Making Meetings Meaningful

Every single person who works in business has had to endure a soul crushing meeting: meetings that don’t actually involve their job, meetings where someone goes on a power trip, meetings that last far longer than necessary. According to a recent US study, 71% of senior managers view meetings as unproductive!

After two years of meetings exclusively held on Zoom or Teams, we are now experiencing a return to IRL meetings and finding that many people’s perspectives on meetings has changed. We’ve heard about companies where employees still work remotely having daily stand-ups at 8:30 AM to prove that everyone is at their desk, and the dreaded commute to never-ending meetings has returned for some.

While meetings are valuable for brainstorming, networking, connecting and getting on the same page, they also can become mundane, useless and a waste of time if not managed well. Here are some ideas for making meetings meaningful:

Set a goal

When all meeting attendees understand the goal of the meeting, an outcome can be realised much more quickly and efficiently. When a meeting invitation is extended, be clear about the desired outcome: is the point of the meeting to present data in order to come to a decision about a business goal? Can all who are attending gather some ideas in advance rather than being asked a question on-the-spot to ensure the meeting is productive? What actions will be taken following the meeting?

Setting a goal not only helps define the purpose of the meeting, it can also help guide who needs to be present at the meeting and can make it come to a conclusion more quickly.

Set time expectations

There’s nothing worse than a meeting that goes over your lunch break! Setting a meeting start AND end time will also help keep the meeting on track and help reassure employees that they will have time to prioritise their daily tasks around the meeting.

Reassess regular meetings

In some businesses, a weekly team meeting may help everyone to get on the same page and provide updates on projects. However, these reoccurring events in your diary might not be functioning the same way they were intended to when you started them in the past.

Gather feedback from everyone involved in the meeting to see if it is providing them with enough information and motivation, and learn to be flexible with changing up routine meetings to ensure they continue to be effective.

What other advice do you have for making meetings meaningful? Let us know on LinkedIn! 

The team at Research Runner enjoys getting together to bounce new ideas off each other and to rally our sales team, and we prefer frequent, casual chats with our clients to ensure every  party is pleased with consistent results. Get in touch if you’d like to attend a lively meeting about lead generation!