Want Greater ROI From Your Meetings? Six Questions That Will Make The Difference
Want Greater ROI From Your Meetings? Six Questions That Will Make The Difference
Do any of these comments ring true about meetings where you work?
If you agree with me and want to go after some of that precious time, adopt the following fundamental mind set about your meetings: treat every meeting as an investment. Attendees’ time and energy are valuable resources. When you call a meeting, always be thinking of how you can maximize the payback on everyone’s investment of time.
Here are six questions to ask yourself so your meetings will be productive and satisfying for all involved…and take less time!
If you approach your meetings with these six questions in mind, everybody will appreciate it. Your hefty investment in meetings will yield greater returns. Your meetings will take less time.
And people who attend will have to find something else to gripe about…once they are exhausted from complaining about those infernal emails.
Want Greater ROI From Your Meetings Six Questions That Will Make The Difference - To learn more about this author, visit Ian Cook's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
First there’s the suffocating volume of e-mails. That’s complaint number one. But the next biggest gripe I hear from my clients is that they are spending way too much time in meetings.
Do any of these comments ring true about meetings where you work?
- too long
- no agenda (or, if there is one, we don’t follow it)
- rambling, we get off topic a lot
- little is actually decided
- could have just circulated a memo
- the boss does all the talking
- no follow-through on commitments made
If you agree with me and want to go after some of that precious time, adopt the following fundamental mind set about your meetings: treat every meeting as an investment. Attendees’ time and energy are valuable resources. When you call a meeting, always be thinking of how you can maximize the payback on everyone’s investment of time.
Here are six questions to ask yourself so your meetings will be productive and satisfying for all involved…and take less time!
- Why am I calling this meeting?
It is an unfortunate fact but the most common reason meetings are convened is to exchange, collect, or pass on information. Be careful. This can be a real waste of time. If more than 25% of your meeting’s time is informational, there is probably a more cost effective way to accomplish this, such as e-mail or memo.
That said, here are some very good reasons to call a meeting. To…
- ensure that all parties have the same understanding around an issue
- surface new issues
- develop strategies and/or action plans
- address people’s reaction to new information, announcements or changes in plans
- solve problems/make decisions
- reconcile differences
- assemble different perspectives and gain commitment
Be crystal clear about your overall purpose before you convene a meeting. - What specifically do I want to accomplish?
- What are the actual questions or issues to be addressed?
- What are the deliverables or outcomes?
- Will the group be making decisions or just providing input?
- Do we want to develop an action plan with time-line commitments or are we simply sharing updates on everybody’s activities?
Answers to these questions will determine the agenda, how long your meeting should be and how much time should be allocated to the various items. - Whom should I invite?
Consider the opportunity cost for someone attending your meeting vs. the benefit from his or her presence. Challenge yourself about whose attendance is truly essential and whose is optional? Also, does everyone need to be there for the entire meeting? Usually not.
Where it makes sense, let invitees know it is OK to attend only the part where they can add–or receive–value. Further in this spirit, make it absolutely acceptable for invitees to question the need for their presence before committing to attend. In so many organizations, if you decline an invitation, you are seen as devaluing the meeting…and often, by extension, the convener of the meeting. - What should I do prior to the meeting?
Always send out an agenda, in advance, even if it is just several short bullets in a quick e-mail. Solicit any items others would like included in the agenda. To save meeting time, distribute questions, issues, memos, articles, etc., for pre-reading and ask people to come prepared to contribute their ideas or recommendations. Remind specific individuals of any reports or presentations they have committed to make. - How should I run the meeting?
Start at or within five minutes of the agreed-upon time. This immediately acknowledges the value of the participants’ time and honors those who arrive on time.
It is a fact of organizational life, however, that some people arrive physically in the room at the appointed hour but are not immediately “present.” They are preoccupied, mulling over things that have happened earlier or worrying about issues they must deal with after the meeting. One sure sign is if their heads are still hunched over their blackberries.
To bring people’s conscious attention to this, try opening with something like, “Does anyone need to say or do anything in order to be fully present for this meeting?”
Keep your meeting moving along crisply, according to the agenda. Of course, the discussion may go off track or an item may need more time. If so, stop the conversation and bring this to the group’s attention. Obtain people’s agreement to deviate from the agenda.
Sometimes the group simply gets stuck, locked in a disagreement or struggling over a definition of terms. How do you recognize when it happens? The good indication–the group’s energy drops off. When this happens, interrupt the conversation and describe what you are observing. Say something like:
- “I think we’re stuck” or “It feels like we’ve run out of steam”
- “Does anyone else feel this way?”
- “George and Sally, you’ve been arguing this same point for the last forty minutes. We need to move on.”
- What is the best way to close my meeting?
Always wrap up with these two items:
- “W3” – who will do what by when? This clarifies decisions made and invites people to take accountability for implementing them.
- Then, shine the light briefly on “how” your meeting went, with a quick process debrief: “What did we do well today? What, if anything, can we do to be more effective next time?”
If you approach your meetings with these six questions in mind, everybody will appreciate it. Your hefty investment in meetings will yield greater returns. Your meetings will take less time.
And people who attend will have to find something else to gripe about…once they are exhausted from complaining about those infernal emails.
Want Greater ROI From Your Meetings Six Questions That Will Make The Difference - To learn more about this author, visit Ian Cook's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
|||
George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to Ian's articles
 |
|
Build Best Bosses - Musings about Leadership from Ian Cook.
|
|
 |
 | |
|
| |
Referred by: http://upwardaction.com
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
 |
 Tips For Less Stress Business Emotional Intelligence Get Working Capital 25 Facebook & Twitter Tips Sample Credit Application |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Productivity Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008 | |
 |
The Top 10 Guy Kawasaki Posts
Best Posts for Entrepreneurs | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||