Top Ten Reason Why Agendas Make Meetings Productive*
Meetings take up time and effort, so they need to be very
productive. And one aspect worthy of special focus is how
well you organise your meetings. Using a great agenda
does just that.
Having a meeting agenda template that works well for you,
week in, week out, creates a consistency which gets your people
bought into the meeting process. Delivering an efficiency and
effectiveness which makes the most of the valuable time
you have together.
Key points to note are:-
1. Circulate Share your agenda in good time, well before
your meeting (with reading material for preview). This gives
time for review, preparation and challenge.
2. RolesIn a meeting there are various roles to be
taken on from the start. Chair, notetaker, facilitator, reviewer
and other, more specific roles. These should be clearly stated
on the agenda in advance of the meeting.
3. Items for Discussion Items on your agenda need to be
selected carefully and only be relevant for the grouping of
people who get together. Time is precious, so make sure
that when together, only things which need everyone's input are
given time.
4. Set TimingsGet clear on your agenda just how
long the meeting will last and how long will be devoted to
individual items on it. This gives clear indications of what
will happen in meeting.
5. Ground Rules Within your agenda will be some rules of
how the meeting process will work. It is important to set
standards of behaviour which eveyone signs up to.
6. AOB Often included in agendas, this item is one that
really should not be there. Good preplanning before the
agenda goes out should mean that all items are included at that
point and, where dispute occurs, the meeting lead takes a
decision. AOB can easily take a meeting off the rails and lead
to missing time agreements.
7. Action Points As the meeting progresses there will be
action points that individual meeting members will be
accountable for. By having a spot on the agenda for a quick
review, prior to circulating these in writing, everyone will be
clear on what is expected of them.
8. Parked Items Sometimes during a meeting, items arise
which whilst important, are outside the scope of that particular
meeting. So by both 'parking' them during the meeting, thus
validating their importance, and having a specific point to
check the next steps for them is clear, they do recieve
attention. This then allows the meeting purpose to be maintained.
9. Next MeetingBy ensuring the date of the next
meeting is an agenda item, this serves three purposes:-
a. It indicates to the meeting attendees follow up meetings
b. It gives an indication of when agreed action points from the
meeting are likely to be required
c. Finally, it reminds the person responsible for the agenda to
agree a clear date during the meeting - if not, it is likely to
slip.
10. Meeting Review Your agenda should also be an ongoing
learning tool. As such, and to ensure your meetings truly make a
difference, there is a real benefit in reviewing how things have
worked in the meetng - for all participants.
Agenda it!