How to maximize meeting efficiency

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  this week, I'm going to share with you three ways

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  to dramatically accelerate the efficiency of your team meetings.

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  My name is Dave McEwen and these are my findings

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  from the Outfield.

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  Yeah. Prezi right?

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  Yeah, everybody did.

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  Mcewan here with another episode of findings from the Outfield,

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  powered by Prezi We all know what it's like to

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  walk out of a meeting and think, well, gosh, that's

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  two hours of my life that will never get back.

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  Whether it's getting lost and unhelpful debate getting bogged down

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  in the menu sha or just a lack of clarity

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  on what it is that we're there to do.

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  It's easy to waste precious time in a team setting

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  and today I'm going to share with you how to

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  squeeze more out of your team interactions so that they're

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  worth the investment.

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  The first thing that you can do is to stay

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  ruthlessly focused on the right horizon too often when we

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  get our team together, we think that we need to

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  address every issue that's currently under the sun.

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  So we go from runway level day to day issues

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  to discussions of who we are as an organization, all

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  with a brief detour to check in on our current

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  goals. And the problem with this approach is that it

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  takes a very different mindset to discuss those action level

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  items than it does to review those longer term, more

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  strategic plans.

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  And so when we move between those horizons, we've got

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  a tendency to leave a few people behind at every

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  level. I find it shorter and more regular meetings focused

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  around one horizon at a time will always trump a

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  marathon session that attempts to cover multiple areas.

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  So keep your weekly meetings focused on those actions and

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  tactics. Your monthly meetings focused on those tactics and strategies

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  and your quarterly meetings focused on those strategies and the

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  longer term vision.

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  You'll find that your people have more energy, they are

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  able to give more and you'll crank through your agenda

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  in no time now.

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  Speaking of that agenda, the second way that you can

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  increase the effect the effectiveness of your team meetings is

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  by providing clarity on the purpose of those agenda items,

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  there are typically only three reasons why something never gets

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  on your agenda.

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  First of all, it's something that you think the team

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  should be aware of, its f.

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  Y. I only secondly, it's a challenge or a situation

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  that you'd like some feedback on, or third, it's something

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  that you need to put to the group for discussion

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  and a decision.

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  And so when you're crafting their the agenda or even

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  better, when you're asking folks to add to it, have

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  them indicate the purpose of each item, like literally right

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  in this is for information only, or this is something

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  that you want feedback on or this is a decision

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  that needs to be made by the group when you

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  do that, you'll find that it's much easier to stay

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  aligned and engaged and you'll get better outcomes when you

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  have that level of clarity.

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  Now, the third thing that you can do is to

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  take your next actions a step further than normal, I'm

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  sure you've walked out of a meeting and sort of

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  thought, well, that was a good meeting, but I can't

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  even remember what it was that we actually agreed.

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  That means that you're not spending enough time fleshing out

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  your implementation plans.

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  So start to build in a non negotiable period at

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  the end of those meetings to clearly outline the next

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  steps. At an absolute minimum, you've got to capture what

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  was agreed and who's gonna be taking ownership over those

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  next steps to take a little bit further, however, and

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  also to increase team alignment.

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  Use the time to build both communication and accountability plans

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  and you can do that by answering these pretty simple

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  questions. First of all, who needs to be informed of

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  the decision.

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  Maybe there's a group that isn't in the room that

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  will be involved in implementation, or perhaps you've got an

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  individual or two who support you need, so make sure

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  that you're really clear on who you need to communicate

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  with secondly, what's the best form for that communication?

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  Is it an email and instant message?

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  Do you need a full scale to town hall or

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  maybe something in between when you choose the right medium

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  for communication?

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  It ensures that the information doesn't get lost in the

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  shuffle. Next question to ask is who's responsible for the

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  communication? Um is this something that the leader of the

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  group needs to communicate out?

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  Is it something that everybody in the room needs to

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  distribute with uh with an allying voice?

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  Uh In the same way that you want to have

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  one person lead the implementation efforts, you also want one

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  person to spearhead the communication efforts.

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  So even if there are multiple people involved in the

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  communication, ensure that there's one person leading those efforts.

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  Then when we move on to accountability, just ask the

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  simple question.

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  When are we going to review progress?

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  Don't let that, that action slip off your ongoing accountability

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  list. Do you need a separate meeting or is your

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  usual kid and sufficient?

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  Get clear on when you're gonna want the group to

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  weigh in again?

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  So there you have it, three ways to maximize the

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  effectiveness of your team meetings.

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  Keep a ruthless focus on the right horizon, provide clarity

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  on the purpose of each agenda item.

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  Take those next actions a step further and build the

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  communications and accountability plan.

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  I hope you have fun doing it.

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  Let me know how it goes and make sure you're

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  subscribed to receive more episodes of findings from the outfield.

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  Yes, Right.