Conducting A Meeting Doesn't Have To Be A Waste Of Time

Someone from management is leading a business meeting. You're there, because, well, you're expected to be there. People stand up, say a lot of things about this and that then sit down. You and ten other people are busy with your iPhones under the table. No one would be surprised if there wasn't at least one game of Angry Birds being played.
What's the problem with this picture? Most people feel that business meetings are pointless, basically because most of them are. Why are most business meetings deemed a waste of time? Boring content? Unnecessary chit-chat? Maybe these things are true, but there is something more fundamentally flawed. Here is the problem: most meetings lack follow-up and execution.
How often have you exited a meeting feeling like the most successful thing you accomplished during it was setting a date with your girlfriend via text? If so, then you understand the problem precisely. Any meeting - regardless of topic, nature, intensity, duration, frequency, or who's leading it - is a grand exercise in futility without follow-up and execution.
So, what's the solution? The solution itself is easy. To conduct an effective meeting, you must follow up and execute. Here's how to implement follow up and execution in a meeting.
When you are leading a meeting:
-Create a one-sentence goal for your meeting. For example, "At the conclusion of this meeting, I want to _______." You may even wish to write this single sentence in your printed agenda for attendees.
-Schedule a specific time in the meeting for follow-up and execution.
-Create a list of action items using the SMART rules: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time bound.
-Set follow-up meetings if needed to see how well the objectives of the meeting are being executed.
When you are attending a meeting:
-Request an agenda ahead of time.
-Stay attentive during the meeting and take notes of your potential role in executing the plan, vision, or outcome.
-If there are no stated goals in the meeting, ask for them.
-If there's still some confusion after the meeting is over about what needs to be accomplished, talk privately with the moderator and see if there are any specific things you need to be dealing with.
More important than the actual meeting is the execution of the goals. Without execution, the meeting is simply a waste of time. The same is true for follow up. Unless you review the execution of meeting goals, there will be little to no progress. The actual importance of the meeting is the follow-up and execution of the goals. You want productivity, progress, action, income, and results. Unless you have a desire to waste hour after hour of valuable time, whether company or personal by suffering through meaningless meetings, simply maintain the status quo. Otherwise, it's time to employ the power of a meeting with purpose. Following up and executing the goals of the meeting is the only way to make real progress.
Dell Garraputo knows the importance of good internal group communications after a team meeting. With the right unified communications platforms, your team will be able to collaborate and communicate in one place which will increase productivity.

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