Meetings are and have always been a critical tool to get the job done. All successful meetings have several common key factors. When we incorporate them into our daily meetings we will see a surge in productivity and efficiency. This will have a direct impact on the results and bottom line. Listed below are five key factors which should be incorporated into every business meeting:

1. The Agenda: An agenda brings focus to the reason a meeting is being held. It outlines all the key factors which are going to be discussed and what is needed to be achieved during the course of the meeting. It helps the facilitator to decide who should be invited and why. This will help create a blueprint for the meeting and will also help keep it on track and to reach the required goal. To read more about how to create an ideal agenda please click here.
2. Time & Focus: These two building blocks must be tracked meticulously during the course of the meeting to ensure that adequate time is allocated to each agenda item and that the course of the discussion remain in line with the agenda. Deviation from these two factors result in meetings where all the participants get frustrated and no consensus is reached. To read more about how to keep your time and focus in line please click here.
3. Group Participation: Meetings are most productive when you have everyone contributing to the discussion. This results in a group generated consensus to be reached which is free from any sort of bias. A conducive environment needs to be maintained to get everyone to contribute. To read more about how to get participants to contribute more please click here.
4. Decision Making: Meetings provide a forum to reach decisions on issues through a collaborative process. It is essential that key steps are taken to ensure that everyones opinion on the topic are heard and a collaborative decision is reached. When there is resistance to a proposed decision it needs to be handled with care to ensure that there is no passive resistance which could jeopardize the project. To read more about how to reach decisions effectively click here.
5. Minutes & Action Items: During the course of a meeting several topics are discussed and decisions reached. Each one of these needs to be recorded for reference purposes. Meeting minutes provide participants with an easily accessible document and reminds them of what tasks were delegated and to whom. Action items need to be delegated with clear instructions and should be time bound for optimal execution. To read more on how you can incorporate minutes and successful action item delegation please click here.

Meetings are a critical business component. To run them successfully will result in better communication. Once a team or a business is at a level where communication flow becomes more efficient and effective it will have a direct impact on its productivity and results. Incorporate these factors into your daily meetings and let me know if you have noticed better results or performance. Also if anyone else wants to share other factors which have helped them run more effective meetings please let us all know. Thank you.