Whether you hold your business meetings at your own office or at a different venue, you’re bound to run into the same problems.
Some of this include being unable to start at the right time, lack of proper communication between members, failing to finish within the allotted time, and more. These are common meeting problems that are guaranteed to come up at any given time and place.
All these problems only lead to one thing – unproductivity. Which also means that you just wasted the company’s resources and you and your colleagues’ time and energy.
It can also lead to lower performance and unsolved issues that can be detrimental to your work. For this reason, it’s best that you avoid these problems and hold more productive meetings.
There are a number of ways to ensure that your meetings are fruitful and productive, and we’ve listed some of the most effective ones below:
Set and Send an Agenda Prior
One of the main reasons meetings fail to become productive is because the attendees don’t have any idea what the gathering is about. Meetings that seem to have no sense of direction are the biggest waste of time.
In order to avoid having this problem, give your members a heads up by telling them in advance what subject will be covered during the meeting. Better yet, write an agenda and send it to them 24-hours prior. Don’t send it earlier than that as they may eventually forget.
Only Invite Essential People
There are some managers or leaders that hold a meeting with more people than necessary. They invite employees or people that aren’t really involved in whatever situation they are trying to assess and it’s only killing their chances of having a productive meeting.
More people doesn’t always mean more ideas. Sometimes it means more chaos and misunderstandings, so try to keep your numbers down.
Some big companies place the limit at 10 people for creative discussions, while some have a “two pizza” rule where they never hold a meeting with a group that can’t be fed with two whole pies.
You may not want to follow these rules specifically, but it is important for your group to be small for the discussions to flow better and the meeting to go somewhere.
Make it Entertaining
Meetings don’t only have to be completely serious and all about business. If they were, then no one would want to attend them as they’ll just bore people to sleep. So the next time you have a meeting, try to sneak in some humor and activities.
Icebreakers, for example, are a great way to start any meeting. It rids of nerves and boredom and allows people to relax. It also wakes them up a bit and shakes up people’s minds so they’re energized and ready for a half-hour discussion.
Be careful of using humor, though, as too much can be distracting and lead to a more unproductive meeting.
Try a Change of Environment
Company meetings are often held at the same space every single time and this may be one of the many reasons they never become as productive as they can be. If you feel that you and your team are sick of looking at the plain walls and ceilings, then try to hold your meetings someplace else.
You can do it at an outside location like a coffee shop or out in the park if that’s doable. There are also different hotels and establishments that have meeting suites that you can rent for a few hours.
Freeing yourselves from the confines of the four walls of the office will really help with your creative thinking.
Of course, make sure to ask permission from upper management before you do this or you might get into some trouble.
Key Takeaway
Meetings don’t always have to follow the standard format of meeting in a room, talking for hours, and leaving. In fact, they shouldn’t because it will only lead to unproductivity.
When you do the same things over and over again, people will get tired and drained before it even starts, and they will find it hard to contribute anything useful.
In order to avoid such problems, try to employ the things listed above. Alert the attendees prior by sending an agenda. Only invite the necessary people so it proceeds smoothly.
Add a bit of humor and fun in it. Try to take it somewhere else – maybe at a venue in Quezon city? Anywhere but your regular meeting room in the office so that the people involved can get their brain juices flowing.
These things don’t only make your meetings more productive, they also make it more fun and easy to manage, so try them out the next time you set one!
