Quick tip – have an agenda
What is a quick way to start being more efficient in meetings? Have an agenda!
Too many meetings are run by the seat of the meeting organizer’s pants. No one knows what exactly is going to be discussed. Topics can easily be hijacked by the whiner or complainer in the room. What was supposed to be an hour meeting to resolve an issue becomes a two hour meeting with nothing to show for except that your time was wasted!
Agendas are a quick fix for these all too common problems. An agenda allows you to think about what you want to discuss. It forces the organizer to determine if there’s enough time to discuss everything in the allocated time slot. It allows for the organizer to redirect off-topic comments or redirect topic distracters back to the goal of the meeting in a very professional manner. But most importantly, it ensures that at the end of the meeting you actually accomplished your goals. This is important because we don’t want to be wasting people’s time.
When compiling your agenda follow these tips and tricks:
- Stick to a maximum of three to five items on the agenda.
- Put a time expectation on each item on the agenda and stick to it.
- Send the agenda in advance of the meeting. Allow people to skip the meeting if they can prove they’re not needed. This ensures the right people are in the room.
- If people go off topic, remind them of the agenda and the time left to discuss the item and redirect to the agenda topic.
- Cancel the meeting if the agenda created does not warrant a meeting. This is a great gift you can give to your colleagues….time to do other things.
By implementing these simple tips you can be on your way to being more efficient in your meetings and who doesn’t want that!
For more meeting tips, see my pocket or ebook, Good Meeting = Great Resutls!
Did you incorporate these tips? I’d love to hear your feedback. Feel free to leave a comment below or shout out to us on Facebook or Twitter. Of course, you could always write your own blog post on the subject and share it with us… We’d love to read it!
