4 things you are doing wrong in a meeting |
Posted: January 19, 2015 |
This might come as a surprise to you, but you are not the only one who has difficulties getting any meaningful results out of business meetings. As a matter of fact, many people struggle with that aspect of business and either realize their problem and try to have as few meetings as possible, or don’t realize their problem and waste the time and money of their company. Here are some of the most common mistakes that you should try to avoid at all costs: Having a meetingHaving a meeting in the first place might not be as necessary as you think. Many times things can be resolved via email without having to waste anybody’s valuable time including yours. If you are going to have a meeting, make sure there is a very good reason for that. Consider how much money your company would lose if the meeting turns out to be unproductive and decide if you are willing to take that risk. Not keeping people focusedIf you are the person holding the meeting, then you are responsible for keeping people focused on what you are discussing. Whether you are trying to come up with a new strategy, solve a problem or generate a good idea, keeping people focused is arguably the most important thing in a business meeting. Doing this, however, is not always easy. Of course, you shouldn’t dismiss everything unrelated to the topic of discussion. One good way to avoid distractions is to write all potentially valuable ideas that your colleagues have on a piece of paper so you can go over them later in a different meeting. When you feel that people are getting off track, remind them what you have gathered to discuss. Not being preparedGoing in a business meeting unprepared is something you should never do, especially if you are the person holding the meeting. Preparation starts with booking a meeting room ahead of time and organizing the resources you might need during the meeting such as TV monitors, laptops or projectors. You can easily take care of all those aspects of the preparation by using specialized software solutions from companies like Pronestor for example. Another aspect of the preparation process is creating a plan according to which your meeting will go. Write down everything that you want to discuss so you can later go through each bullet point in your list. Avoid making a PowerPoint presentation with those same points written on different slides. This is just going to be a waste of your time and might distract your colleagues more than it will help them to focus. Instead you can send the plan to everyone invited to the meeting in advance so that they can prepare. Prolonging the meetingOne thing you should understand about business meetings is that usually the shorter they are, the more productive they turn out to be. Keep your meetings short and you will have a better chance of keeping the attention of your colleagues on the problem you want to solve. You should also never prolong a meeting when you have already specified a specific timeframe. This will only frustrate the participants and productivity will quickly hit rock bottom. You are probably familiar with most or all of those common mistakes. Follow the advices in order to avoid making them again and you will quickly see an improvement in productivity.
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