7 Fail-safe strategies for more effective meetings

Office meetings can often feel like a waste of time and eventually reap a negative outcome. Here are 7 tips that will make your meetings more effective.

Plan ahead – An agenda is a great way to let your participants know what is expected of them. You should send out your meeting’s agenda at least a few days in advance and ask for participants to comment on the points stated.

Stand up – Stand up short meetings are also a great way to have fast, energizing meetings.

Make notes – someone should always take down notes so that the areas discussed are actionable. You should also send out the list of notes and who is responsible after the meeting is complete.

Get clear – Ask people to bring out their concerns and questions at the meeting. This will help to clear out issues and help people look into other areas without being worried about the problem for the duration of the meeting.

Clarify tasks – Make sure you verbalized what is written so that people are aware of what is expected of them.

Ask and listen – In some instances it may be necessary to go out of your agenda to fix a problem.

Do lunch – Productive meetings have generally no more than 5 people and are over lunch. Lunch is a great way to help people distress and open up to issues.