It’s common knowledge throughout organisations around the world that meetings usually take an inordinately large amount of the potentially productive working time of employees - and most of the time, these meetings don’t even achieve their intended purpose.

To start with, we have to understand the usual features of a successful meeting. In a “nut shell”, these features can be put forward as result oriented and restricted to a stipulated time frame. Let’s review some key steps which should be followed for effectively conducting any kind of business meeting.

1. Preparation - Like any other business activity, advanced preparation is required, as the better prepared you are, the more effective the meeting will be. Besides, this way you will be able to make much more meaningful contributions.

2. Timing - Most business meetings should be conducted according to a specified time period, and they should start and stop at the times indicated. Meetings which are scheduled and task-oriented usually get quite a bit more active participation from everyone present.

3. Agenda - There needs to be an agenda which is readily available that clearly outlines the topics to be discussed in the upcoming meeting. This agenda will provide a fairly clear idea of what will be talked about, thereby giving all of the participants the opportunity to prepare ahead of time for the listed topics.

4. Focus - It’s important that the focus of the meeting should be maintained steadfastly on the topics which were agreed beforehand - as it is very easy for a meeting to veer off in a different direction, therefore meeting leaders and participants must strive towards minimising the drifts from the set aim.

5. Communication - Complete and accurate information should always be provided in every meeting to ensure effective communication.

6. Agreement - Often during a meeting, the views of two or more people won’t match, but it’s crucial that at the end of the meeting all of the participants agree on a common decision. After all, as anyone invoved in management training knows all to well, this unilateral agreement on a single line of action is the common aim of every meeting.

7. Feedback - A meeting may be successful in achieving the desired result, however there may still be room for improvement in the overall method or implementation. To have a clear idea how effective the meeting was, request feedback from the participants.

8. Confidentiality - The confidential material discussed in the meeting should be restricted to the attendants only, and if possible, measures should be taken to ensure that unauthorised persons can’t access any of the restricted documents or materials.

Finally, at the end of the meeting, most business coaching experts suggest that a brief review should be discussed, covering what was discussed during the meeting as well as any major decisions which were agreed upon.

Alan Gillies is the Managing Director of the L2L Group, specialising in supplying Executive Coaching, Training and Consultancy Services to Businesses around the World. Want to find out more about these comprehensive business building success strategies? Get Alan’s phenomenal FREE Business Pack right now!

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