Make Your Meetings Better

You don’t have to lead a meeting to make it better.
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I mention this because we’ve all been in meetings where things start to drift. Someone takes the conversation down a side road; another is in the maze of their laptop; a topic gets recycled without anyone knowing what decision needs making.
 
Meetings are collective work. The leader has a particular responsibility for the agenda, pace, and conversation, but everyone in the room contributes to what happens. Everyone is responsible for results, whether they intentionally participate or not.
 
A meeting steward helps protect the purpose, time, and outcomes of a gathering, whether you’re the person at the front of the room or on the side.
 
When people gather, they pool a limited commodity: attention. Multitasking consumes attention, as does a rambler, a conversation dominator, or someone showing up unprepared. It affects everyone else.
 
The opposite is also true. One person who comes prepared, listens carefully, asks a useful question, or helps clarify what happens next can make a meeting better.

Meetings are one place where work gets coordinated. Meetings help people build a shared understanding of what needs to be accomplished. They give teams a chance to identify problems, make decisions, and figure out better ways to move forward.
 
That’s a lot to ask from a tick of time. So how can you treat time like it matters?
 
Come prepared. Pay attention. Speak when you have something useful to add. Be curious. Clear questions can be direct and generous at the same time; often, other people are wondering about it too. 
 
Pay attention to what’s happening. Notice when engagement drops and people go quiet. Observe when a seemingly simple topic carries more emotion than expected or you realize the group has been circling the same issue.
 
Remember: keeping a meeting on track doesn’t mean refusing to leave the agenda. Sometimes it’s the conversation the group actually needs to have, and sometimes a tangent is just a tangent.
 
Productive participation takes a little courage. Many of us were taught, explicitly or otherwise, that being a good meeting participant means showing up, listening, and contributing when asked. We can do more than that.
 
You don’t have to run the meeting, but when you’re in the room, you can help the meeting do its job.
 
If a decision has been made, name it. If a question is still unanswered, capture it. When, at the end of the meeting, responsibilities seem fuzzy, be the one to ask who owns the next step and its timeline.
 
At your next meeting, don’t just ask whether it was a good meeting. Identify what you did to make it better.
 
– Rachel
 
P.S. If your organization needs help creating meetings where people can contribute, make decisions, and move work forward, Reach Partners can help. Contact us today.