According to one study, top executives lose an average of almost 6 days a year to late-starting meetings!
It’s a staggering waste of a small business owner’s most valuable resource: TIME.
If you have a more productive meeting strategy, you can drastically reduce time wasted in inefficiency.
Never plan a meeting without a clear, distinct agenda. Draw up the agenda before calling the meeting and evaluate its importance. Can these questions be answered over the phone or an email/group chat?
Protecting your employees’ time is your responsibility.
A timeline should always be included in the agenda. How long do you need to get through the discussion? How much time should be assigned to each topic?
If you schedule the meeting to take one hour, you are the keeper of time - encourage the pace to quicken when necessary, and make note of inaccurate time assignments for next time.
If a topic is taking too long, table it for another time. Consider assigning a new time and place where all who wish to complete the discussion can confer. If the topic is a real hot button, it may require a separate meeting entirely.
Consider the time of every person in the room. When planning the agenda, you should carefully cultivate meeting attendees. It would be rare to simply invite the whole office - don’t be lazy at this step. This is how employees end up frustrated and unresponsive.
Direct the meeting by beginning with a brief summary of tasks and don’t waste time rehashing the agenda - they have it in front of them. Move quickly into discussions with little to no small talk - this is not the forum to ask how the move is going or if the kids like their new school!
Be wary in advance of potential technical issues. Minimise them wherever you can and always have IT or Tech Support standing by for a quick response.
Once in the room, focus on the outcome and not the process. That is what the well-prepared agenda is for, to guide you through the steps. Keep pushing toward a resolution, so that attendees leave the meeting feeling a sense of accomplishment.
