EFFECTIVE MEETINGS

Meetings! We have it almost every other day in our professional life. Meetings play a very important role in shaping the organization and reflecting the character of a person. Meetings help the organization take appropriate decisions at the right time. The question is how effective are meetings in today’s set up?

Many meetings in various forums are not effective and incur a wasteful expenditure of time and money. Meetings are called for by the organizer and not attended by the participants. Most of the time, organizer of the meeting is required to call the participants when the meeting time officially starts as they are not present in the meeting room. There are cases where meeting, starts later than the scheduled time and goes on and on without discussing the purpose of meeting. Meetings are ineffective when the objective of the meeting is not achieved at the end of the meeting. Organizer and the participants have to ensure that the objective is achieved so as to help move forward in the desired direction.  There are cases where the organizer of the meeting is not aware whether the participant will be available for meeting as there has been no acceptance or decline of meeting request. There are cases where the key participant declines the meeting request at the end moment, due to which the meetings have to be called off.  The above inefficiencies lead to wastage of time and hence the person is required to work beyond the legal business hours.

How do we ensure that effective meeting takes place? Well, for an effective meeting, the following points have to be taken care of:

1.      Organizer must have a clear defined objective and agenda for the meeting.

2.      Organizer has to steer the direction of meeting towards the desired objective with a conclusion.

3.      Organizer has to ensure that necessary infrastructure is in place for the meeting.

4.      Participants of the meeting must give an acceptance or decline request confirming their availability in the meeting.

5.      Participants must ensure that he/she is present on time so as to avoid delay in meeting.

6.      If after accepting the meeting request and due to some unavoidable circumstances, participant is not able to be present in the meeting, then he/she shall communicate in advance to the meeting organizer.

7.      Participants must also ensure that the objective of meeting is obtained at the end of the meeting else it will lead to wastage of time.

8.      Organizer and the participant must keep their cell phones on silent so as to avoid any interruptions during the meeting.

9.       Minutes of meeting must be sent within 48 hours to the concerned people.

If people take appropriate steps to ensure the effectiveness of meeting, it will help the organization to succeed and take appropriate business decisions.