficient and attendees should walk away with clarity and direction of the dialogue. Here’s how you can do it:

CONSIDER YOUR AUDIENCE AND INVITE ACCORDINGLY

Are you discussing a change that is being made? Do you need help with solving a problem? Everyone who is invited to your meeting should be invited for a purpose. Employees who are affected by a change you are implementing should be invited so they are aware as to how it will affect them and have the opportunity to ask questions. You will want to invite the top problem solvers if you foresee a business risk and need solutions on how to avert it. Refrain from inviting attendees who will be unaffected or will be unable to contribute to the discussion.

CREATE AN AGENDA

Every meeting should have an agenda. The agenda will clearly define the purpose of the meeting, which topics you will discuss, the duration of the topics, and outline the desired accomplishments. In addition to providing information, the agenda will also prepare your attendees when sent ahead of time and will enable the attendees to make a more valuable contribution. An agenda review should be done at the beginning of the meeting. It should be displayed throughout the duration of the meeting to remind everyone how long they have to discuss each topic. A recap of the agenda, action items, and decisions should occur at the end of each meeting.

ALWAYS BE PREPARED

Being prepared doesn’t mean just preparing yourself, you also have to prep the people who are attending your meeting. You will obtain the best outcome if everyone is aware of what you’d like to accomplish prior to sitting in the boardroom. You should always send the invite with enough notice to ensure the maximum number of attendees.  Short notice meetings can result in poor attendance.  The meeting invite should include the agenda, any supporting materials, and minutes from the previous meeting. I advise bringing copies of the meeting materials for the attendees who may have forgotten their copies. If attendees need to update the audience on tasks and/or take-aways from the previous meeting, you should have a separate conversation with them before the meeting. Ensure they know they will be called upon and they, too, are ready to present.

ENSURE YOU START AND END ON TIME

Your meetings should always, always start and end on time. Set up the meeting room ahead of time especially if you are using equipment such as a projector or video conference. Employees will appreciate that you respect their time and will be more inclined to join your meetings when you are punctual. Keep in mind productivity and attention decreases when meetings go over 60 minutes and people are no longer truly engaged; therefore, I recommend you to schedule all your meetings for 60 minutes or less. You can always opt for two meetings if 60 minutes isn’t enough time to cover all the topics you wish to discuss.

FOLLOW UP

It is quite common for people to come out of the same meeting with different ideas of what was accomplished. Meeting minutes are a great way to ensure everyone is on the same page. Decisions made, action items, and indecisions should all be documented. If you cannot facilitate the meeting and take meeting minutes at the same time ask another employee if they could do it for you, don’t limit yourself to someone who is already invited. The minutes of the meeting should be sent out to all attendees within 24 hours. Remind people of any deadlines that were set and action items that were assigned to them. Now would be a great time to reschedule the next meeting if required.

By committing to these practices and making them common among your meetings you can ensure your meetings will be viewed as effective, productive, and valuable for all attendees.

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