1. Assume that everybody you want to be there is busy, overworked, underpaid and not particularly interested in attending. So make your purpose clear to them, including why they are invited and why they should attend.
2. In the agenda and at the beginning of the meeting, clearly explain the purpose of the meeting, what will be accomplished, and how the meeting advances the project and helps the company function better.
3. Invite only those who have an important reason for being there. Introduce everyone and the reason they are there. For those who need to know what occurred at the meeting but don’t need to be there, send them the minutes.
4. Circulate an agenda in advance, including goals, schedule of steps needed to accomplish the goals, project status updates, and review of the entire process from beginning to end. Assign and track specific action items, giving special recognition to those who accomplish their tasks on time.
5. Stick to the agenda. There’s nothing worse than a rudderless meeting where everyone babbles. Whoever manages the meeting owns the meeting. Laptops and cell phones are forbidden. The leader should keep everyone focused on the agenda. If the meeting calls for outside resource speakers, they should come in only for their scheduled time slot and then depart. If an issue arises that is not on the agenda, postpone it to the end of the meeting or table it for a future one.
6. At the end of the meeting, the leader should summarize accomplishments, action items assigned or remaining to be assigned, names of those responsible, schedules and deadlines. Running a meeting is serious business. Your time is your most valuable commodity, and labor is your most expensive resource. Respecting others’ time is a basic courtesy and a smart business practice.
7. If you can’t run a meeting well, then you have no business running a meeting at all. And that’s okay. Just get someone else to do it. Not everyone is cut out to run meetings. It takes assertiveness. The first loyalty should be to the agenda. If that’s not your bag, delegate meeting leadership to a taskmaster.
This article originally appeared in The Business Owner Journal, the periodical of choice for owners of small and midsize private businesses. All rights reserved, D.L. Perkins LLC. © 2012.
This publication is intended to provide general information on the subject matters covered. It is sold and distributed with the understanding that neither the publisher nor any distributor or advertiser is engaged in providing legal, tax, insurance, investment or other professional advice. The advice of a qualified professional should be sought before any reader applies a concept presented herein to his or her particular situation or business.
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