19 Jul 6 Tips to Create Effective Team Meetings

Do you feel like you are constantly going in circles during your team meetings and that they seldom lead to concrete results?

This is a common concern among many managers, and to address the issue properly, we must fully analyze the causes and find appropriate solutions. 

Research shows that executives spend an average of 40-50%* of their working time in meetings, and around 73%* admit that they use meeting time to do other tasks. In addition, 75%* of those who run meetings have never received training on how to organize and conduct a meeting effectively. This is clearly a suboptimal combination.

It has also been shown that low employee engagement during meetings decreases performance, efficiency and innovation. Managers who organize or run ineffective team meetings are not benefiting from the full potential of their team. This can erode their power and influence and directly impact the organization’s success. 

So how can you combat this dangerous trend? Here are six key strategies to make your team meetings more impactful and effective:

1. Identify Areas for Improvement 

To begin, take some time after an upcoming team meeting to ask yourself the following questions: Were participants distracted? Was there sufficient group involvement? Did the discussion stray from the main topic? Also think about what worked well: What seemed to energize your employees? What could you do in future meetings to encourage this type of engagement? Do not hesitate to directly solicit feedback from participants through an anonymous survey, to understand their perception and concerns. You can then prepare an action plan based on identified issues, specific to your team, with improvements to put in place for your next meeting.

2. Prepare Well for the Meeting

The first step in preparing for a team meeting is to determine the exact purpose of the meeting. Consider the topics that will be discussed, and circulate an agenda listing these points to meeting participants a few days ahead of time, in order to encourage engagement and to give them time to prepare.  

Also remember that you should never hold a team meeting simply out of habit, but only out of necessity. Then define the list of participants, based on that necessity. In order to have an effective team meeting, attendees should of course all be relevant to the discussion at hand, and also perhaps have differing perspectives than yours. If you decide to invite only department managers, make sure that employees from different departments who are not attending the meeting feel included – for example by providing them with a meeting summary. 

3. Promote a Feeling of Inclusion

In the current context of remote and hybrid work, it is more important than ever to promote fairness. Your team meetings should be held via a video call, even if some of the participants are together in one room. Doing this limits the exclusionary atmosphere that secondary chatter can create. You have a key role in the management and mobilization of remote teams, so adapting your management style is essential. To help you, GDF Talent offers a series of virtual training workshops on how to have effective conversations that are impactful and lead to concrete results. 

4. Play the Role of Facilitator

Employees often see team meetings as interruptions, and sometimes feel they are a waste of time. As a leader, it is your responsibility to change this perception. You need to engage meeting participants, ask them questions and create an atmosphere of active listening. To do this, quickly state the subject or the problem to be resolved at the start of the meeting, in order to leave more time for conversation. You must embody your role as facilitator and support your team as they engage. It may sometimes be necessary to express your own opinion or directive to move a discussion forward, but this should never be at the expense of others’ ideas. 

5. Leave Room for Everyone

It is important that all meeting participants feel secure while exchanging opinions, and have a sense of commitment. You may want to give your employees time to reflect during the meeting, to write down their ideas. This technique will help avoid “group thinking,” which can be counterproductive and inefficient. 

In addition, be transparent about your desire for all participants to be involved in discussions. Think about your body language while doing this. And to prevent one person from dominating a meeting, decide beforehand how much time each team member will have to express their point of view, and inform everyone of this limit. The goal is to have a team meeting that encourages participation and takes into account the opinions of each participant, while remaining efficient. To help, you could use the “beach ball technique”. For more information on this, visit our webpage. Our successful Team Conversations workshop can also help you create more effective team meetings.

6. End Each Meeting with a Recap 

At the end of each meeting, make sure that any decisions made and determined next steps are clear and unambiguous to all participants. To do this, briefly summarize what’s been achieved and each person’s tasks to fulfill. A report intended for all participants can also be drafted and distributed. This should be concise and include a summary of all discussions, actions taken, assigned tasks and their deadlines. 

In summary, an effective team meeting means:

• Upstream preparation, noting areas for improvement to become more efficient. 

• Being aware of the current context of telework, and adapting your meetings accordingly, in order to create a feeling of fairness. 

• Facilitating effective conversations and giving each participant time to speak. 

• Summarizing the decisions made during a meeting and then distributing a report to all participants, for absolute clarity. 

* Source : https://ideas.ted.com/the-economic-impact-of-bad-meetings/