Management Information

By Denise Landers

How many hours of your week are consumed by meetings? From full staff meetings to departmental meetings, to committees and project-specific meetings, these gatherings can cut out a chunk of everyone’s schedule, wreaking havoc with the best time management plans. Rather than the number of meetings decreasing with the advances in technology, the amount actually seems to be increasing. Some reasons for this rise stand out:

With computers taking over the much of the mundane work, more workers are involved in project-oriented activities, needing frequent updates and collaboration

Outsourcing and joint ventures lead to more external meetings.

Online scheduling software lets others go in and block times on your schedule.

With the growth in the number of meetings, other tasks accumulate, leading to frustration at not being able to get it all done. The meeting gets blamed for the lack of time to accomplish everything else. Thus it becomes even more imperative that when a meeting is held, it is done as efficiently as possible. If the session is to be productive, you need to determine guidelines. Start by asking yourself:

• Why are we holding this meeting now?

• Is there some other avenue we could use that would be more efficient?

• What will be accomplished by the end of the meeting?

Once you have determined that this meeting is the most effective method for accomplishing your goals, make plans to ensure that the meeting stays within the allotted time frame.

• Have a prepared agenda and stick to it.

• Send out the draft agenda beforehand and ask for added input.

• Make sure everyone present has a need to be there.

• Do not allow one person to monopolize the session.

• Standing instead of sitting can help everyone get to the point quickly.

• To guarantee wrapping up on time, you could start an hour or less before lunch.

• Be sure specific actions are assigned before leaving.

When you know that you have regular meetings, whether weekly, monthly, or quarterly, create a file folder for each one. If anything comes to mind during the period between meetings that you would like addressed at that meeting, or if a report needs to be brought to the meeting, place it in the folder. This way you have everything together and you can grab the folder as you head off. You haven’t overlooked something important.

If you are the one responsible for creating the agenda, use your Meeting folder to collect the various items that need to be discussed. A day or two before, you can take everything from your folder and quickly set up the agenda.

Be careful not to put anything into the folder that needs to be done in preparation for the meeting. Instead that item should be placed in your daily action file under a specific date when you will work on it. Once the work is completed, it then goes to your Meeting folder.

Always be exploring alternatives to the formal meeting. One method of speeding up meetings is through an email roundtable. With this approach, one person emails his topic to the next, who adds his input, then passes it on until a consensus is reached. Even if a final group meeting is held, the bulk of the work has already been completed.

Strides in technology have provided more meeting formats. For example, you can now choose:

• Videoconferencing—connecting large groups in different locations.

Positive: saves money and travel time

Negative: need an equipment source

• Web conferencing—like videoconferencing without video

Positive: interactive presentations for large groups

Negative: cannot see expressions and body language.

• Teleconferencing—joining many phones calls into a single conversation

Positive: set up calls quickly and easily

Negative: no visual and not as effective for complicated subject matter

Meetings definitely have a place in the work environment. You can accomplish a lot with proper planning and the right venue. Hopefully when you hear someone say, “Let’s have a short meeting,” it will be short and it will be worth your time.

© Key Organization Systems, Inc., 2006

Denise Landers is the author of Destination: Organization and the owner of Key Organization Systems, Inc. As a productivity trainer and organizing specialist she works with companies, government agencies, and educational institutions, as well as individual business owners and managers, to increase the productivity of daily workflow.