We all know meetings are a necessary part of work, but often we leave a meeting wondering why we were there or rushing to complete other tasks that we could have been doing instead.
I have some tips to make meetings better for everyone:
Allow time for team building – start by sharing a new recipe, movie recommendation or wellbeing tip.
Use digital tools like Teams, Slack or Miro (check out more ideas here) to have discussions or gain consensus before the meeting, then shorten or cancel the meeting.
Rotate meeting chair/host – this gives team members experience running a meeting, shares ownership over the agenda and pace, and varies the style and tone of the meeting.
Publish the agenda ahead of time – ideally as a live, shared document rather than as an email attachment.
After the meeting, publish an action/to-do list – again as a live, shared document, ideally with links to relevant documents and due dates as a one-stop shop for follow-up.
Include wins and positive news rather than just tasks and serious updates.
Ask the team how/when they would prefer to meet and try to implement at least some of the suggestions – doing an anonymous survey might give you more honest feedback.
Make the meeting shorter – you'll probably still get through all the items, but it'll be more focused. If the agenda is long, then you may need to prioritise items so less time-sensitive ones can be held over if necessary.
Schedule the meeting on the quarter hour, especially after school to give people a little extra time to get there – this one goes well with the one above (45-minute meetings are better than hour-long ones).
Cancel the meeting – maybe every second week or in certain weeks of the term, see tip 2 for getting work done when no meeting is scheduled.
Have I missed any ideas? I probably have so, please, add your tips in the comments.
If you're a new leader and want to improve your meetings, book a time to talk.
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