Team meetings can be time-consuming, tedious, and challenging. They can also be a cornerstone of your business and productive for your team. When done effectively, team meetings can strengthen and broaden your company culture and build trust among your employees.
To be productive team meetings, must be strategic, actionable, and timely. Strategic team meetings will focus on the business outcomes, action items, and next steps required to ensure that you are moving forward in the right direction. Actionable team meetings will ensure that you are working on the right things at the right time. Timeliness matters because, to get the full value out of team meetings, you must be able to implement what you learned immediately afterward. Timely team meetings ensure that you are working together at the right time. The easiest way to make all three of these aspects of team meetings more productive is to structure them in a specific way.
Establish a meeting agenda before the meeting
Meetings can be productive and effective when they are structured in a specific way. The first thing you must do is make sure you have an agenda before you start the meeting.
This agenda should have your specific meeting structure in mind. For example, you can structure your meeting by topic, by department, by action items, and by time.
Hold a meeting with no action items before the meeting
The best way to structure your team meetings is to hold a meeting with no action items before the meeting. This will save everyone time, create a better environment and allow for deeper discussions.
Some people prefer to start with a brief meeting and then open it up for discussion. While this is fine, if you prefer to start with a specific topic, it will be much easier to keep the discussion focused and grounded.
Ask your team to share their learnings before the meeting
You can take your meeting structure one step further by asking your team to share their learnings before the meeting. You can do this by having a team member share what they have been learning, what worked, and what didn’t work about the last two weeks.
This can create a lot of value for your team and your company.
Bring everyone back together at the end of the meeting
One of the best things about team meetings is that, once you have completed the meeting, you are done and you can move on to the next meeting. You don’t need to spend a lot of time preparing for the next meeting, reviewing what happened, and summarizing all the action items.
Most people like to bring everyone back together at the end of the meeting to summarize what was discussed and what was done. You can do this by summarizing what was said, what actions items were created, and what learnings were shared.
Sum up and make sure your next meeting starts on the same page
One last thing you should do at the end of the meeting is summarized what was discussed. You can do this by summarizing what was said, what actions items were created, and what learnings were shared.
You don’t have to do this right then and there, but make sure you do it before you move on to the next meeting. The best way to make sure your next meeting starts on the same page as the previous meeting is to summarize what was discussed.
Team meetings are crucial for sharing ideas, building trust, and managing your business. You can make them more productive by following these steps.
Define Who You’ll Meet With
A meeting is only as good as its participants. If you’re meeting with a client, the client team should be a part of the meeting. If not, the meeting isn’t worth much. A meeting template should define the participants of the meeting, including the attendees and the speakers. This way, you’re meeting with the right people while avoiding unnecessary confusion. It’s also important to note the type of meeting you’re having. If the meeting is with employees, you should meet with them separately from executives.
Summarize the Concrete Steps You’ll Take
If a meeting is going to make progress, it needs to be specific. Spend some time outlining the steps you’ll take at the meeting. The steps should be specific enough that you can make progress. For example, if you and a coworker are going to be doing some research, outline the steps of how you’ll go about it. Someone might try to push you to finish business instead, but if you have low-level steps, you don’t have anything to build off of.
Summarize Anything You’ve Agreed on Before
There’s no point in beginning a meeting with a new topic. Instead, make sure you cover anything you’ve agreed on before. This includes topics that have been discussed in meetings, tasks that have been completed, questions that have been answered, or any other matters that have been addressed. No meeting is worth starting without mentioning these topics.
Ask For Feedback
Meetings are a chance to get feedback from others. This can be done by asking others how they feel about a certain topic or by asking them for their thoughts on the meeting as a whole. This doesn’t only apply to feedback about the meeting. You can also ask for opinions on projects, tasks, or other processes that are going on within the company.
Wrap Up With a Clear Next Steps
Almost every meeting ends with the same thing. You should wrap the meeting with clear next steps. This could be anything from, “What are the next steps for this project,” to “What next meetings should we plan.” These next steps help your colleagues understand what they need to do next as well as what they’ve accomplished.
Let’s face it, meetings can be a pain. You have to sit in a room together, and there’s no guarantee that everyone will have the same idea or even be in the same room. The good news is that you can make meetings better by using a meeting template.
What are the key ingredients to making a meeting successful?
- Clear communication is key to any fruitful discussion.
- A meeting template is a great way to organize your meeting and make sure everyone is on the same page.
- A meeting template should include the following:
- The meeting topic – Who will be attending, what their role is, and the expected outcome.
- The outline of how you’ll conduct the meeting – Start and end times, where you’ll meet, who will speak and listen, etc.
- The agreed-upon topics – Anything that has been discussed before or any other important matters that need to be covered.
- The call to action – What is the meeting about, what is the call to action, and what will be the outcome.
- Feedback – How does the meeting go? What you can do to improve the next meeting.
Clear communication is key to any fruitful discussion
When meeting with coworkers or clients, one of the most important things to do is to be clear with your messages. Confusion leads to misunderstanding. This means you need to be conscious of what you’re saying and how you’re saying it. For example, if a coworker is explaining a task, be mindful to explain what the task is. If you’re unsure about a certain topic, ask for clarification.
A meeting template is a great way to organize your meeting and make sure everyone is on the same page
A meeting template should include the following:
- The meeting topic – Who will be attending, what their role is, and the expected outcome.
- The outline of how you’ll conduct the meeting – Start and end times, where you’ll meet, who will speak and listen, etc.
- The agreed-upon topics – Anything that has been discussed before or any other important matters that need to be covered.
- The call to action – What is the meeting about, what is the call to action, and what will be the outcome.
- Feedback – How does the meeting go? What you can do to improve the next meeting.
A meeting template should be tailored to your specific needs
There are no general rules when it comes to how to make meetings better. While some people prefer a meeting template to be strict and detailed, others prefer a looser structure. The key is finding the best meeting template for your needs. If you’re meeting with coworkers, a general meeting template will work. But if you’re meeting with clients or executives, you need a more detailed meeting template.
The meeting template process
Once you have your meeting template in mind, you can begin the process of creating it. Here are a few suggestions on how to do this effectively.
- Identify the key ingredients to the meeting – Start by identifying the key ingredients to your meeting. What are the key topics, what is the key call to action, and what are the key outcomes? This will help you tailor your meeting template to your specific needs.
- Create an outline – Once you’ve identified the meeting ingredients, create an outline of how you’ll conduct the meeting. For each key topic, including a summary of what will happen, what the outcome will be, and the expected length of the meeting.
- Create the meeting template – Once you have the meeting outline, you can create your meeting template. This can either be online or in a word document.
A meeting template doesn’t have to be complicated or overly detailed
A meeting template doesn’t have to be complicated or overly detailed. It just needs to be clear, concise, and informative. The key is finding a meeting template that works for your needs. If you’re meeting with coworkers, a general meeting template will work. But if you’re meeting with clients or executives, you need a more detailed meeting template.
The meeting template process
Once you have your meeting template in mind, you can begin the process of creating it. Here are a few suggestions on how to do this effectively.
- Identify the key ingredients to the meeting – Start by identifying the key ingredients to your meeting. What are the key topics, what is the key call to action, and what are the key outcomes? This will help you tailor your meeting template to your specific needs.
- Create
