The Meeting Journal To Make Meetings More Productive

Productivity in meetings is at an all-time low. Business owners and managers complain about meeting productivity so much that some are looking to ban meetings. This is because they have become such a waste of time. Do they have to be that way? Absolutely not, and in this article, I’m going to explain how to turn them around and have them become a source of productivity and innovation. There are many types of meetings, from celebratory meetings to HR onboarding meetings. The ones that cause the most frustration are the problem-solving meetings.

These types of meetings are designed to propel the company forward by solving an issue that has been identified to make or lose money for the company. The solution is to use a meeting journal to make meetings more productive, and we will discuss this in more detail in this article.

 

Who Am I to Give You Advice?

I’m a business consultant who specializes in bringing businesses to the next level of their success. I have been doing this work for more than three decades. Working with small, medium, and large companies has provided me with a wealth of insights that I know you can benefit from. There are seven nasty pains that take meeting productivity to new lows if you let it. All seven will be described in detail for you and what to do about them. In the end, I’m going to provide you with the best journal to make meetings more productive. Together, these will increase your productivity to the point that you will welcome business meetings again.

Seven Pains That Must be Removed from Meetings to Make Them Productive

• People not showing up on time
• No personal technology during meetings
• Ground Rules
• Solutions oriented objectives
• Follow-ups
• Training
• Meeting Policy

 

Let’s look at these seven in detail and provide you with the knowledge you need to make your business meetings the best they can be.

People Not Showing Up On-time

One of the worst habits is people not showing up on time to their meetings. Being late sends the message that you don’t consider the meeting important enough to show up on time. Obviously, if you have a good reason for such an emergency then that is fine. However, if this is a habit then that is a problem that the company is paying for in wasted man hours waiting for the individual to make their presence shown.

Business owners and senior management are often large contributors to this problem. The rationale they espouse to others is that meetings never start on time and therefore I can be a little late and it will not matter. This then sends the message that it is ok to be late as the senior company personnel are rarely on time. Senior company personnel must set an example and be on time for meetings as this will set the example for everyone else to be on time. And it’s not enough to be on time, but also to start on time. Doing so will have everyone respect the company’s time and resources.

No Personal Technology During Meetings

Remove meeting distractions as much as possible. Distractions are a waste of company money as meeting participants will not have the proper focus to move meeting issues forward toward a conclusion as fast as possible. The worst distraction to meetings is personal smartphones and digital notepads like the iPad. Incoming notifications make it tremendously difficult to focus and be engaged in the topic being discussed.

You will often see these individuals trying to hide their smartphones under the table. They do not only distract the person who is being occupied by them but also others who see them looking downward typing or scrolling away. The message they are sending is that the meeting is not important enough to have their focus. It has almost become a badge of honor in meetings to be engaged with personal devices in this manner. It will be beneficial to meeting organizers if they allocate a spot such as a small table or basket where everyone can place their digital devices during the meeting. Meetings that are over one hour in length should have a five-minute break for individuals to check their devices or go to the washroom.

Ground Rules

Meetings should have ground rules so that they can have maximum productivity. Ground rules include how people will speak to one another during the meeting. Also, ensure that people stick to the meeting topic and do not bring in discussions that are not part of the meeting objectives. The ground rules include when there will be breaks and the length of the meeting. The responsible person who will take the meeting minutes is mentioned at this time.

The agenda being discussed, and the time allocated to each topic on the agenda is also advised. All participants are advised that discussion time is for agenda topics only. All others should be done at another time. A reminder of the value of respect should be briefly discussed. Participants should respect the company’s resources dedicated to the meeting objective, all participants, and the objective of the meeting. These three are the cornerstone of any well-run meeting. Ground rules are mentioned by the facilitator or meeting organizer so that the company receives everyone’s input.

Solutions Oriented Objectives

All meetings must have an objective that will ultimately have a direct benefit to the company. Even celebratory meetings have the benefit to the company that sends a message that their people matter. However, when there is one of the meetings once or twice a week, is when you must question what the cost is to the company. My suggestion when this is happening is to regulate such celebratory meetings to once per month. Bundling someone’s birthday, another’s retirement, or someone who has made a significant contribution together, just makes sense.

Problem-solving meetings should be focused on the issue and nothing else. It is baffling to me why most companies do not use proven problem-solving methodologies during their meetings. Some of the methodologies are simple to learn and keep the meeting objective front and center so that the participants will obtain the solutions as fast as possible. Not using these qualitative or quantitative methods simply wastes company resources. Meetings should be solutions-oriented so that you obtain the best possible ROI from them.

Follow-ups

Every meeting must have someone who is going to follow up on the action items from the meeting. This person doesn’t have to be the most senior in a meeting. This mistake is often repeated. All meetings must have action items from the meeting, and those action items must have due dates with expectations. Recording action items in a meeting journal to make meetings more productive is necessary. An assigned individual will review the progress of all meeting items after each meeting This is especially important if there are long periods between meetings. Single meetings are most likely to have their actions not completed and always have an assigned responsible person to follow up on each item and report the progress to the meeting organizer.

Training

Most companies evolve from solopreneurs to small businesses and beyond. Along the way they find that what worked when they were just a few people doesn’t work anymore. This is also true when it comes to meetings. When a company is a handful of people it is easy to delegate tasks and ensure that they are done. When a company becomes larger the informal approach to meetings doesn’t work and new skills must be learned. It is at this point that businesses that haven’t invested in training their people truly lose. Meeting training includes the following:

How to organize them and who should be in them: Organization includes creating an agenda and inviting only the people who will add value to the meeting in terms of solving the issues.

Being an effective facilitator: A facilitator keeps the meeting on track and provides the ground rules and usage of problem-solving methodologies to ensure meetings are productive.

Taking Meeting Minutes properly: The usage of a meeting journal to make meetings more productive is essential to guide the facilitator to record all relevant information including action items.

Following up after meetings have concluded: Follow-up is a cornerstone for meeting productivity and the facilitator should either do it themselves or assign someone to it.

Meeting Policy

Few companies have a meeting policy that is robust enough to impact meetings where they are productive. It is important to have a meeting policy designed to ensure there is a standard that the company will adhere to and comply with. A meeting policy should have the following items mentioned:

• Distribution of an agenda before a meeting unless it is an emergency meeting.
• The expected conduct of all meeting participants
• The ground rules and the usage of personal electronic devices
• It should mention when breaks should occur in longer than one-hour meetings
• Mention that all meetings should have a clear objective with action items derived from each meeting.

 

Announcements, new hires onboarding, and celebratory meetings are a few exceptions to this stipulation.

My Suggestion to You

Throughout this article, I mentioned the usage of a meeting journal to make meetings more productive as a tool to substantially increase meeting productivity. I recommend the Konnect Meeting Minutes Journal. This meeting journal has more features than any other journal on the market today to not only make recording meeting minutes easier but also has the style to fit in formal and informal meetings alike. The Konnect Meeting Minutes Journal has an index to track meetings easily instead of flipping pages. The separate section for action items centralized in one location in the book is another great feature. This eliminates the dreaded flipping of pages to find the meeting and the actions associated with it. This meeting journal comes in hardcover and paperback with approximately 300 pages. It is certainly worth looking at when deciding which meeting journal to purchase because not all meeting journals are alike.

Conclusion

Business meetings can be productive if you follow my recommendations mentioned above. These recommendations will change your meetings and give your company the edge in innovation and productivity you are looking for. The aid to making them productive is to choose the right journal to make meetings more productive. You are now ready to transform your meetings with the information I provided. I want you to become one of those companies that is not in the sea of unproductive meetings.