The Business Meeting - The Best Weapon for Keeping Things on Track

There really isn't anything much worse in your work day than either trying to run a business meeting or attending one that gets off track. Because in the end, if the meeting doesn't accomplish all (or at least most) of what it was intended for, then not only is it a failure but it's also a huge waste of time. And as we all know, wasted time means wasted dollars. Nobody wants that and, in reality, nobody needs to fall victim to the meeting boondoggle.

The best weapon against the meeting blackhole of tangents, off topic issues, and side conversations is quite simple - the meeting agenda. Now, I've conducted many training classes where at this suggestion, I get a big groan. So you might be groaning at me right now too. But before you dismiss this suggestion, I can tell you that those same people came to me later to tell me that they tried using an agenda and they got much better results out of their meetings.

Next objection? I bet you think it will require a lot of time on your part. Actually, it shouldn't as long as you know what topics you want covered in a meeting and how important each one is. If you don't know the answer to those questions then you might want to consider postponing your meeting until you do. But if you can answer those questions, then simply use them to create your agenda.

An agenda doesn't have to be fancy, especially if it's for an internal meeting or for a very well acquainted, small group outside of your business. It can be as simple as an email with the topics listed, preferably in order of importance. Although sometimes an important topic has a prerequisite topic that needs to be addressed first.

The one exception, if the agenda is for an important client meeting, take the time to create a professional looking, well formatted agenda on nice paper. Microsoft Word has templates you can use.

The major benefits of a meeting agenda:

1. It ensures everyone knows the purpose of the meeting and the topics to be covered, i.e. no one has an excuse for not pulling their weight in the meeting or afterwards.
2. It identifies the time limit for each individual topic helping you keep it all within the overall meeting time limit. Which as I discussed earlier this week is imperative for meeting facilitators.
3. The meeting leader or facilitator has something to refer back to if and when the meeting starts going off topic or too long without a resolution of an on topic.
4. If you've invited a guest speaker, it helps them to know how long they have to address your group and where their topic fits into the priority of your meeting.
5. And best of all, it promotes the productivity of the meeting.

Here's a quick and easy sample agenda:

Meeting Name (i.e. Weekly Team Meeting)

Date: "Start time" to "End Time"

Purpose: (quickly identify the main purpose, i.e. Discuss Team Results and Planning)

Item # 1 (i.e. Recap of previous week's results) - time allotment

Item #2 (i.e. Discuss ways to improve performance) - time allotment

Item #3 (i.e. Assign team tasks for current weak) - time allotment

Item #4 (i.e. Set performance goals for weekly tasks) - time allotment

Item #5 Wrap up (Recap major items agreed upon, takeaway assignments and if appropriate, the date of the next meeting)

One more thing, it never hurts to include time on any meeting agenda to celebrate successes. This lets participants know you appreciate their hard work or your business relationship, and it also sets the tone for what is expected in the future.

Related Posts:

The Meeting - The Necessary Business Evil

The Business Meeting - Somebody's Got to Take the Lead

The Business Meeting - Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?