Death by Meeting and How to Avoid It
Meetings are great for making sure that everyone is on the same page. Getting together for staff meetings is unavoidable, but making sure that too much time isn’t spent in a meeting that breaks down into a gab session is also important. In the enterprise risk management and decision analytics world, how do you fulfill the needs of a meeting without derailing, though?
Try scheduling regular staff meetings on Tuesdays at 3:00 p.m. rather than on Mondays. This allows people to get caught up with anything that needs to be taken care of from the weekend. By placing it later in the day, the meeting keeps from going too long. People will be more focused, and more will be accomplished.
Since people have short attention spans, Meeting King recommends keeping meetings to thirty minutes or less. Having an agenda published will help to ensure that the meeting keeps moving forward and nothing gets forgotten. Having a walking or standing meeting will also keep people from zoning.
Often times, meetings are called so that decisions can be made. In order to decrease the number of meetings, try turning basic decision making power over to your teams. Obviously, large decisions will require a meeting, but many simple decisions could be done without needing to take time for a long, drawn-out meeting.
Lastly, you may find that you can avoid having to call a meeting altogether even though one has been requested by simply picking up the phone and speaking with the person. Email may be another option. Saving meetings for things that truly require them keeps workers from feeling like they are being bogged under by the corporate machine. Instead, they are free to do the job they were hired to do.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Nation's Executive Search Group is sought out by leaders in Enterprise Risk Management, Marketing Services and Decision Analytics for mission critical sales and marketing leadership talent.
For more information, email or call Rob at 410.827.0180, rmilner@nesgroup.net.