Meeting Management and Your Bottom Line
Call a meeting at work and what do you hear? Groans of disappointment, because many employees regard meetings as a waste of time. Usually, employees feel meetings lose their focus, drift into gripe sessions, or never result in any real action. As an employer, it’s up to you to ensure that employee meetings produce real, profitable results.
Employee leasing expertise has shown that workplace meetings can be valuable places to collect information, redirect behavior, and document events. Meetings are expensive, so make sure a meeting is the best way to accomplish your goals. For every meeting, the following elements must be in place to make it worth the employer’s investment in payroll and other meeting-related expenses:
- The meeting is taken seriously by everyone. Employees are expected to arrive on time, eager to contribute to the meeting.
- The meeting will be supervised by more than one manager and everything will be documented.
- Time is money, so meeting management includes time management. A meeting agenda is e-mailed to every participant in advance with a time table of how long each issue will take.
- Clarify in advance what the meeting is for. Is it for exchanging information? Brainstorming ideas? Building relationships? Solving problems?
- Before the meeting, provide an opportunity for participants to express themselves anonymously. This will improve candor at the meeting.
- In the meeting, no one is allowed to wander off-topic. Clarify this in advance and enforce it.
- Reward participants with food and drink if funds permit.
- Meeting decisions are turned into action. Decide at the meeting what the results will be in the future. Send e-mails to all participants recapping the actions everyone is expected to take.
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