8 Meeting Essentials for Better Meetings
How productive are your meetings at work? Are meetings a waste of time? Does the energy drain from the attendees? Are there goals, and is the structure clear?
With many clients, I focus on the effectiveness and structure of their meetings: the ‘meeting essentials’. Often, evaluating the meeting cycle yields significant improvements. It’s more about the conditions than the content of the meetings. Research has shown that about 25% of meetings are spent on irrelevant matters.
Checklist Meeting Essentials
These steps can help you make your meetings more meaningful, energetic, and effective:
1. Objective
What is the purpose, the expected outcome, of a particular meeting? State it clearly. This provides clarity for all involved, everyone knows what to expect. Achieving these objectives triggers a positive feeling as dopamine is released in our brains, making everyone more willing to contribute to achieving the goals.
2. Preparation
Do you assume that everyone present has also prepared? It’s good to check. You may question whether someone who hasn’t prepared should or needs to attend a meeting.
3. Time
How long does a meeting last? The shorter, the better, and the more energy remains. An hour, half an hour, fifteen minutes? This also depends on the purpose of the meeting. If a meeting needs more time, it’s advisable to divide it into multiple parts and to include breaks to keep the energy high.
4. Timing
According to behavioral scientists, mornings are the most productive time of day for most people. This means organizing meetings in the afternoon has more attention value. In the morning, everyone has the opportunity to complete all ‘must do’s’.
5. Outcome
Make decisions and record them.
- What has been decided?
- Who is responsible?
- Who takes action?
- When will something be completed? What’s the deadline?
Documenting decisions leads to concrete actions.
6. Physical Format
Are you all sitting at a table? Have you ever thought about standing meetings? More and more companies are adopting this practice, which offers many benefits: faster decision-making, more energetic participants, time-saving, and it’s good for health. Physical movement directly affects brain activity quality. Prefer sitting? Consider short breaks for some movement.
7. Roles
You can be the chairperson yourself, but have you ever considered rotating the chairperson role within your team(s)? This way, you also develop your team members and lighten your own load. Monitor the (behavioral) agreements during the meeting. Keep track of time. Ensure everyone is involved and has had their say (consider the more introverted participants in the meeting and ask for their opinion too). Ensure decisions are made and clearly documented. You will then become more of a coach for those chairing the meeting. For busy managers juggling many tasks, this can be a significant relief.
8. Check-in-Check-out
We are all busy people with more on our minds than just work. In my experience with meetings, everyone rushes in and gets straight to business.
A short ‘check-in’ works wonders. How does it work? All participants silently reflect on ‘How am I feeling, what’s going on right now?’. Then everyone shares it with each other. It provides a lot of information, making a meeting more effective and personal. Everyone knows what’s going on with each other. Additionally, it creates mutual understanding, trust, and involvement.
At the end, a ‘check-out’ works well to wrap up a meeting: everyone gives feedback and can indicate how the meeting went. The advantage is that everything can be put on the table, providing insight into the meeting process.
How do you improve the quality of your meetings? And which tips can you use and implement?
Want to read more? Check out my book “My Best Team Ever! In 7 Steps to Golden Leadership“.
