I've been doing some corporate training sessions recently on “How to Make Your Meetings More Effective.” Clients have been asking me to help them to get more participation out of meeting participants.
Well, the first place to start is to make sure that you've invited the right staff members to the appropriate meeting. The days of “One Meeting Fits All Needs” are gone. Unfortunately, far too many companies still continue to hold meetings using this outdated model. Frankly, it makes no sense to invite 25 people to an hour-long meeting when only the first 15 minutes are “reporting” or “heads-up” and the remaining 45 minutes have a completely different purpose and process and only involve 10 of the original 25 members.
The energy level of the room drops considerably. The 15 non-participants are bored and become demoralized. The 10 people involved in the discussion are not able to speak with the freedom and candor necessary because of the composition of the meeting. And all of this is easily remedied!
Many companies are quite concerned that there are too many meetings taking place. I propose that too many of the “wrong meetings” are taking place because they involve the “wrong” participants. With proper training and planning a company could easily double the actual number of meetings held each month while achieving at least a 10% drop in meeting man-hours each month. Morale would improve. Productivity would increase. And certainly, participation would improve. Just be sure to match the right members to the right meetings. It can be done – just ask me how!
Please share some of your meeting “horror stories” or tips for improving meetings with our readers.
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