How to have team meetings that don’t waste people’s time
We have all experienced those meetings where we log in to the online meeting and don’t know why we are there and feel frustrated because our time has been wasted. You wish you could turn off your camera, mute and crack on with some other work. And by the end of the meeting nothing has moved forward, there are no actions, and you know that there will need to be another meeting to ‘follow up’.
Everyone’s time is precious and costs money; it is essential that we are intentional and focused with meetings to maximise them and reduce meeting fatigue. If people know they will get value out of your meetings, they will be happier attending, and your outcomes will be better.
I am not saying we shouldn’t have a chit-chat and be social, it doesn’t all need to be work, but when it is work, we must focus on making sure we don’t waste people’s time or goodwill.
So, how can you make sure your meetings are effective and intentional for your team?
Good meeting hygiene
Turn off emails, alerts and communication channels
Phone on silent and away in a drawer
Turn on your camera and get ready to participate fully
Have something you can take notes on or write down actions
Prepare any slides or information to be shared, so you aren’t trying to find it whilst in the meeting
Create and share an agenda in advance to allow people to pre-prepare
Go to the meeting with the intent to share, listen and give it your full attention
Only invite people essential to the topic who can help push it forward
Don’t invite people if they can’t add or benefit from what you are discussing
If this meeting won’t positivity impact on someone’s work, or help move the project or task forward, then don’t invite them
Make sure you include the decision-makers so action can be agreed immediately or have someone who can get that decision quickly and easily
Set meeting agendas
Whether you have a quick decision meeting or an extended team meeting, always set an agenda. You don’t have to share it, but it can help if you do so that everyone can be intentional and focused. It also means people can pre-prepare for meetings.
Be clear on precisely what the focus of the meeting is
Set your objectives/ success measure for the meeting. What do you want to achieve?
Add all discussion or decision points
Make sure everyone is clear on actions and next steps
Book in the next meeting, but only if it is essential and only invite relevant people
Circulate the agenda before the meeting to set expectations - you could add it to your PM tool as part of your project or as a recurring task for regular meetings
Set the right amount of time for the meeting
Not every meeting needs to be a round number like 30 minutes or 1 hour. If you need a quick discussion and decision, then 10 minutes can work. Making meetings too long can make people feel like they need to fill the time and subsequently be less productive and focused.
Make sure you have clear outcomes and actions
All actions need to have an owner and delivery date assigned whilst in the meeting
Get verbal buy-in from anyone with actions and ensure they are clear on what is required
Allow everyone to give their feedback on potential blockers so you can try to overcome them in advance
Write them down and circulate after the meeting or add them in your PM tool during the meeting
Here are some suggested agendas to help you plan for your meetings:
Weekly Leadership Meeting
What does success look like this week?
Decisions that need to be made
What has the team delivered
What is currently in progress
Any issues within the team or business
Finances/KPI’s
Moral (if you have a team)
Close on weekly deliverables and success measures
Monthly Team Meeting
Ice breaker
Birthdays/ successes and wins
Goals and objectives - everyone updates where they are
Company update - KPI’s/ goals/ focus
Anything anyone wants to raise
Close - send a post-meeting summary
Monthly 1:1 meeting
Chit chat :)
Celebrate successes
How can I help you?
Is there anything bothering you? How can I fix it?
Workload assessment
Goals/ success measures
Development and training opportunities
Close - send a post-meeting summary
I hope this helps you have more intentional and effective team meetings that people are happy to attend and make it easy for attendees to add value.
Meetings don’t have to be complicated and lengthy, but they do need to be intentional and focused.
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