1 minute guide to running effective meetings

I don’t know how much time ineffective meetings lose annually, but I bet it’s a huge amount (and people complain about Twitter!). There are few things more irritating than having to constantly go to meetings where you are often not needed, decisions are rarely reached, and if they are reached not acted on.

Amazingly running effective meetings is incredibly simple and the little extra effort saves you ten-fold. If I had to pick one thing that would immediately increase a company’s productivity by 10%, it would be effective meetings.

So, how do you do it?

1. Think carefully who you invite - do they really need to be there?

2. Always write an agenda, explain why the meeting is necessary and what the end aims are. Some meeting ideas will die naturally at this point! Circulate the agenda with the meeting request so people that feel they have nothing to add can opt out in advance.

3. At the start of the meeting, reiterate the aims of the meeting, and think about how long you need to dedicate to each agenda item to get through the meeting in the allotted time

4. Make sure only one person speaks at once, and that they do not go on for too long. This generally requires a chair, and it can’t be a chairperson that exploits their power to go on and on about their own points.

5. At the end of each agenda item make sure you record what decisions have been taken, what actions result from those decisions, who is responsible for delivering them and by when. Take this opportunity to think about who else in the company will be affected and make sure they are informed.

6. Schedule reminders to follow up on the actions to make sure they have happened.

It really is that simple.

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