Being able to run an effective meeting is an important leadership skill. Meetings need to be purposeful with a stated agenda and action items. A key to productive meetings is proper communication before and after the meeting.
Before scheduling a meeting, consider the following:
- Is the meeting essential or can it be handled effectively through email? Email should not be used to replace conversation. Some things are better discussed over the phone or face-to-face because email could lead to miscommunications. However, there may be certain tasks that can be handled effectively through email if organized properly.
- What are the agenda items, action items, and measures for success? Writing down the agenda items, action items, and measures for success, will allow you to focus on the goals of the meeting, determine how essential the meeting is, and who should attend the meeting.
- Who should be at the meeting? Meetings with too many attendees can be ineffective, but not having the right people in attendance may cause the meeting to be unproductive. By developing your agenda, you can determine who needs to be in attendance to address each action item.
- How long does the meeting need to be? The default amount of time for a meeting tends to be one hour, however many meetings could be accomplished in 30 minutes if well organized. The length of the meeting should be dependent upon the agenda, and the amount of anticipated discussion and questions.
