Oh no… not another meeting! This is often the complaint of many staff and they bring their phones to play a game or sit next to a favorite coworker so they could have a bit of a chat. Effective meetings should be engaging gatherings in administrators or staff at different levels meets to collaborate to discuss plans and create solutions. But it seems that all of these discussions are almost the same; they end up leaving us both physically and mentally drained and irritated. We need to work on ways to make our meetings more productive and effective.

The best managers and supervisors know the value of these moments and acknowledge that executing an effective meeting requires proper preparation and coordinated efforts. In this article, we have discussed some points to consider when aiming to have a meeting that is successful and effective.

Know the value of an agenda

Any report you'll ever find on how to run a successful office meeting will offer tips about how to create an agenda. But in most cases, we all attend a meeting without an agenda. The act of preparing the agenda assists in focusing and identifying the meeting's most important issues.

While the agenda is mostly the manager’s job, the team members can also propose agenda items to make the meeting more effective and to focus on the priorities.

Stay positive 

It is one of the most significant elements that a leader should be focusing on to improve team meetings. Most executives don’t like these meetings and long sessions, but they must collaborate with others to produce positive outcomes, fix challenges, make decisions, offer helpful advice, encourage, communicate, and empower.

The meeting should not just be a session to vent, complain or criticize each other. While, we do allow staff members time to share their genuine feelings, we should aim to be as positive as possible.

Targeted audience

It's nice to exchange ideas broadly and have everyone interested in the issue at hand but think about the effect on production if everyone has to leave their tasks to attend a meeting. An option is to only use the key persons needed and have those persons disseminate the points discussed to their subordinates. You can use the company’s internal system, to email key points or share a video of the proceedings so others can view at tier convenience.

Start meeting on time and stay in the time frame

Starting a meeting at the right time is good and it is respectful to those who came early and who are prepared. The meeting should be started at the advertised time and you should also start talking soon after starting the meeting without going too far off the agenda. Please also ensure that the meeting is not kept for too long as people will lose interest and mentally drift off or start becoming distracted by their cell phones. 

Conclusion

Meetings are often regarded as time-consuming and ineffective requirements. But on the other hand, they don't have to be that way. When done right, they bring everyone together to exchange thoughts and get something done. Businesses flourish in an environment where people work together.

Ensure that the meeting room has adequate space and is comfortable.

We should try not to waste a chance to interact and collaborate with your colleagues and team. You must cultivate the expertise to organize and manage meetings that others will trust and that will help you move forward.