Meeting Mistakes
Meetings are great vehicles to interact with team members and can be very valuable. However, everyone has been in meetings that go way too long, have no direction and there is no easy way out. Team meetings are so important for connecting and sharing ideas. They get out of hand easily if no one is in charge with a clear plan or everyone is lost. It is critical to not only set topic agendas but manage expectations going into group meetings or one-on-one sessions.
Group Meetings
In group settings have an agenda. Send out the agenda ahead of time so others are familiar with the format. Don’t just have the planned topics in your agenda. Add hard start and stop times for the meeting and for each topic of discussion. Ask the group a whole or an individual to keep time and nudge the participants when it’s time to get to the next topic. Make sure everyone is in agreement when closing out a topic even if that means it needs further discussion at a later time.
One-on-One Meetings
Set the expectations before you start talking. When you greet the person you can start by saying, “I want to respect your time today – is there a specific time we have to stop and wrap things up so you can get to your next meeting or call?” Agree to set a timer to help keep you on track and on time. It also shows the person you care about their schedule but also lets you manage your own schedule and have an established way to wrap up the conversation, “Oh look at the time, I want to make sure you can get to your meeting…”.
Practice and Reminders
This is a new skill or muscle to flex. Practice it. You can practice on friends or family when you get on the phone or meet with them for lunch. Tell them why you’re doing it. It might even be something you use in social situations. Put physical or digital reminders in place that will trigger your memory. If you have a lot of meetings via video conference then put the reminder to set the meeting expectations for time and topics on a sticky note right on your monitor or in your notebook. At the top of your agenda write “meeting wrap up time?” This will trigger you to ask the question. Write out a script if you need to and practice saying it.
Contact me here or my social media for more!
The bottom line is everyone’s time is valuable and you’re trying to respect that.
Good luck and share your meeting expectations script in the comments if you land on one you like!
Want to save these ideas for later? Pin it!
