Tips for running a productive meeting

Published: June 22 2017

Being able to run effective and efficient meetings is the key to keeping your team and campaigns on track and to becomming a successful leader. Meetings are meant to be the breeding ground for productive collaboration among coworkers, but more often than not they can end up feeling like a huge waste of time and you’re left scrambling to get things done at the end of the day.

Need help making sure your meetings are productive? Not to worry, we’ve put together a list of our favourite tips to lead your meetings with confidence!

Cut it short

If it can be done, a good rule of thumb is to not let your meetings run longer than 30 minutes. With today’s diminishing attention spans, a 30 minute meeting gives you enough time to effectively communicate your goals, without wasting time or overloading your co workers brains. A short timeframe will help keep people on track and force all of the attendees, including yourself, to speak with purpose and stay on topic. Multiple, short meetings that are time-blocked into your day can be much more productive than one long meeting.

Organize an agenda 

Putting together a concise schedule and sticking to it is an absolute must. Your schedule should be set into a detailed agenda listing what will be discussed, by whom and for how long.  When creating your agenda, be sure to not use vague phrases such as, “brainstorm new ideas,” as this creates time for discussion without a specific topic. Instead, state precisely what needs to be discussed and what your expected end goal is. Another great tip to stay on track is to email out the meeting agenda to all of your team members who will be in attendance, that way they will know what is expected from them during the meeting and can come prepared.  

Define Your Goal

It’s no surprise that great leaders are goal-oriented! Be sure to clearly define your goals in your meeting’s agenda and restate the purpose and goal at the beginning of your meeting. At the end of every meeting, your team should be able to walk away with clear instructions as to what the next steps toward their common goal are. Keeping that in mind will help you to stay on track and avoid any off-topic discussions that can lead to wasted time.

Summarize

To finish off your successful and productive meeting, be sure to go back and summarize each decision that has been made, assign who will be held responsible for each task and state any expected timelines. Remember, while having inspiring meetings and motivating brainstorming sessions about all of the brilliant things your team is going to accomplish is great, it won’t happen without a plan of action in place!

Get going at planning your next meeting with these tips and you’ll be running effective meetings in no time! #bossoftheyear

What are some of your favorite tips for running successful, productive meetings?