Before you schedule a team meeting or a project review, you should have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and what topics you want to cover. A well-defined purpose and agenda will help you set the right expectations, invite the right people, allocate the right amount of time, and avoid distractions or tangents. You should also communicate the purpose and agenda to your team members in advance, so they can prepare and contribute effectively.
As a Senior Manager in Business Intelligence, I can't stress enough the importance of a clear purpose and agenda for team meetings. It's like having a game plan in sports - you wouldn't step onto the field without one! By setting the agenda, you're essentially laying out the playbook for your team, ensuring everyone knows their role and how to execute it effectively. And remember, a little humor goes a long way in keeping the team engaged and motivated. So, let's tackle those meetings with the same enthusiasm we bring to our innovative projects! 🏈📈
Conduct effective and efficient team meetings and project reviews by setting a clear agenda with defined objectives, keeping discussions focused, and managing time effectively. Encourage active participation, track action items, and follow up on progress. Use collaborative tools for tracking and documenting outcomes, and solicit feedback to continuously improve the meeting process.
Doing this also allows you to have the right participants, if the organisation or team has enabled and empowered team members to say whether this meeting is appropriate for them to attend. In some organisations, the number of meetings can become overwhelming and take away staff from other work that also needs to be done. Providing an agenda and purpose ensures that it benefits everyone invited and participating.
In my experience, the effective and efficient team meetings will be done through clear agenda, meeting participants and timing of the meeting. Agenda will help to identify the purpose of the meeting, detail of points to be discussed and challenges need to be faced. Meeting participants is very crucial for effective and efficient team meetings.The team members who are relevant to attend this meeting. To avoid unwanted participants that helps to make a meeting will more effective. Meeting timing is very important. A meeting will be clear and simple communication to understand easily by others. Ground rules will follow and team members engagement will lead to effective and efficient meeting.
Its about transparency and collaboration. Technology plays a huge role, solutions like Trello are fantastic for keeping everyone on the same page. It's not just about the tools, it’s about having the right processes in place. You need clear templates for how meetings are conducted and how information is gathered. Once you’ve created that blueprint, roll it out company-wide and ensure everyone follows it diligently. This way, everyone feels informed and involved, making meetings smoother and project reviews more productive. It’s all about making the workflow visible and easy to track for everyone.
Set Clear Objectives: Clearly define the purpose and goals of the meeting. Create Agendas: Develop agendas outlining topics and timelines to stay on track. Invite Relevant Participants: Include only those necessary for the discussion to avoid wasting time. Encourage Participation: Foster an environment where everyone feels comfortable sharing their input. Stay Time-Conscious: Stick to scheduled start and end times to respect participants' time. Provide Updates: Share progress updates and address any challenges or roadblocks. Action Items and Follow-ups: Clearly outline action items and follow-up steps for accountability. Utilize Technology: Use collaborative tools for virtual meetings and project reviews.
As a leader, if you don't have a clear agenda of what you want to talk about, you are not ready to have a meeting. Regardless of how friendly your team is, or how closely you work together, always have a bulleted list of what you want to discuss in the meeting. Have a chat with your team members before the meeting to ask if they have anything they'd like to add so you can have it on the list. Recycling the same bulleted list for every instance of a recurring meeting is also not useful. Keeping the same general topics or format is handy, but ensure you have your specific items within each topic refreshed before each meeting. Bonus points if you send attachments or documents for review before the meeting.
3 practices that will help: 1. Use a consistent meeting template. 2. Fill it out as the leader in advance and share it out. Invite people to add/comment if they like. 3. Share your screen or present the page live in the meeting. Start by sourcing additional input and then go through everything.
Depending on the purpose and agenda of your team meeting or project review, you may need to choose a different format and use different tools to facilitate the discussion and collaboration. For example, you may opt for a synchronous or asynchronous meeting, a video call or a chat, a presentation or a brainstorming session, a feedback form or a survey, etc. You should consider the preferences and needs of your team members, the availability and reliability of the technology, and the level of interaction and engagement required.
There is no one size fits all. Consistency is key. As is making sure people know what to expect in advance. Make it a habit to ask your team what is working and what isn’t. They will tell you!
To ensure that your team meeting or project review runs smoothly and respectfully, you should establish some ground rules and norms for participation and communication. For example, you may ask your team members to mute their microphones when not speaking, to raise their hands or use a chat feature to ask questions, to respect the time limits and the agenda, to give constructive feedback and avoid personal attacks, etc. You should also model and enforce these ground rules and norms as the meeting or review leader.
And agree on time limits. Some people tend to speak too much and deviate from the topic heavily! While sometimes it might be valuable, still, for the efficiency sake, there must be moderation. To make sure that no one is offended by being “cut off”, this of course, needs to be agreed upon in advance. Communicate about how you are going to communicate, and do stick to these agreements!
I agree with Maria here! Time limits are so important, and a meeting chair will hopefully be aware and mentally track when a topic is worth moving on from. Maybe it needs some more thought or work before discussing it, maybe it should be a separate discussion altogether, maybe it requires other stakeholders there, etc. Whatever it is, a good meeting chair or host will sense that it requires more than what this meeting can provide.
One of my favorites is to tackle the important “entire group” stuff first and leave the odds and ends to the end. Then be intentional to recognize when you crossover, pause, and give those that don’t need to be there for the rest the option to reclaim their time.
One of the main goals of team meetings and project reviews is to foster teamwork and learning among your team members, so you should encourage them to participate actively and share their feedback. You can do this by asking open-ended questions, soliciting diverse opinions, acknowledging contributions, providing positive reinforcement, addressing concerns or issues, and creating a safe and supportive environment. You should also be open to receiving feedback from your team members and show appreciation for their input.
Assign a predictable pattern that you will call on people to give feedback; such as starting with the person on your left and going around clockwise or going down the list of attendees alphabetically. Make sure everyone has the option to pass if they don't have anything to add. If someone wants to jump in cause they have something they're excited to say, let them. Once voluntary responses are aired, return to where you left off with your pattern. If people are still slow to jump in during a group meeting, there's a chance you don't have the trust of your group. Work on your active listening skills and review how often you have kept your promises and fully filled your responsibilities recently.
At the end of your team meeting or project review, you should summarize the main points, outcomes, and action items that emerged from the discussion. You should also clarify the next steps, assign responsibilities, set deadlines, and agree on the frequency and format of future meetings or reviews. You should also follow up with your team members after the meeting or review, by sending a recap email, checking on their progress, providing support or guidance, and soliciting feedback on the meeting or review process.
Meeting follow-up with precise action points, responsible persons assigned for each action point and deadlines is what differentiates a simple get-together from an efficient meeting.
Finally, you should evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of your team meetings and project reviews on a regular basis, and look for ways to improve them. You can do this by asking yourself and your team members some questions, such as: Did we achieve our purpose and agenda? Did we use the best format and tools? Did we follow the ground rules and norms? Did we encourage participation and feedback? Did we summarize and follow up? What worked well and what didn't? How can we make our meetings and reviews better?
Something else to add here to consider setting yourself up for better team meetings and project reviews: start looking forward. Get all your major dates listed out somewhere you can see them, so you can keep those prioritised and you know when certain work can actually take a backseat (in case of emergencies). Otherwise you might be working away from goals you actually need to accomplish if you forget certain projects and deadlines in the midst of putting out other fires.