The working meetings can be very useful for raising issues, clarifying doubts and organising your team. But in many cases, if they are not organised in a productive way, they can generate a feeling of wasted time.
A team leader must answer five essential questions for an efficient and successful working meeting. These are the questions to resolve:
Often, the problem presented as the reason for the meeting can be resolved in other ways. It should first be investigated what the origin of that need is and whether it is real or not. Then, it should be assessed if it can be solved through other means.
For example, via a call, an email, or a direct conversation. If that problem is resolved, there's no need for a meeting.
Once it's decided that the meeting is genuinely necessary, it's time to follow a few very simple steps: Clearly state the objective. Convene only the strictly essential attendees, as for it to be productive, it's better that only those people directly involved in resolving the issue participate.
And set the meeting's subject, time, place, and duration.
The person who calls the work meetings, as well as the attendees, must be punctual and respect the timings set. Said meeting must begin by reiterating the objective of the same to the team.
It is necessary to create an environment conducive to participation, maintain the maximum concentration of attendees, and disconnect mobile devices that may distract attention. If they are not essential for it, laptops, phones, etc., should be put away.
For work meetings to be a success, the proposed points must be followed to achieve the objective, concluding with concrete agreements and a set commitment date for what has been agreed. You must finish the meeting by noting these agreements and the deadline for carrying them out is essential.
You should never organise work meetings late in the afternoon when the team is less “fresh” after the whole working day. If minutes or a summary of the meeting are not delivered to all attendees, there will be no record of what happened and the conclusions, meaning productivity will not improve.
The person responsible for convening them must follow up with the team afterwards with the objective of achieving results. It is very important that they draw final conclusions after the work carried out. If the results are even better than those proposed in the meeting, it will be a sign that it has been a success.
