Some companies have completely abandoned the idea of holding regular meetings and plan them only to solve a particular problem. Many other companies still find meetings meaningful. That is why the Fast Company website has prepared some useful tips on how to make regular meetings even more effective so the participates do not leave with the feeling they had wasted their time.
1. Finish the task, not the schedule
If we are talking about scheduling, meetings simply do not last for 15, 30 or 60 minutes. Whether discussion about the important issues takes 5 or 75 minutes, the result is what matters, not the time. If you have to return to the topic the next day or in a week, you lose more precious minutes to summarize of what you agreed on the last time.
2. Quiet loudmouths
When people meet in order to devise a solution to an important situation or problem, they often tend to get loud when they express their opinions. Chaos does not help anyone and makes it harder to come up with any solution. To avoid such a distraction try brain writing instead of brain storming.
3. Sit in a circle
When people sit at round tables they are much more group-oriented than people who sit at a square table. At a square table positioning is, in itself, a key power factor.
4. Is everyone here important?
Make sure that there is always a person in the room with the power to decide the outcome of the discussion. As a result, subsequent plans and activities will get done faster more efficiently.
5. Transform program to questions
Quick decisions depend on the approach with which you look for its solutions. Think about the agenda you want to discuss at the meeting. Do not write: discuss the schedule of the project. Try instead: When will this activity be finished?
6. Separate topics
If you plan to discuss several separate topics, always make sure that you give space between transitions for everyone to express his idea. Otherwise, you risk questions dealt with earlier to reappear fifteen, twenty minutes later. This impairs the ability of participants to switch their attention between topics.
7. "Never order more than two pizzas."
At least that's what Jeff Bezos, founder of the business portal Amazon.com, says. It means if there are more people in a room who cannot be fed with two pizzas, it is too many. How many pizzas would satisfy your colleagues at the meeting?
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