Time Power by Brian Tracy

Author:Brian Tracy [Tracy, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AMACOM Books
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Seven Ways to Make Meetings More Efficient

Here are seven ways to increase the efficiency and improve the results of meeting time.

1. Is the meeting necessary? Many meetings turn out, in retrospect, to be unnecessary. There are other ways to achieve the same goal. Sometimes you can achieve it by circulating a memo. You can have a conference call. You can speak to people individually. You can even postpone it to another meeting or another time altogether. If a meeting is not necessary, avoid holding it whenever possible. If the meeting is necessary, then ask, “Is it necessary for me to attend this meeting?” If it is not necessary for you to attend, don’t go in the first place. If it is not necessary for someone else to attend a particular meeting, make sure that he knows he does not have to be there.

2. Write an agenda. If you have determined that the meeting is necessary, establish a clear purpose for the meeting, and write up an agenda. An excellent time management tool is for you to write a one-paragraph statement of purpose for the meeting. Start with this sentence: “We are having this meeting to achieve this specific goal.” Then, write out the objective of the meeting.

This is a tremendous discipline. Make out an agenda or a list of everything that has to be covered in the meeting. Next to each item, put the name of the person who is expected to address that particular issue. Distribute the agenda, if possible, at least twenty-four hours in advance so that each person knows what she will be expected to contribute. You want everyone to know what the objective of the meeting is and what will be discussed. This applies to one-on-one meetings with your boss, with your subordinates, with your customers, with your suppliers, and whoever else.

One of the most helpful techniques you can use in business is to draw up an agenda for each meeting with your boss. I learned this many years ago as a junior executive. Before I started using this technique, my boss and I would spend an hour talking around in circles with no clear beginning or end. Once we had an agenda to work from, we could cover more information with greater clarity in fifteen minutes than we used to cover in sixty minutes.

Sometimes I would type up the agenda before the meeting. On other occasions, I would just write it up by hand, photocopy it, give my boss a copy, keep a copy for myself, and then say, “These are the things I want to discuss with you.” We would then go down the list, item by item, and get resolution of each point. I would then be out of his office and back to work. My boss really appreciated this approach. As a result, he was always willing to see me because I took up so little of his time.

3. Start and stop on time. Set a schedule for the beginning of the meeting, and set a time for the end of the meeting.

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