Some days at work it can feel like all you do is sit in meetings. Whether you are an attendee or you are leading it, meetings are an important part of your daily working life. However, they are rarely optimized to their full potential. Meetings are so crucial to your work life as they are usually the places where important topics are discussed, debated and decided. But they can easily become chaotic and disorganized, to the point where nothing is really achieved.
Whether you have your meetings face to face or virtually, there are a number of ways that you can make your team meetings more productive and conducive to a boost in overall productivity. Sounds like just what you and your team need? Keep reading to find out more.
Use Meeting Roles
While naturally, some meetings are more formal than others, you should always assign meeting roles to individuals so that everyone knows the part they have to play. Meeting roles don’t have to be strict or serious, but they will help the meeting transition through the different subjects and topics if someone is in charge of leading it. Other meeting roles include the recorder, the timekeeper and the devil’s advocate.
As you would expect, the timekeeper is essential if you want the meeting to keep to an acceptable duration, otherwise, you could find yourself spending hours talking over the same subject with no definitive answer.
Having someone on hand to record the meeting, either by making notes or using a voice recorder is great for you to go back over what has been discussed and can also be shared with anyone who wouldn’t be present.
Utilizing the different meeting roles helps to keep the flow of the meeting going but also provides individuals with an active role.
Use the Right Software
Long gone are the days of a meeting being just a few people sat around a table with a notepad and pen. Nowadays there are so many different types of software available that can help you boost the productivity of your team meetings. For example, in the wake of increased remote working, you can now host entire meetings online via business communication platforms such as Zoom, Teams and Slack.
There is also privacy software available that can keep your crucial data protected throughout the meeting. For example, using a blur extension will prevent your sensitive information from being exposed when sharing your screen.
Create an Agenda
Meetings can quickly become endless and lack structure if you don’t have a meeting agenda to work from. While an agenda may sound a bit too formal if you prefer a more laid-back approach, having a rough guide to work from will help you stay on track and limit any digressions.
Focus on Collaboration and Not Reporting
You can easily find yourself spending most of the meeting talking to your team about what work they have been doing over the last few days. But you should avoid over-reporting during your allocated meeting times. Meetings are a great way to briefly catch up with each other, but you should then focus on collaboration and how you can come together in an effective way with the limited time that you have.
If you do want to catch up with your team and have a chat about their workload and how they have been getting on with their assigned tasks then schedule a meeting for a 1-1 with them. Focusing on collaboration will help to keep meetings brief and to the point.
Making a few changes to how you conduct meetings, the roles you assign and the software or tools you use can have a huge impact on how productive your team meetings are and level up your meeting game.
