Frank Winston Crum President, Matt Crum, shares his thoughts with The Business Journals on eight ways to make meetings a great use of time.
Below is an excerpt of the article:
When people ask me what I do, I often say that I am a “professional meet-er.”
Some days I spend the entire work day moving from one meeting to the next.
Nothing is more frustrating than attending meetings with participants who are uninformed or ill-prepared. But when done right, meetings can be the best way to conduct business. They allow you to get more accomplished in a 15 to 30-minute window of time than the popular alternative these days — emailing back and forth.
How well your company’s meetings are run and the value they generate can be a big differentiator for your business, as well as for your people.
Here are some suggestions on how to make meetings more effective and productive:
1. Identify the purpose of the meeting and the expected outcome
Is it an information-sharing meeting, a brainstorming meeting or a decision-making forum? Having a clear purpose for meetings is the best way to ensure they are productive. Before going into a meeting, imagine what an ideal outcome will look like: Will people be more informed, will ideas be captured, will a decision be made that can lead to next steps? Communicate a clear (and narrow) focus on what you want to accomplish, how you can do that and what the role of the participants will be in advance. This is more than just an agenda.
Read the whole article here: 8 Ways to Make Meetings a Great Use of Time
