Talk it out: Improve your meetings with these 4 tips
Feeling frustrated by the daily conformity of your meetings? Here are some suggestions to improve those online gatherings:
1. Don’t meet when you don’t have to: If the content of your meeting can be summed up in an email to your staff or co-workers, then you don’t need to have a meeting. It’s as simple as that. Value your co-workers’ time as much as you value your own. If you want people to participate in your meetings, only hold them when you have a subject that is worthy of their participation.
2. Timing is everything: If you expect people to show up at 7:30 a.m. to hear about your plans to take over the world, you might find an audience with drooping eyelids and drifting attention spans. Give people some time to start their workday at their desks. Let them check their email, complain about their roommates, down a couple of cups of coffee and actually begin some work before heading to that online conference room. And while the 4:30 p.m. meeting may seem like a good idea, it’s overkill when it becomes a daily occurrence. People work late on their own these days; there’s no need to tie them up with something that can be covered the following day.
3. Let ’em go: All those yawns? That’s on you, Captain Excitement. You don’t need to break out the magic tricks or megaphone, but you do need to keep your message focused and concise. And when you start losing your audience, it’s OK to end the meeting, even if it’s for half of the group. If you have a few people who are no longer germane to the meeting, cut them loose. The people left behind will appreciate the decreased headcount and the people getting back to work may earn your company a few bucks in that next half-hour instead of drawing a series of unflattering portraits of you in their notebooks.
4. Listen: By definition, meetings involve more than one person, so unless you want the ghost of Noah Webster bashing you with a pillow in the middle of the night, stay true to the meaning of the word and get other people involved. Solicit feedback. Ask for ideas. You’ll give people more ownership in their jobs. They’ll appreciate the opportunity to share their brilliance with others. And don’t worry. If you’re a true megalomaniac, you can still take credit for it later.