Why do meetings get such a bad rep?
A quick search on Google will tell you how most people feel about meetings (spoiler: it's not great). Draining, unproductive, and 'too many' are common words associated with meetings.
Often you may even find yourself wondering "wait, what is this meeting about again?" and end up spending the next 2 hours of your life sitting in that meeting - only to be just as confused and more frustrated..
Rest assured, you're definitely not alone in this! A study done by The University of North Carolina showed that 71% of senior managers said meetings are unproductive.
With so many people spending roughly half their days in meetings, imagine how much productivity we lose every day!
In my 15+ years of experience doing consulting for other companies and founding my own business, I lost count of how many meetings could have been emails.
But let's steer away from analyzing an obvious problem and talk about what you CAN do instead to make your team meetings more effective.
Now we've all been on both sides of meeting management - as the organizer and the victim (I mean attendee!).
The hacks I'm going to share with you would be valuable for when you organize your meetings. However, I want to emphasize that even though you're an attendee, it doesn't mean that you can't influence the outcome!
Here are 3 things that will help you transform the way you and your team conduct meetings - whether you're the organizer or the attendee:
Set an agenda with every meeting invite
You will see the word "agenda" repeated in this article at least 10 times, because it's just THAT important!
If I see one of my colleagues send an invite without agenda, I already know how the meeting will go.
Hint: not effective.
This is why I ensure that every meeting comes with a clear agenda - no matter how long or short it is.
If you're the meeting organizer:
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Include the purpose, objective, and agenda in ALL of your meeting invites.
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If you're not sure because the meeting is called for by others, don't hesitate to nudge them to share their proposed agenda
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Prioritize the items on the agenda. This will help you allocate timings and avoid the timer to run out before covering all the high-priority items
If you're a meeting attendee:
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Be aware of the purpose, objective, and agenda. Needless to say, you need to come in prepared
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If the above items were not clearly outlined by the organizer, then ask for one. If you're feeling generous, you might even propose the purpose, objective, and agenda.
Be firm about agenda control - and don't feel bad about it
You've set up the agenda and priority. It's a great start for every meeting, but as you can imagine - many meetings still overrun even with one.
Comes in the second part: agenda control.
(how many times have I mentioned agenda so far?)
If you do this right, the attendees will love you. If you don't, be prepared to hear about how draining the meeting is.
If you're the meeting organizer:
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Communicate the timing for each agenda item clearly. Some people can talk a lot (I'm guilty of this sometimes), so it's good to remind them of time allocation without coming across as rude.
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If timing is tight, ask others to not interrupt and share their questions or opinions in the chatbox instead. Or better yet, ask them to leave their notes and discussion points on a shared meeting note.
If you're a meeting attendee:
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Be mindful of others if you have a lot to share. This may sound obvious, but we tend to overshare when we're nervous. When in doubt, keep it short and sweet.
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It's a good idea to leave your questions or comments in the chat section. This way, you don't interrupt the speaker's flow of thoughts. Let others respond if and when they can.
Deliberately spare time for conclusions and next steps
With the first two steps, you're setting up your team meetings for success.
With this last one, no meeting will be 'useless' again.
From my own observation, people tend to feel the meetings they attend to be pointless because they don't lead to a fruitful outcome.
This happens because many useful things may be brought up during the meetings... only to evaporate after.
Reason? Poor follow up.
Here's how you can avoid that.
If you're the meeting organizer:
- Assign action items as they come up to attendees. If it's hard to multi-task during a meeting, consider using a platform that allows you to assign actions in the meeting window.
- Set a clear deadline for every action item
If you're a meeting attendee, make sure you:
- Nudge for clear next steps from others
- Act on the action items that have been assigned to you
Here's the secret to effective meetings every. single. time.
Yes, you read that right.
It's to make sure you have a foolproof system in place.
You can do it the hard way by conducting meeting effectiveness training to your team members, OR better yet, adopt a platform that can enable effective meetings for you.
EngageRocket helps you optimize the before, during, and after of every meeting.
With EngageRocket, you can send a nudge for collaborative agenda in one click.
During the meetings, you don't need to leave your meeting window to take your notes. The app is integrated with your favorite meeting apps so you can jot your notes in the same meeting window.
Assigning action items is as simple as clicking a person's name and selecting a date.
There you have it, the method AND the tool to transform your team meetings.
Ready to take the next step?
About the author
CT Leong is the founder of EngageRocket, SaaS startup with a mission to turn digital connects into meaningful human connections at work. Before becoming an entrepreneur, he was a Regional Director of Gallup - one of the world's top HR advisories. He graduated with a degree in Economics at the University of Cambridge, and has an MA in Political Science from Columbia University.