Excessive meeting syndrome has grown and now stands in support of the I'm so busy culture. Being busy or spending hours and days in meetings does not mean that you are doing a good job. It can often mean the opposite. Being busy is a sign of an inability to manage time correctly and delegate. And sitting in meetings may well be a sign that you are too fearful to act.

Please, don’t think that I am anti-meetings. I am an advocate for the right type of meetings. Communication and strategy are critical to the success of all businesses. What I don't condone are poorly planned, poorly run, and ill-prepared for-time vacuums that happen regularly, giving the illusion that things are moving forward when they are not.

Here are a few tips that I use to help keep meetings effective.

Future-paced meetings: Only a very small portion of each session should be a review of the past meeting to make sure that actions can be closed out.
Hold parties accountable: If there are things that are not complete, why not? Who was responsible and when can they commit to getting it done?
Specific time limits: Keep to a rhythm and stick to the allocated time to get through the agenda. If you can't stick to the time available, review the agenda. Make sure you are not wasting time discussing things that don’t need to be discussed.
Expectation management and planning: - Share the meeting plan well in advance. Ask contributors to circulate their feedback from the previous sessions and completed actions, along with other critical discussion points 3- days in advance to give everyone enough time to review and formulate questions. All conversations should be around feedback and questions, not a report of what has happened.
Remove the comforts: I suggest taking away things that make it easy to stay for those 5 extra minutes. No coffee or snacks allowed. Taking chairs out of the room keeps everyone on their toes (literally) and makes us get to the point faster.
No printouts: Avoid printing the facts and figures so that everyone can have a copy. The majority of us get lost in the reading and listen less than we would if were looking at a screen or taking notes. Remember point 4, Circulate the information in advance.
Set the schedule and cut back: List all the meetings on your schedule. Who's attending each meeting? Is there merit in the meetings and are the contributors adding value or could their time be better used doing something else? Not everyone needs to be in every meeting for the full duration. Not even you. It may work to bring people in and out as and when they are needed.
Trust your team: As a leader, manager, or owner, you must trust that your teams are capable of doing this without you. Set the tone for the outcomes you expect that relate to your strategy and trust that your team can manage this for you. One meeting won’t destroy the business, you can always course correct.

Well, there you have my top 8 tips for managing the meetings in your business. highly effective, streamlined meetings leave teams motivated and drive delivery in the business. If you need help getting your meetings on track, contact us and we’ll gladly step in to help.