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Goals – the key to successful meetings
Written by: Jonathan PayneArticle Overview: Clear goals for a meeting make it more successful
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Goals – the key to successful meetings
Meetings are part of business life. Sometimes they are great, and sometimes they are endured as a necessary evil. Think about the better meetings you have been to. What makes a good meeting? There are many aspects to a good meeting and one of them brings us back to what we looked at last week – goals.
I am sure you have experienced the meeting that drags on for ages and seems to get nowhere. An analysis of that meeting would probably reveal that the purpose or goal of the meeting was unclear. It is important that goals are absolutely clear. For example, a meeting called to discuss client service would seem to have a goal. But client service is a very general concept and the meeting could possibly lose focus in a broad discussion and produce few practical results. The best way to set a goal for a meeting is to make a statement starting with the words: “We want to emerge from this meeting …” – and then describe clearly, what it is that you want to have. In our example it could be; “We want to emerge from this meeting having identified specific shortcomings in customer service and with a clear, written plan addressing all those areas, which can be communicated to all employees.”
Now the work to be done in the meeting is clear. Problems in customer service need to be specifically identified (i.e. the problem is named and described exactly), and a plan which can be clearly understood by all employees needs to be written which addresses those problems. The implication in having this goal is that any discussion which is not either identifying a problem specifically (such as general moaning about customer service) or contributing to writing down a plan for addressing the problems, will not be allowed at the meeting. It also means that the meeting will produce a useful result.
If you have called a meeting, first clarify the exact goal of the meeting. It will ensure that the meeting produces a result and will cut out time wasting chatter that does not contribute to the meeting. The goal will give the meeting positive impetus and lessen the likelihood of unproductive negativism. The meeting will take less time and people are more likely to attend your meetings as they begin to realise that these meetings have a purpose, are productive and don’t waste time. It will also give you the satisfaction of being able to place a tick in the box which says: “task completed”.
Article Tags: business life, customer service, exact goal, implication, necessary evil, shortcomings
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About the Author: Jonathan Payne RSS for Jonathan's articles - Visit Jonathan's website Jonathan Payne is a leadership coach and inspirational speaker who has come across more people than he would care to who are looking for someone or something to take control of their lives for them. But he has also come across many, either in life or in their writings, contemporary and ancient, who live with backbone. These inspiring people have made their mark in the world, mostly by expecting others to live with backbone. It is this type of thinking which drives this blog and lies behind Jonathan’s coaching, writing and speaking. His blog, "Living and Leading with Backbone" can be found at www.jonathanpayne.co.za. Click here to visit Jonathan's website BE AN EXPERT IN YOUR OWN LIFE SHYNESS DEFENDING YOUR TIME Goals the key to successful meetings How not to avoid tough conversations |
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