• Home
  • Meet Our Team
    • Michael Beach, MCPBC
    • Linda Drake, CPBC
    • Ron Friedman, CPBC
    • Melissa Worrel-Johnson, CPBC
    • Sharon Brown, Health and Wellness Coach
    • Amy Renee
    • Sheryl Suzon-Kempis
    • What is a PBCA Coach?
    • Why Work With Us?
  • Our Services
    • Executive Coaching Services
      • Emerging Leaders
      • Business Owners & C-Suite Executives
    • Business Consulting Programs
      • Extended DISC Behavior Profile Analysis and Training
    • Health and Wellness Coaching Program
    • Testimonials
    • FAQs
  • Our Podcast
  • Public Speaking
  • Blogs & Videos
    • Blogs
    • Videos
      • The Manager’s Minute
      • Develop Your People
      • Accountability Series
      • Leadership Best Practices
      • Moments with Michael
      • A Word with Michael
      • Business Advice
      • Business Chats
  • Contact Us

Call us today... 651 335 4505

Find Us on Map
info@michaelbeachcoach.com
Enter your text here...
Michael Beach Coaching & ConsultingMichael Beach Coaching & Consulting

Let Us Help You!
Prior Lake, MN: 651-335-4505
Tucson, AZ: 520-732-2266

  • Home
  • Meet Our Team
    • Michael Beach, MCPBC
    • Linda Drake, CPBC
    • Ron Friedman, CPBC
    • Melissa Worrel-Johnson, CPBC
    • Sharon Brown, Health and Wellness Coach
    • Amy Renee
    • Sheryl Suzon-Kempis
    • What is a PBCA Coach?
    • Why Work With Us?
  • Our Services
    • Executive Coaching Services
      • Emerging Leaders
      • Business Owners & C-Suite Executives
    • Business Consulting Programs
      • Extended DISC Behavior Profile Analysis and Training
    • Health and Wellness Coaching Program
    • Testimonials
    • FAQs
  • Our Podcast
  • Public Speaking
  • Blogs & Videos
    • Blogs
    • Videos
      • The Manager’s Minute
      • Develop Your People
      • Accountability Series
      • Leadership Best Practices
      • Moments with Michael
      • A Word with Michael
      • Business Advice
      • Business Chats
  • Contact Us

What’s The Best Way To Keep Meetings Fun and Effective?

Home ask the coachWhat’s The Best Way To Keep Meetings Fun and Effective?
September 12, 2016 ask the coach, Blog

happy-meeteing-peopleAs a business advisor, I hear from C-Level Executives and from the rank and file employees of companies that meetings are not effective and they’re certainly not fun these days. What can be done? How do we get back to making our meetings productive and making them a positive experience for teams that have problems to solve and results to deliver? We’ve been doing some thinking and here are some ideas sure to help you move in the right direction with meetings at YOUR company!

No More Meetings Just To Inform – I hear almost every day that the meetings people most despise are those perfunctory mandatory meetings where the primary purpose of the meeting is to “keep everyone in the loop.” I think e-mail is one of the most-over-used tools in the history of mankind. However, if your goal is to keep the team informed, few tools can do that in shorter order.

Meetings To Discuss Solutions To Problems – Too often, meetings are consumed by a lengthy discussion about all of the painful aspects of some particularly nefarious problem that vexes the team. My recommendation: Send an e-mail to the team to announce the meeting, and discuss the problem in the e-mail. Tell everyone to come to the meeting prepared to discuss their recommendations for solving the problem, and give a brief deadline for discussion to be followed immediately by a decision about which recommended solution we’re going to implement.

Keep It Short – Human beings are notorious for our incredibly short spans of attention. Recent studies suggest that we have about 20-50 minutes of ability to focus on something before it drops off substantially. Given that, why would you schedule a meeting for 3 hours and make everyone sit there as you grind through a bladder-busting agenda of informational topics? Schedule most of your meetings for 20 or 30 minutes, and if you MUST schedule meetings for longer than an hour, give your participants breaks every hour, so that they can refresh themselves and be better able to contribute at their best.

Set Expectations and Ensure Everyone Contributes – Have your team arrive at the meeting prepared, and ready to discuss solutions from the first minute. Let them know that they must be prepared because they may be called upon to speak first. Document immediately the decision you’ve made, the next steps, who owns it, and when we’ll all get an update on the solution. Paraphrase and summarize the solution before you leave the meeting and get a commitment from everyone that they are on board to make the solution happen.

Don’t waste valuable time in meetings, get right to work and then get the heck out of the meeting and on to the next priority! With a little bit of discipline and some mindful preparation, meetings can quickly become more useful and enjoyable for everyone. The reason why meetings have gotten such a bad rep lately is that leaders have done a terrible job preparing and managing the meeting before, during, and after. Don’t be that guy or gal. Show your colleagues that you value them by making productive meetings your specialty!

Michael Beach is a management and leadership thought leader in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Michael works with C-Level Executives and their leadership teams to find ways to quickly regain the productivity and goodwill that has been lost to inefficiency and a lack of discipline. Michael coaches leaders to improve their relationships and increase their performance dramatically as a leader. How do you feel about meetings? Have you, like Michael has, been in meetings that were just an abomination of wasted time and ineffectiveness? Share your stories with us about some of your worst meetings, and Michael will send you his Best Practices document on Great Meetings. If you’d like Michael to help you to take your meetings from a value of two or three to a 10, send an email to info@michaelbeachcoach.com.

0
Share

You also might be interested in

Little Slices of Heaven: You haven’t arrived yet.

Jan 17, 2017

https://youtu.be/ENh4bjMo5V8 Michael is an Executive Business Coach and an award-winning[...]

Insider Tricks on How to Be a Great Leader: Be a great follower, to become a great leader.

Aug 29, 2017

Leadership Tips... https://youtu.be/XaNrcp93Xz4 Michael is an Executive Business Coach and[...]

Leadership Best Ideas: Light the Fire!

Jan 24, 2017

https://youtu.be/AhNNEsL_s6Y Michael Beach Coaching & Consulting has exciting news! Our[...]

Recent Posts

  • It’s About What You Are, Not What You Appear To Be
  • You Don’t Want To Need a Second Chance As A People Manager
  • People Management Is About Leadership
  • Invest In Your People: Develop Their Skills And Watch Them Grow
  • Give Your People A Reason To Follow You

Contact Us

Send us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Send Message
Check out our Podcast... Podcasts

Fresh From Our Blog

  • It’s About What You Are, Not What You Appear To Be
  • You Don’t Want To Need a Second Chance As A People Manager
  • People Management Is About Leadership
  • Invest In Your People: Develop Their Skills And Watch Them Grow

Proud Member of

Arizona technology council logo smaller
Professional Business Coaches Alliance logo
extended disc logo

Find us here

  • Michael Beach Coaching & Consulting
  • Executive Development Coach
  • 4719 Park Nicollet Avenue SE - Suite 210
    Prior Lake, MN 55372
  • MN: 651-335-4505
  • AZ: 520-732-2266
  • info@michaelbeachcoach.com
  • Find Us on Map

© 2023 · www.michaelbeachcoach.com
Website built by CG Marketing Group

Prev Next