Excellence to Eminence

Time to spring clean...your meetings!

Values: Simplicity

By Dyan Ellinger, From the Office of Human Resources Culture Strategy Team

Even though it might not feel like it outside, spring has officially started! Spring is an opportunity to spring clean your meetings! Here’s how:

Schedule time in the next month at your standing/recurring meetings for the group to discuss the following meeting checklist (you may even send out these points ahead of time to prepare the group):

• Is there clarity about our group’s purpose? What is that purpose?
• Does our group focus on results?
• Do we have the right people in this meeting?
• Is this meeting still relevant from when we formed this group or meeting?
• Is the time allotted appropriate? Do we get together enough or not enough? Are the meetings too long or too short?
• Does this meeting need to pay more attention to the lists below?

Great meetings require:

• Detailed description in the calendar appointment giving attendees as much information ahead of time as possible.
• An agenda – every time.
• A timekeeper.
• Coming prepared to the meeting with any deliverables and thoughts on the agenda topics
• Just enough information for the meeting’s purpose. Other information may need reviewed before the meeting or as a takeaway, but should not be a distraction during the meeting.
• Wrapping up conversation that has no immediate resolution so the meeting can move on.

Other features of great meetings:

• An opening with:
  •  the group’s recent accomplishments,
  • intended accomplishments, and
  • goals for that meeting.
  • An ending with:  
    • tasks completed,
    • consensus in the room on immediate topics,
    • next steps, and
    • each person’s takeaway tasks. 

For more tips on increasing meeting effectiveness, go to the Hosting Healthy Meetings tab in the Resources section of the Excellence to Eminence web site.

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Dan
Posts: 4

Meeting cost calculator
Reply #3 on : Mon April 04, 2011, 14:45:21

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Here is the best meeting cost calculator I know of:

http://www.bringtim.com/

The trick will be getting the information on everyone's salaries. The best idea I have is to request (one-time) the number for the average hourly rate of all employees in a [department, team, group, etc.] and stick that number to the clock so everyone can use it as a guide. Even if not all who are calculated in the average show up, that number will still yield a good, practical estimate.

:-Dan

Anne Massaro
Posts: 4

Re: Time to spring clean...your meetings!
Reply #2 on : Thu March 31, 2011, 09:51:35

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I completely agree with Dyan's thoughts an spring cleaning meetings. And, I might add, I like the thought of spring cleaning meetings!

On a related but different note, we might also consider spring cleaning our minds and hearts when we are in meetings. There is a "subjective" side to meetings that is more about what we think and how we interact, and less about the mechanical elements of meeting effectiveness.

On http://www.osu.edu/eminence/E2EResources/639.html there is a healthy meeting concepts document and tool to self-evaluate how we show up in meetings and what we might do to be a more effective meeting participant.

If we put Dyan's tips into practice AND show up to our meetings with curiosity, positive energy, and assuming positive intent in others, I believe our meetings will be more productive and more enjoyable!

Anne

Anonymous
Posts: 4

Re: Time to spring clean...your meetings!
Reply #1 on : Tue March 29, 2011, 13:15:52

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I also think we should have a "meeting cost" calculator - that is - the sum of all the salaries/wages of everyone present. We'd be much more wise about how we spend our time in meetings if we knew the actual cost... Let us know if you know where we might purchase such a calculator or if you have ideas about how to develop it...

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