??????????? A couple of years ago I was asked by a local university to teach a seminar on meetings for a group of foreign government officials. The topic more specifically was? "the role of meetings in American business", meaning the how's and why's of what we meet about, our meeting protocols, and what we accomplish in these meetings. ?I almost turned down the request for one simple reason, I generally hate meetings.? ?I don't think I am alone in my negative feelings about meetings.? I once did some quick math and figured out that my 31 years of public service equaled roughly 14,000 days.? Subtracting about 1,700 of those days for vacation, sick leave and holiday (a generous estimate) left me with 12,300 work days.? An easy estimate would be one meeting a day.? That would be very conservative because during my last fourteen years, I had several meetings a day.? Regardless, the bottom line is that conservatively speaking; I had participated in, chaired, slept through, or complained about more than 12,000 meetings during my career. ?As a result, I didn't think that would make me the ideal speaker for them.?
??????????? However, after digging a little deeper, I found out that what our foreign friends were actually looking for was more about how to make meetings more meaningful.?? Apparently I wasn't the only one struggling with the issue.? So, I prepared and delivered the workshop and discovered the sad truth that, for people from all over the world and in a wide variety of business endeavors, meetings are inescapable.? If you work, you meet.? I also discovered that this doesn't have to be a sad truth.? If you really put some effort into planning and executing a successful meeting, you can make a difference in the process and the outcome. ?
??????????? Bad meetings can have a huge impact on your organization's money, services, and people.?? They wreak havoc with your organization's budget by wasting valuable time that could be spent on much more productive things.? They can have a huge impact on your decision-making because they can lead you to make decisions that negatively impact your organization's programs and services.? ?And, poor budgeting and decision-making create significant problems for your clients, customers, and employees.
??????????? On the other hand, good meetings can be magical.? They can bring out the best in us individually, strengthen teams, and solve problems.? Done well, meetings can inspire creativity and innovation which engenders productivity and positive action. ?Great meetings create energy and excitement and make participants glad they went.? They help us maintain purpose and focus even in the face of extreme stress and organizational challenges.??
??????????? As a leader, your responsibility is to ensure that meetings reflect a conscientious use of organizational funds, result in effective and meaningful decisions, and rockies grey road jersey ensure that all actions are in the best interest of employees and the company's clients and customers.? That's a tall order.?
??????????? The three critical components for ensuring effective meetings are pre-meeting activities, the meeting itself, and post-meeting activities.? Begin your pre-meeting activities by asking yourself why the meeting is even necessary.? What are you hoping to accomplish by it?? There are lots of perfectly valid reasons for convening a meeting.?? Do you need to analyze or solve a problem?? Are you hoping to have a brainstorming session that will generate a lot of information to help you improve the organization's performance in a given area?? Some meetings are convened for the sole purpose of communicating essential information so that everyone receives at the same time and in the same fashion, thus ensuring common understanding.? Occasionally meetings are necessary to demonstrate a new product or procedure or to gain support for an idea or decision.? And, sometimes a meeting is a great way to confront and reconcile conflicting viewpoints or understandings.? Once you clarify the purpose of the meeting, think critically about whether or not a meeting is the best way to achieve your objective.? Could you accomplish the same thing through a memo or an e-mail?? Convening a meeting uses a lot of organizational resources, so make sure you consider other equally effective options. ??
??????????? Scheduling can also prove to be challenging especially for meetings that need to occur at specific intervals.? Those include things like regular staff meetings, regular committee meetings, or those large organizational meetings that are generally used for briefing all staff on a number of issues. ??In setting up regular meeting time, think about what will get you the best return on your investment in terms of maximizing
??????????? Regardless, there are times that are best avoided such as very early morning and very late afternoon.? For one thing, the larks are nodding by late afternoon and the owls have barely cracked an eye open by early morning.? In both cases you will be lucky to get them to sit up straight in their chairs let along contribute much.? The other reason to avoid those time slots is if your staff does not all start and end their shifts at the same time, you will rockies grey road jersey lose those who either come in later or leave earlier than the rest of the group.? You might also try avoiding scheduling meetings right before and right after lunch.? Hungry people don't think well.? And, people who get sleepy on a full stomach aren't any better.? Mid-mornings and mid-afternoons are normally optimum time slots.? ??
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