Meetings are an inevitable part of our working routine. They can either be productive collaborative forums that help advance the business or project, or time-consuming, that stall progress. Team meetings are meant to foster discussion and creativity. However, employees often find them a waste of time! Using these tips , you will get the most out of your meetings.

#1 Plan your meetings

Always prepare and share agendas for team meetings. To avoid repetition and redundancy, don’t enter a meeting without a clear purpose. All meetings need structure, so post the purpose and agenda in advance. Choose a reasonable time frame, but keep it rather short; meetings usually fill the allotted time. Always start and end your meetings on time. If possible, avoid consecutive meetings – those who attend several in a row will lose much of what they took away from the first few.

#2 Simplify your content

Focus your meetings on “meeting goals and strategies” instead of “actually” communicating and clarifying what everyone wants out of the meeting. Allow everyone to have their say. This will help you clarify their doubts and guide the meetings toward their agenda. Keep the number of topics for discussion limited. Always talk about one topic at a time. Consider the needs of your team and then provide the information in a way they can understand and apply to their work

#3 Keep it quick and short (but regular)

Avoid long meetings, the human brain cannot focus for more than twenty minutes at a time. Meetings of 1-2 hours may prove ineffective. Aim for short (15-20 minutes) meetings and limit them to two to four times a week. Nowadays with the advent of remote work, you have the option to conduct your meetings quickly and easily via Zoom or using Google Meet. You can also use Slack for faster communication. This way you can hold them from anywhere, anytime, and any number of times a week!

#4 Invite the right people

The essential part of a meeting is whom you invite. It’s great to share information with the whole project team and keep everyone engaged, but consider the impact on productivity.Think about how inappropriate it is to sit in a room with several people who are unrelated to the meeting or project agenda. If the goal is to make meetings more effective, then include only those people who will contribute to the goal of the meeting, only those who are engaged.

#5 Celebrate achievements in the meeting

People enjoy a little recognition. A also feel great when others recognize their hard work. At the end of each meeting, find something that was accomplished and celebrate that accomplishment. This will do a lot to motivate the people on your team and improve productivity.

Conclusion

The team meetings are beneficial to all. Most people spend too much time in meetings and tend to become redundant. Consider these tips on how to make meetings more efficient and you’ll be able to concentrate better on making decisions during the meeting. Share how you could apply them in your workplace.