It’s not easy to run a productive meeting nowadays, what with all the challenges imposed by the pandemic and the fact that the business world is still pretty much running on a remote work model. Leading a decentralized workforce is a difficult task, and conducting productive meetings that deliver results and set clear expectations is a must if you are to succeed and ensure business continuity in these unpredictable times. Of course, this is easier said than done, especially when you’re managing a centralized and a decentralized team.
Some employees might be working from the office, but many others might be working from home or even abroad. If you are to organize and conduct meetings that will deliver the desired results, you need to digitally transform your communications but also employ some of the best managerial practices. Let’s take a closer look at the top tips that can help your teams thrive on organized, structured, and enjoyable business meetings.
Defining the Purpose of Every Meeting
As a leader, you probably think that every meeting is important and that you need to be in constant communication with your teams. While there is a lot of truth to that, keep in mind that your employees might not share your sentiment. In fact, many of your employees probably think that at least one of your weekly meetings could have been an email, and there’s a good reason why they think that.
A productive meeting needs to have a clear purpose, but more importantly, it needs to have a clear structure and a detailed idea behind it in order to warrant a meeting instead of an email. If you want your employees to be engaged, then you as the leader should take the time to define the purpose of every meeting and share it with your teams in the invites.
List the talking points briefly, tell them what to expect, and people will be able to show up with their own ideas, feeling productive and ready to tackle the problem head-on.
Setting a Concrete Plan with a Timetable
Speaking of having a structure, when the time comes to launch the meeting, you want to have a detailed action plan in front of you. Every talking point and every item on the agenda should have its timeslot, with an added timeframe for any discussions, opinions, and feedback from your team members if you’re presenting a new idea.
Keep in mind that just because people are still working remotely doesn’t mean that they have an hour to sit in a meeting because the conversation keeps dragging on, so it’s important to adhere to a concrete timetable. Going through the talking points at a moderate to fast pace is a good way to keep people interested and engaged, and the time restrictions will definitely spark some good ideas by the end.
Leverage the Right Technologies
Probably the most important element of an efficient and effective business meeting is the technology, especially when you’re trying to connect a decentralized workforce in a digital space. It’s important to have the best video conferencing solutions at your disposal so that everyone in the meeting can enjoy crystal-clear visuals and crisp audio, which will keep them engaged and productive, and prevent communication bottlenecks.
The right video conferencing technology will give you the hardware you need to present your ideas seamless to your in-office employees and your remote team members, which is great for real time collaboration on the spot. When people feel like they are all in the same room, they will have no problem staying in the zone and being productive throughout.
Encourage Participation but Stick to the Plan
A good meeting has various components that facilitate productivity and deliver results, and one of these components is participation. You don’t want people to feel like they’re watching a monologue, because after a while they will inevitably get bored.
After all, they want to participate and contribute to the meeting with their creative ideas and showcase their talents, so don’t stifle them. Instead, allocate enough time for participation and a healthy exchange of ideas and opinions, but also get back to the initial plan and keep the meeting moving forward.
Follow up With Concrete Next Steps
In the end, a good meeting can never become a great one if you don’t follow up with your team members. Yes, people took their own notes and probably have an excellent idea of what the next steps are, but as a leader you would be doing them and yourself a service if you sent out a quick email summarizing everything.
The emails you send out should ideally be personalized and address the individual, and each email should talk about the steps that a specific team or person should take. Don’t generalize your follow-up emails, and don’t force people to read the things that don’t concern them.
Instead, take the time to craft concise personalized follow-up emails that will outline what you talked about, reaffirm the deadlines, and set the right expectations for you and everyone else in your organization.
Over to you
Productive, efficient, and enjoyable business meetings have the power to take your company forward. Be sure to implement these practices and tech to take your meetings to the next level, engage your employees, and achieve better results.
