Turner Invests Tuesday Tips - Effective Meetings

Whether to report on progress, set new goals, come up with new ideas, pitch for finance or motivate staff, every business requires meetings. However, a lot of business time and resource can be wasted through poorly managed meetings (as can be evidenced by the number of negative quotes for meetings compared to positive!). The following tips will help you run effective meetings to get the outcomes required.

“The amount of meetings I’ve been in - people would be shocked. But that’s how you gain experience, how you gain knowledge, being in meetings and participating. You learn and grow” – Tiger Woods

Tip 1:                Specify Objectives
The first step for any meeting is to specify the purpose and to know exactly what outcomes you want from it. The topics for discussion should be prioritised to address the purpose and get the required output first. If possible, you should tell the meeting participants in advance of the exact goal required from the meeting so they can prepare themselves to address the area/issue quickly and effectively. 

Tip 2:                Set a Strict Time Plan    
Tell participants that the meeting will be no longer than half an hour (or whichever the minimum time is). This will drive them to address areas quickly knowing that the meeting end is in sight. When setting an end time, stick to it. Failing to do so consistently will make attendants dread the meeting due to it always overrunning and therefore come to the meeting with less energy and enthusiasm. 

Tip 3:                Minimise Meeting Admin
The administration of a meeting can often last longer than the meeting itself. Do not fall into this same trap. Do not write minutes for the meeting, only record decisions made if they require it. Depending on the type of meeting do not spend time on arranging comfortable conditions, coffee or lunch. The idea is to get areas addressed quickly and for everyone to get out of the meeting and back to work, some organisations conduct stand-up meetings for even quicker results.

Obviously customer and investor meetings would require extra niceties so do not always apply the same strict rules you would for internal staff meetings.  

These are just a few areas of maximising the output and efficiency of meetings that you could implement in your business. Remember do not hold a meeting just to have a meeting, ensure there is a set goal. 

We hope you have found these tips useful and are able to use them to improve your business and investments. Don’t miss out on future tips - subscribe to Turner Invest newsletter from our home page and follow us on social media.

Thanks, 
Turner Invest
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