A good meeting can help steer a business toward success. Unfortunately, not all meetings turn out to be all that helpful. According to Inc.com, roughly two-thirds of meetings are seen as unproductive, which ends up hurting businesses more than helping them. Effective, efficient meetings are critical, so here are three ways you can help your business succeed in the conference room.
Think Ahead and Be Prepared
A meeting without a plan is like trying to find a needle in a haystack; you might eventually get to the point, but it can take a while. Impromptu, aimless meetings are likely going to waste people’s time and accomplish little. However, unnecessary meetings are even worse.
Before you schedule a meeting, always consider if it’s necessary. If a quick phone call or an email will suffice, stick with those options. If a meeting is still the best option, make sure you set some goals. Consider why you need a meeting and arrange it so that you can achieve your objectives, whether it’s to gather information or take action on something.
Finally, invite only the people who need to be in the meeting. If someone has something important to provide for the meeting, make sure that they’ll be involved. Time is money, so making someone sit through a meeting in which they’ll have little to contribute is a waste of resources.
Be Timely and Stay on Point
Like we said before, time is money. This means that overly long, meandering meetings aren’t great for business. Jerry’s vacation sounded like a lot of fun, but having to schedule and go through another meeting because people were too busy talking about Jerry’s mishaps in Mexico is a waste of time.
A meeting agenda can help you keep the meeting on topic and efficient. Allot specific amounts of time for each subject and keep tangents to a minimum. Send the agenda out to a day before the meeting so that people can properly prepare their points. The people attending the meeting need to stick to the agenda, as well. Multitasking is one of the leading causes of unproductive meetings. Keep those phones, laptops, and tablets away unless there’s a specific reason that it helps the current meeting.
Also, please make sure that everyone shows up to the meeting on time. It seems like common sense, but lateness can help derail a meeting right away, as well as waste the time of others.
Sum It Up Into Actionable Info
Valuable info isn’t very valuable if nobody remembers it. The ideas or decisions made in meetings can’t just stay in the conference room. Meeting recaps can help people remember the important details discussed in meetings and make it more likely that people will follow through on action items. Send out a recap email or create some kind of reminder system so that the meeting can matter after it’s completed.
Stay Organized and Succeed
Even efficient and effective meetings take up time that could be spent elsewhere. As a Professional Employer Organization, Group Management Services can help business owners free up their time by taking on administrative burdens.
Like meetings, payroll administration, human resource management, and other important functions can take up a lot of time. As HR experts, we can manage these functions efficiently and effectively, freeing you up for other important tasks and potentially saving you money in the process. Contact GMS today to schedule an HR audit and see how we can help you steer your business for even more success.