First Level Leadership

Effective Meetings – Is IT a Passive Occupation?

How to run effective meetings and earn the reputation of a manager who knows his stuff.

Which activity can simultaneously waste more than one person’s time? 

Un-productive meetings!

Research has shown that nearly fifty percent   of all meeting time spent is bootless, and of little importance. Research also shows that people in the business world spend at least twenty five percent of their precious time in meetings.  Do you suffer from dysfunctional meeting blues?

So what’s wrong with meetings anyway? Why do so many meetings go wrong? Why can’t you ever seem to do anything about it?

The problem could be -

1. Many meetings are unnecessary

2. Attendees are unprepared

3. Certain individuals may dominate the proceedings

4. Meetings last too long

Is there is a cure?

One reason for ineffective meetings is that the leader himself is unaware of the objective of the meeting. The leader employs one kind of meeting for all issues.

Therefore,

without any clear direction and guidelines, these meetings may run into endless discussions. Considering how unproductive and dull many group meetings can be, I think most meetings leave a lot to be desired.

Meetings usually fall into two categories-

An information gathering meeting and

A problem solving and decision making meeting.

You must make deliberate efforts to segregate

problem solving meetings from informational meetings.

What are Informational Meetings?

Informational meetings are for keeping you informed about what other group members are doing. Each group member informs others what is going on in their department.

It is important that no problem solving or decision making

occurs during informational meetings. Should problems arise, they should be placed on the agenda for the next problem solving meeting.

What are Problem Solving Meetings?

There are several different kinds of problem solving meetings -

1. The problem identification meeting

2. The solution generating meeting

3. Evaluation and decision making meeting

4. The implementation meeting

5. Scheduled management meetings.

Many leaders utilize one meeting to accomplish many objectives. They would be better off using many meetings, each to achieve a specific objective.

Most meetings certainly can be improved

by understanding the types of meeting and sticking strictly to the reason for the meeting. And when you realize that you could also be spending considerable percentage of your time in meetings, then you will acknowledge the importance of learning and applying effective meeting skills.

I don’t think it’s too much to remember,

but the closer you come to following these ideas, effective meetings will automatically happen. The group will like your meetings and you'll get a reputation as a “Meeting Manager” who knows his stuff.

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