Leadership Tip

How to ensure your next virtual meeting actually accomplishes something

How many times have you walked away from a theoretically important meeting and thought, “What did we accomplish?”

More often than not, the problem isn’t with what did or didn’t happen at the meeting - nothing got done because the meeting’s goals were never firmly established. Whether it’s a 15-person executive team meeting or a 150-person leadership conference, the first step when planning an important meeting should be to draft an initial set of goals by answering these two questions, the answers to which will give you a high-level understanding of what the meeting needs to accomplish:
 

  1. What do you want to have debated, decided, or discovered at the end of this session that you and the team haven’t already debated, decided, or discovered.
     
  2. What do you want attendees to say when their team members ask, “What happened at the meeting?”

 

Very few of us are strangers to frustrating meetings. But it doesn't have to be this way, as it’s easy to make meetings worth everyone's time. Further to finding the answers to the above questions, ultimate success focuses on two key elements: timing and attitude. We respect everyone's time by shortening meeting length as much as possible, and by reducing our invite list to only truly necessary participants. As for attitude, the meeting leader's mood is contagious. So, if you're running the show, get things started with enthusiasm and gratitude for those attending. 


The above leadership tip...
was sent in response to a question from a participant on our acclaimed 10/10 leadership development and mentoring programme and adapted from from If You Can’t Say What Your Meeting Will Accomplish, You Shouldn’t Have It by Bob Frisch and Cary Greene. Whether you're a first time manager or an experienced leader, straightforward, practical advice on best practice is hard to find. Until now. To find out how you, your team or your organisation can benefit, please join us on our next complimentary webinar or contact us.


HOW TO THRIVE IN THESE UNPRECEDENTED TIMES

As part of the government's business support package announced last week, we have been awarded funding to deliver our acclaimed 10/10 leadership development and mentoring programme "live and online" to help those now working from home. This 10-week cyclical programme, leading to the award of a certificate in leadership development, offers cutting-edge insights into change, resilience, wellbeing, motivation, teams, communication, strategy, influencing, effectiveness and self-awareness. READ MORE


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