A Survey by Salary.com found that employees named meetings their top time-waster at work in 2012 and 2013. Yet it seems we spend more and more of our time in the conference room. Though meetings can be important, some do not need to be as lengthy as they are. That’s why, here at Recruitment Genius, we have listed they ways to make meetings more worthwhile for your employees.
Keep them short and to the point
Ensure you know what exactly needs to be discussed and create a plan with a clear structure. Once done you can determine how long the meeting will be. Bear in mind that not every meeting has to either be half hour or an hour. There is little worth scheduling an hour for a meeting that can be finished in 25 minutes. This just wastes time and lowers productivity levels. Shorter meetings could be just as effective and can help level productivity throughout the rest of the working day.
Only include those who need to be in it
If you hold a meeting with ten employees then effectively your business loses out on 10 hours on work. Do you really need that many in a meeting or can you do it with a few less? If it is necessary to have all of those employees involved than try to be time-effective on the duration they aren’t away from their desks for longer than needed. By only having those who are needed in the meetings, you can ensure your business runs smoothly with the absence of the others.
Only hold a meeting when needed
Try to hold meetings only when it is 100% necessary. If you wish to hold a meeting, consider if you could afford to wait a few more weeks incase anything else arises that you could add to the meeting. Furthermore, is the information you’re going to give worth the amount of time your staff are away from their desks? You could inform staff via email instead to save time and keep employees up-to-date.
Make it conversational
One of the main reasons staff loath meetings is because they find them boring. Meetings that are two-way conversations are more successful than ones that simply are presentational. That’s why you should encourage conversation and debates within the meetings to help keep staff engaged throughout. It is also a great way to gain fresh perspective, hear opinions and consider ideas. By doing this the meeting will be valuable to employees and your business will benefit from any new ideas generated.
Try standing up
Standing during meetings not only has health benefits but it also helps increase engagement and collaboration. When you stand up you feel more confident in what you are saying. Employees should respond by listening and noting that there is value in what you are saying. You will also expend energy, which will increase employee engagement. If you lead every meeting sitting down, staff could find it boring and lack concentration. By standing up once in a while you give variety, show authority and increase employee focus.
In order to have a productive meeting, you have to keep your employees engaged and focused throughout. Try standing up, having only those needed attend and keep it as short as possible. Meetings are generally important so keeping them focused is vital for your business needs.
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