No More Boring Meetings!

I call them a necessary evil. They may not always be fun, but meetings are critical to sustaining team cohesion.

Meetings are an opportunity for teams to connect, learn what others are doing and negotiate roles. Most people have attended an assortment of poorly planned or pointless meetings during their career spans. Don’t plan another one. Here are a few tips to help make your meetings fun, functional and expeditious!

1. Plan your staff meeting to: connect, deliver and assign. Set aside a small contingent of time for people to connect interpersonally. Give them a chance to share “a-ha” moments or workplace successes. You can also allow people to share the most pressing item on their plate for the week. Well-constructed meetings can be great opportunities to offer congrats or ask for help without feeling apprehensive.

Secondly, use the meeting to deliver important information and updates about departmental changes, needs and challenges. This portion of the meeting gives the staff an opportunity to learn what is going on departmentally.

Finally, provide the opportunity to assign roles and tasks. Whenever appropriate, assign tasks during staff meetings. It builds accountability and provides opportunity for voluntary collaborations.

2. Start on time. Do not delay the meeting because someone is tardy or late. Further, do not stop to get a late person “caught up”. If they are key team members and could not attend on that day, then perhaps it should not have been scheduled.

If the late culprit is management then shame on them. Such managers are setting a poor example professionally. Secondly, tardiness shows a disregard and disrespect for the team’s time.

Note: I understand that everyone is going to be late from time to time. I’ve been an offender myself. Just do not let it become part of your professional persona to be late regularly.

3. Remember multiple learning styles. People tend to learn and take in information in one of three ways. First is the visual learner. Use varied visuals for this learner. Some could include: handouts, whiteboards and flipcharts. Also, allow them to take notes and write details as they see fit. Once I in a meeting, I heard the facilitator single out a participant and say “you don’t have to write this down”. I wanted to pinch her. Let people process information however they need to.

Auditory learners learn best when they hear information. Allow plenty of time for questions and let them to explain information back to the group, if they desire. I have even seen auditory learners bring mini-cassette players into meetings. Make room for this learning style by supporting or suggesting staffers [who want to] bring in such devices.

Finally, the kinesthetic learner feels very comfortable writing or doodling. Kinesthetic learners are fully engaged during the meeting, but they learn best when they are moving around a bit.

Also, allow small breaks for meetings that last more than one hour. Breaks give the kinesthetic a chance to move somewhat. Five minute pauses enable others to step away and return with their best thinking.

Some others tips include:

• Assemble your team frequently. Nothing to talk about? Then pow-wow for only five minutes or take a three minute afternoon jaunt around the block as a team.

• For regular meetings, allow process evaluation. Create a short (very short) evaluation tool to receive anonymous feedback on meeting pace, structure and other critiques. If you’ve attended one of my trainings, use something like my quad evaluation.

There’s no “cookie cutter” formula to great meetings. Take into account your corporate culture, the objectives of each meeting and the needs of your team!