Have you ever had a 10-hour long meeting at work? I bet you have. A one hour-long meeting with ten people is really a 10-hour meeting. Was it purposeful? Was it productive? This article will give you one powerful tip to make meetings more focused, productive and shorter.
Set Expectations
There should never be a "meeting." Perhaps you might have a client status meeting, or a monthly sales planning meaning. This is a great example of setting expectations. People know immediately why they are participating in the meeting.
By setting expectations, you can more effectively focus your time and energy towards the most effective solution. With a simple agenda one can more effectively focus the discussion of the meeting. Set the expectations at the top of agenda by specifically and concisely stating the goal for the meeting.
If people begin to stray from the topic at hand, remind them, by looking at the agenda on the sheet of paper, a white board, or a projection screen, that while this tangential topic might be valuable, it is not germane to the meeting. As people are enabled to collectively focus their energy towards the same desired outcome, synergies develop and great problem solving is supported. By setting expectations properly you can effectively control the discussion to create that synergy.
Meetings are a great was to focus energy and leverage teamwork, if they are used effectively. By setting the proper expectations at the outset you can avoid those 10 hour-long meetings.
