Meetings are a regular part of any corporate organization. They are important part of every organization. They are used primarily to disseminate company policies and communicate general information to employees and other members of an organization. Meetings should help increase productivity in the long term. In some organizations due to how poorly meetings are organized the attendees may feel reluctant to attend as it results in the loss of productivity. Some meetings are so boring with no clear objectives and outcomes that some attendees fall asleep and others loss track of the discussions and come out of the meeting remembering little having a different understanding of the decisions taking at the meeting. There are ways to organize effective, productive meeting that leave every attendee feeling energized and excited about the their organization. They leave the meeting feeling a part of their organization and ready to commit to achieving targets or improving productivity. The following are some factors to consider in holding a successful and productive organizational meeting.
1. Clearly identify the need for a meeting
There are many times a meeting is called to discuss issues that could have been dealt with through a company bulletin. Some of the agenda could be communicated through memos to the concerned staff or team without having to assemble them from far and wide at a place to discuss them. Meetings to discuss status or progress reports may not be necessary. Such can be communicated to the appropriate people without the need to loss productivity through the holding of a meeting.
2. Invite only those necessary
It is important to identify those absolutely necessary to attend the meeting. If the meeting is for the sales staff inviting all of production staff may not be necessary. Even for a departmental meeting there is no need inviting the whole department and thus bringing work to a halt. A smaller group of the essential staff could be invited and then later the larger staff briefed. When people are invited to meetings that are not relevant to their status, or work schedules or where they have no technical expertise to the issues being discussed they would view the meeting as a waste of time and productivity.
3. Have a clear agenda
The most important aspect of any meeting is the agenda. It sets out what the issues of discussion are. An agenda must be concise and clear giving the participants a clear understanding of what would be discussed. Some experts believe that it is important to let the attendees have the agenda in the notice of meeting so they can research adequately where necessary before attending the meeting. Where possible minutes of the previous meeting should be made available to the participants before the scheduled time. This enables them to go through them prior to the meeting to make discussions of the minutes of previous meeting quicker and to the point. This would result in good and important contributions being made by the participants to make the meeting a success. It very difficult to sit in meetings where the agenda is not clearly stated and only the convener seem to know what the discussion is all about.
4. Let attendants know the expected outcomes
Meetings must have specific and defined outcomes. Meetings are always enjoyable when the expected outcomes are clearly stated and communicated. They help the participants to track the direction of the discussions and contribute effectively. Where expected outcomes are not set out or known the meeting risks becoming a monologue where only the convener may be talking and all the other participants just listening on passively. Knowing the expected outcomes also enable all to take part in the meeting contributing meaningfully. Where the chair or the convener realizes one person is becoming dominant and seem to be hijacking or monopolizing the meeting they must be called out and gently told their contributions are appreciated but they must allow others also to contribute. Most meetings drag on during the item on the agenda known or referred to as any other issue/item. If it is not controlled it can cause a lot of loss of man/hour. Only salient issues must be entertained and issues that have the tendency to drag on must be properly tabled for another meeting. In his book Death By Meeting, Pat Lencioni argues successful teams hold different meetings for different types of outcomes. Never mix administrative outcomes with tactical or strategic ones. He argues our brains are not wired to quickly flip from one type of information to another.
Consider the application of technology
Technology is easing life around the globe. Organizations are embracing the use of technology to ease their operations and hasten decision taking. Organizations can employ the use of technology to reduce the risk, the productivity lost and general cost involved in bringing employees from all over the country to a central location for a two-hour meeting. Technology such as video conferencing apps, and other multiple chat Apps have made it easier for the meetings to be held without moving personnel form far and wide to congregate at one location to discuss issues affecting an organization. However to be able to deploy technology to ease the conduct of meetings there must exist very good and stable high speed internet facilities. This is a huge drawback to businesses in Ghana and some countries in Sub-Saharan Africa where internet speed and stability is not very good.
Summarize the outcomes
At the end of the meeting summarize the important decisions reached. This is to enable all salient points captured in the minutes to avoid lengthy corrections in any follow up or subsequent meetings. Then do a detailed summary of these decisions and email them to the participants so they have an accurate interpretation of the decisions reached.
Meetings can be effective and productive and yet enjoyable. All one has to do is to plan efficiently and execute properly.
Author: Francis Enimil Ashun (B.Com MA) has over 16 years’ banking experience in Credit Administration and Branch Operations. He is a researcher in current trends in Human Resources Management and Development.
Email: enimilashun@gmail.com, Cell: +233 050 636 3388
