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Meetings, the great corporate time waster! Why are most meetings such failures? A recent survey reported that American businesses hold 15 million meetings per day and 4 billion meetings per year. In addition, management spends as much as 80% of their time in meetings at a cost of $37 billion in productivity losses yearly. Let’s look at a few more statistics: - 9 out of 10 people daydream in meetings - 60% of meeting attendees take notes to appear as if they are listening - 96% admit to missing meetings on purpose - 39% say they have dozed during meetings Why have meetings become businesses most ubiquitous rituals? The answer is that most companies cannot make decisions without have meetings. So the oblivious goal is to determine how to have productive meetings. The magic of successful meetings boils down to 6 simple rules. 1 - Ensure the attendees have the authority and responsibility to make decisions It is a waste of time to review problems without the staff available to make the decisions during the meeting. If a manager sends a substitute, they MUST have the authority of their manager. If any key player cannot come to the meeting, it should be postponed until the full quorum is available. 2 - Have an agenda It is very important to have a fixed agenda that is strictly followed. Be sure that the agenda is sent out in a timely manner to all attendees so they can be prepared for the meeting. The moderator must make sure that the meeting does not try to solve or discuss anything that is NOT on the agenda. This is sometimes difficult to do because the meeting attendees may not have easy access to each other at any other time. The agenda should include a target length of time for the meeting. 3 - Make decisions The single goal of all meetings is to make decisions. All of the variables can be discussed and debated, but in the end, decisions have to be made. In some situations, there may not be enough information to make a final decision, so it may be necessary to have a second meeting where the missing information can be supplied. 4 - Assign responsibility The minutes must reflect all the decisions made and include the assigned responsibilities along with the time frame to be performed. Before the end of the meeting the moderator should read the minutes to ensure there are no misunderstandings and the responsible parties agree with the action and time frame. 5- Distribute accurate and timely minutes The moderator should send out the minutes of the meeting as soon as possible. The distribution should include the management level directly above the meeting attendees and anyone else that “needs to know.” Keep the distribution to this group only! 6 – Follow-up The moderator should follow-up in a timely manner with each person that has an action item and make sure that they have completed or are working on the activity. Do not let too much time pass after the meeting. Typically there will be other more pressing problems that will push the meeting actions into the background, but this must not happen!! If you follow these six simple steps, you will be able to have successful meetings that people WANT to attend because they will see progress. Jim Stedt is a partner at The Business SoftSkills Company (BusinessSoftSkills.Com) located in Santa Ana, California. They provide job readiness and workforce success videos for education, business, prisons and individual use. Training is available online, on DVD, or through an affiliate program. These products are the most complete and concise soft skills training packages now available for the price of an average college textbook. jstedt@businesssoftskills.com
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