Improving Meeting Productivity: How to Prepare Your Team

The majority of meetings held in corporate America are a huge waste of time!

Don’t believe us? Well, in April, 2012, Psychology Today cited a report showing “2000 managers claimed that at least 30 percent of their time spent in meetings were a waste of time. According to a 3M Meeting Network survey of executives, 25-50 percent of the time people spend in meetings is wasted.”

We doubt anyone will ever get rid of meetings entirely, so we’ve put together a few ideas to help you make your meetings more productive.

• Send out an agenda in advance of the meeting. Agendas help meetings start and end as predicted. They give meetings direction and an endpoint. Give the agenda out at the start of the meeting and you’ll have a group of people reading the agenda rather than participating in the meeting (a time waster). Send it out a week or a day before and you’ll have meeting participants that are prepared for what’s to come.
• Limit the amount of meetings you set each week. Once a week truly should be more than enough.
• Let everyone – everyone! – voice an opinion, idea or statement at least once during every meeting. This provides two benefits: 1) everyone will believe he or she has made a contribution and 2) you’ll be amazed at the new ideas and insights you’ll receive.
• Never hold a meeting for more than 60 minutes. Never. Thirty is probably the maximum. Be a little “dangerous” and aim for 15 or even 10 minutes.
• The number of people attending the meeting also should decrease. Keep the attendees only to those who really need to know about what is to be discussed.
• Do you always have staff meetings Mondays at 10 a.m. in the conference room? Then switch it up a little. Have your weekly meeting Thursday at 3 p.m. in your office. This allows your employees to bring a different perspective to the proceedings.
• Always start the meeting on time, whether everyone’s there or not.
• If people are late, don’t stop the meeting to tell them what they missed.
• If people arrive more than 15 minutes late, they may not join the meeting.
• Control the meeting; don’t let attendees “hijack” a topic and let the discussion drag on.
• End the meeting on time, even if the entire agenda hasn’t been covered.
• Better yet, end the meeting early; people will love you for it!

If you’re looking for a new position within the insurance industry, or if you’re looking for great insurance professionals to add to your company, contact a recruiter at Insurance Relief™. We can help you find that next great position or your next star employee. Contact us today!