Meetings Are Any Purposeful Gathering Of Two Or More Participants Where Information Or Ideas Are Shared

They are necessary for communication and collaboration in the workplace. Meetings work best when they have a defined objective, agenda, action items, and outcomes.

Meetings Can Take Place In Person, Virtually, Or Include A Combination Of The Two

You will likely have a combination of face-to-face and virtual meetings. Face to face meetings tend to be naturally collaborative. In virtual meetings you need to be better prepared to drive collaboration.

Meetings Can Either Be Informational, Collaborative, Or Working Sessions

Since there are different kinds of meetings, you will need to be clear with the participants what you expect of them. When your goal is to communicate information, make sure to plan time for interaction. When your meeting is for collaboration, make sure to drive toward a clear objective. When your meeting is a working session, make sure to plan enough time to accomplish the necessary tasks.

Meetings Can Happen Once Or Be Recurring

If your meeting is a one-time meeting, make sure your objectives are clear so you can finish everything you need to accomplish. If your meetings are recurring, you will need to organize to keep track of action items and make sure there is follow through from week to week.

Apply The Smead Organomics Principles For Meetings

You can effectively manage any kind of meeting if you follow these steps:

1. Prepare

Before meetings, leaders and contributors prepare agendas, materials and presentations. Attendees need to schedule enough time for the meeting and plan to arrive on time. They must be prepared to take notes, and should have reviewed any material that was sent to them prior to the meeting.

2. Capture

During meetings, all participants need to capture ideas, decisions and tasks. It is critical to record all important tasks, dates, expectations and other details.

3. Transfer

After meetings, results need to be extracted and immediately transferred into “To-Do” or “Reference” items. Get all actions on a calendar, even if they are just following up with others on their tasks.

Remember these simple principles and your meetings will be more productive and you won’t feel like you’ve wasted time.

Courtesy of Smead