“Meetings suck”,

“What a waste of time”,

“Ugh! not this meeting again”.

If there’s one thing everyone agrees on. It’s that meetings need a makeover.

Here are 10 simple yet effective meeting ideas to help you get your meetings back in shape.

1. Begin and end on time (don’t wait for chronic late-comers, waiting for them enables their bad behavior)
2. Require an agenda. (If you’re the organizer, share one in advance)
3. Value diversity of thought and expression:
   • Introverted employees digest and share information differently than extroverted employees.
   • In-person employees handle information differently than virtual employees.
4. Understand the concept of “Downloads vs. Decisions“.
   • Downloads are updates, handoffs and announcements and best done asynchronously.
   • Decisions on the other hand require input from attendees and are best accomplished synchronously.
5. If possible Avoid Monday morning 8AM meetings or Friday 4PM meetings.
6. If people go on a tangent, thank them for their input. Don’t ignore them. Gently remind them that they might have gone off-agenda. Clarify and return back on-agenda.
7. Don’t finish a team meeting without next steps and action items. Identify who’s-doing-what-and-when (WDWW)?
8. Regularly ask your attendees on their feedback to improve your meeting.
9. Bake in plenty of time for questions. Encourage everyone to ask questions + follow-up questions.
10. Treat team meetings as a gathering, as a meeting of minds. As a way to unite your team. Avoid cancelling them or taking them for granted.