How to Run Effective Meetings

Running effective meetings is important for several reasons. Not only is this skill the driving force behind getting tasks done and coming up with ideas for your business, but it also gives you chance to build relationships amongst your teams. 

An effectively ran meeting will get the most out of your staff, make them feel that their time was valued, and instil confidence in your workers that you are a strong leader that knows what direction you want your company to take, and how you want to get there. 

In this article, we take a look at tactics you can use for running an effective meeting, including the use of meeting agendas and various strategies you can employ when presenting to and discussing problems with your attendees.

How to run an effective meeting

So many of us may have thought that holding a meeting is something that just comes naturally to certain individuals. Yet if you ever find yourself asking how to have an effective meeting, you can rest assured that there are some hints and tips you can follow to ensure your meetings are more productive.

The skill of running effective meetings is one that has been picked up by several education institutions. Having realised that leaders right across the country are often leading meetings without any or very limited training, providers such as STL-Training have put courses together to help plug this knowledge and skills gap.

On STL’s course, Conducting Successful Meetings, delegates found that some of their key takeaways were:

• Learning how to manage people in terms of building rapport, receiving and giving feedback to individuals, and conflict resolution when disagreements or manipulations may have taken place.
• By paying closer attention to their communication techniques, their confidence grew.
• The realisation that setting clear, timely objectives helps to focus everyone on the task at hand, therefore increasing productivity and helping staff avoid distractions.

These are all elements that likely apply to every meeting leader, regardless of your sector, and it could be a good place to start by considering these points.

The importance of having an effective meeting agenda

Meetings are often timely, and therefore expensive. As a result, it is in the interest of any company to ensure time is not wasted in meetings, and that they are as productive as possible, so as to ultimately be cost-productive. No business wants their workers to sit in a room together having an aimless cat on company time when they could be working hard at their desks instead.

As a consequence, having an effective meeting agenda that keeps everybody on track and gives their conversation purpose is highly recommendable. Case Western Reserve University has recognised the importance of effective meeting agendas and even offers its stakeholders a sample meeting agenda to let them see how they advise meetings to be run.

From looking at their sample meeting agenda, you will notice that this institution places great emphasis not on just having a list of topics to discuss, but also on allotting a set time to each task. This is crucial in ensuring time is not wasted on the smaller, more administrative tasks at the start and end of the meeting, so that instead time can be spent on the actual problem-solving at hand.

Issuing a meeting agenda is an effective way of clearly communicating everyone’s roles to the whole group, so that everyone knows what is expected of them and others, and in what time frame.

Crucially, including time near the end of your meeting to fully summarise the decisions that have been made will help your team decide on an action plan and the next steps, everyone in the company needs to take. As well as assessing the topics you’ve covered, consider taking time for attendees to evaluate the meeting structure itself as well. This will help you streamline your processes to best fit your company’s needs in future meetings.

The most effective meeting strategies

A strong focus on time management is also at the heart of Case Western Reserve University’s advisory 7-step meeting process. If you’d like to know more about this process, the university also offers a short explanatory video on its Youtube channel.  At the crux of this ideology, lies good organisation and communication. By assigning roles, everyone knows exactly what is expected of themselves, as well as others in the meeting so that they can be held accountable. 

Clarifying the purpose for your meeting in the first few minutes is an ideal way to help focus everyone’s minds on the topic at hand and double-check that everyone has prepared for the right discussion that day. It is also vitally important to spend time summarising what you’ve discussed at the end.

Leading on from understanding the importance of clear communication, having a meeting agenda is a good idea, but an even better idea is to ensure this agenda is sent out to all attendees in a timely fashion. Try sending it out at least a week in advance. This way, all of your staff will have time to research ideas and fully prepare themselves before they are given a chance to bring these well-formed ideas to the table for discussion as a group.

As well as organising your team well, knowing how to handle and approach different personalities is another significantly beneficial skill. You could consider asking your staff to take Myers and Briggs’ style personality tests to help you understand them and how you can encourage them to understand and work better with one another. Keeping the focus on the discussion at hand can also help channel your team’s attention so as to avoid disagreements about other matters. Case Western Reserve University also offers some handy pointers for developing your discussion skills. 

RELATED: Find and book great places to meet

Alongside great meeting technique, you will also need to be sure your meeting space is ready and fully prepared for you and your team. If you have suitable meeting rooms at your permanent office location, this will likely be sorted for you already. If not, however, you may consider booking a professional meeting room or presentation space. This is always a popular choice for companies that function remotely. These are also great for off-site meetings when you simply want a change of scenery or to hold a meeting in a more confidential space away from your workforce.