Are Your Meetings Smart?

Soon after I finished a brief seminar on how to accomplish more in less time every day, Roger shook my hand and said, "I can use what you said. But there is one thing you didn't talk about. It is something that drives me crazy. I can't get anything done because I'm in meetings all day long. We have gone overboard on meetings. We discuss practically everything as a team before making decisions." I asked Roger for his card and I called him later that afternoon with some ideas that could help get him and his team out of their meetings trap.

Don't let meetings keep you from getting your work accomplished. It's not uncommon for meetings to claim more than 50% of a business owner's or manager's time, especially when you factor in waiting time, discussion that is unfocused, and appointments that have to be rescheduled. Many key businesspeople claim meetings are their biggest time waster. Can anything be done? Yes. Here are five smart tips to streamline meetings and minimize the potential disruption they cause:

1. Have an agenda and distribute it ahead of time. Make sure everyone knows ahead of time what is to be accomplished at every meeting. People can do their homework, which will make discussion more meaningful. Less time will be wasted watching others "gather their thoughts."

2. Start and end on time. Being flexible for latecomers backfires -- it penalizes the on-time people. It also sends a subtle signal to everyone that deadlines are merely suggestions, which can cause all sorts of disruptions later.

3. Take minutes at every meeting and include follow-up assignments. Be sure to identify who will do what and by when. This holds people accountable to the group for getting done what they said they'd get done -- which eventually frees up some of your time because you won't have to sit in another waste of time meeting listening to clever excuses.

4. Keep regularly scheduled meetings, i.e., the weekly staff meeting, to the bare bones minimum for time. For socializing and team building, plan different functions - don't use meetings.

5. Get rid of the chairs. It's amazing, but people who can't sit say what they have to say faster and in fewer words!

Roger said he could see where each of these ideas would work in his office.

Put into practice these smart tips for managing meetings and you'll enjoy the luxury of more time for focusing on your real work.

Doug Smart is the author of "TimeSmart: How Real People Really Get Things Done at Work." He is a management development consultant, professional speaker, and host of the daily motivational radio show, "Smarter by the Minute." For more information, email Doug@DougSmart.com.Copyright 2005 by Doug Smart