Agendas Make Meetings Productive

Having an agenda template that works well for you, week in, week out, creates a consistency which gets your people bought into the process. Delivering an efficiency and effectiveness which makes the most of the valuable time you have together. Key points to note are:-

  • Circulate
    Share your agenda in good time, well before your meeting (with reading material for preview). This gives time for review, preparation and challenge.
  • Roles
    In a meeting there are various roles to be taken on from the start. Chair, notetaker, facilitator, reviewer and other, more specific roles. These should be clearly stated on the agenda in advance of the meeting.
  • Items for Discussion
    Items on your agenda need to be selected carefully and only be relevant for the grouping of people who get together. Time is precious, so make sure that when together, only things which need everyone's input are given time.
  • Set Timings
    Get clear on your agenda just how long the meeting will last and how long will be devoted to individual items on it. This gives clear indications of what will happen in meeting.
  • Ground Rules
    Within your agenda will be some rules of how the meeting process will work. It is important to set standards of behaviour which eveyone signs up to.
  • AOB
    Often included in agendas, this item is one that really should not be there. Good preplanning before the agenda goes out should mean that all items are included at that point and, where dispute occurs, the meeting lead takes a decision. AOB can easily take a meeting off the rails and lead to missing time agreements.
  • Action Points
    As the meeting progresses there will be action points that individual meeting members will be accountable for. By having a spot on the agenda for a quick review, prior to circulating these in writing, everyone will be clear on what is expected of them.
  • Parked Items
    Sometimes during a meeting, items arise which whilst important, are outside the scope of that particular meeting. So by both 'parking' them during the meeting, thus validating their importance, and having a specific point to check the next steps for them is clear, they do recieve attention. This then allows the meeting purpose to be maintained.
  • Next Meeting
    By ensuring the date of the next meeting is an agenda item, this serves three purposes
  • It indicates to the meeting attendees follow up meetings
  • It gives an indication of when agreed action points from the meeting are likely to be required
  • Finally, it reminds the person responsible for the agenda to agree a clear date during the meeting - if not, it is likely to slip.
  • Meeting Review
    Your agenda should also be an ongoing learning tool. As such, and to ensure your meetings truly make a difference, there is a real benefit in reviewing how things have worked in the meetng - for all participants. Agenda it.

    Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, http://www.coaching-busi nesses-to-success.com/managing_meetings.html (Note to editors. This article may be edited for use in your publication or newsletter as long as a live link to the website is included)

    ...helping you, to help your people, to help your business grow...

    In The News:

    • pen paper and inkwell


    cat break through


    You Get the Behavior You Reward

    On consulting assignments, here are some of the questions I... Read More

    Performance Management - Getting The Most Out of Your Employees

    Managing for Best PerformanceIn it's simplest form, performance management is... Read More

    Appraisal Systems - Not Living Up to Their Objectives

    Almost, if not all organisations have them, they've been around... Read More

    Indiscretion Can Kill Your Business

    The quickest way to cancel out all the thought, work,... Read More

    What is the Most Difficult Part of an Improvement Program?

    Answer: Starting one.Most of us realize that there is probably... Read More

    A Man and His Razor

    It is vain to do with more what can be... Read More

    Finding Common Ground Through Consensus Decision-Making

    It's clear to me that a workplace is a better... Read More

    Organizational Culture, Creativity, Innovation

    It can be concluded with great certainty that certain organizational... Read More

    The Idol-Makers

    The end of the television season in May included the... Read More

    Keeping and Motivating the Best Employees

    Keeping and Motivating the Best Employees ... Read More

    Effective Meetings: Why Most Meetings are a Waste of Time

    Whether your company holds one meeting a week or dozens... Read More

    Never Hire Anyone Dumber Than You Are!

    In a previous life I was a Navy Pilot. Great... Read More

    Your Company Without Training - Any Questions?

    Okay, be honest!Are you guilty of sticking in a few... Read More

    Bolster Credibility with Investors--Avoid These Phrases in Your Business Plan

    Remember Papa John's commercial on TV with the slogan "Better... Read More

    Get More Impact From Your Annual Conference

    How can you get more attention for your conference and... Read More

    Creativity and Innovation Management ? Idea Progression

    Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

    Making Powerful Requests That Launch People Into Action

    Do you ever wonder why people do not simply do... Read More

    Improvements In A Large Public Electric Utility In South America

    The company decided to develop and implement an improvement program.... Read More

    To Outsource or Not to Outsource

    In these days of restricted head count and tight budgets,... Read More

    Work Priorities: Where Can You Spend Your Time Most Effectively?

    Understanding where you can spend time most effectively requires concentration... Read More

    The 5 Obsessions of a Passionate Employee

    A recent report entitled "How Google Grows?and Grows?and Grows" stated... Read More

    Increase In-House Nursing Homes Collections

    The following nursing home collections report outlines 11 guidelines you... Read More

    3 Ingredients of Highly Profitable Organizational Change

    As waves of organizational change sweep across the business landscape,... Read More

    Sweet Parting Of Ways

    Why settle for bad feelings when your employee leaves the... Read More

    Internal Prisons: The Thief of Productivity and Quality in our Workforce

    As a professional speaker, one of my biggest challenges is... Read More

    Just The Facts

    Attitudes are more important than facts. Dr. Karl Menninger... Read More

    The Three-Dimensional Communication System

    Human communication is always three-dimensional. No spoken or written message... Read More

    Efficiency Around The Office

    Nearly every office, be it commercial or home-based, may have... Read More

    Tales From the Corporate Frontlines:The Importance of a Competitive Wage and Benefit Package

    This article relates to the Compensation and Benefits competency, commonly... Read More

    Creativity and Innovation Management: The Creative State

    Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation... Read More

    Why Do Managers Create Low Morale? Or Does My Bum Look Big In This?

    Why do managers create low morale as a product of... Read More

    Data Delivers Credibility

    Over the past couple of days I've been setting up... Read More

    OJT - On The Job Training

    IntroductionManagers have two powerful ways of improving the performance and... Read More