As individuals and business leaders, we’re always searching for new ways to increase our productivity: Whether it’s figuring out the most efficient way to organize our to-dos, super-charging our computers’ RAM so we can run a gazillion apps, or whipping out that Blackberry to check our email during the commute. Yet the moment that we converge in a group – for that ancient (and often draining) business ritual called a “meeting” – we too often throw caution to the wind, and productivity out the window.
How often have you felt like a meeting could have taken half as long? Or that your entire day was taken up by meetings, and you didn’t get anything “real” done? Ask anybody in the workplace about the five things they hate most about their job, and meetings will undoubtedly top the list. But the problem with meetings isn’t the act itself so much as the failure to attach any accountability to its outcome.
Meetings, like Action Items, should have specific, actionable goals: Rather than “Discuss Project A,” think of more focused goals, such as, “Determine budget and workflow for Project A.”
They should also have a designated “owner,” who is vigilant about ensuring that the meeting achieves the stated goal. Too often, we call a meeting to solve a specific problem, only to find ourselves wandering off into the hinterlands as new ideas come up and overtake discussion of the original objective.
As a purpose-focused facilitator, the meeting owner keeps everyone accountable by doing a few things:
1) Stating the meeting’s purpose at its start.
2) Taking notes (if required by the group).
3) Keeping the meeting on track.
4) Articulating next steps.