No More Time Suckers: The Ultimate Guide to Effective Meetings

Mastering Effective Meetings: Tips for Maximizing Productivity

In this episode of the Quality of Life Podcast, host Erin Olson shares practical tips on holding effective meetings that are both productive and time-efficient. Erin discusses the importance of meetings in business, outlines the key components of a successful meeting, and offers strategies to ensure meetings are purposeful, timely, and inclusive. Key points include defining a clear objective, smart scheduling, creating and sticking to an agenda, punctuality, encouraging participation, recapping and assigning tasks, and maintaining proper meeting etiquette. Whether you're a solopreneur or part of a larger team, these insights will help you make the most out of every meeting.

00:00 Introduction to Effective Meetings
00:31 The Importance of Meetings
01:38 Tips for Holding Effective Meetings
10:28 Meeting Etiquette Essentials
13:52 When to Hold Meetings
17:03 Tools and Apps for Meeting Management
17:51 Recap and Final Thoughts

Resources:
Death by Meeting by Patrick Lencioni
BaseCamp
Asana
Monday.com

Thanks for listening! I'm glad you're here.

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See ya next week!
Erin

Transcript

Erin: 0:00

Hey guys, and welcome back to the quality of life podcast. It's Erin Olson, your host. And My goal is to help get you from your business idea to big business. All right. Well, today we are talking about how to hold a meeting that is not only effective, but also not a waste of time. We have all been to a meeting that drags on way too long or one that could have easily been just a memo or an email, right? so today I am going to cover why meetings are actually really important, what makes a meeting. meeting etiquette, and when to hold a meeting in the first place. meetings are so important in business, whether you are an intrapreneur, a small business owner, or yes, even if you are a solopreneur. So if you are the only person in your business, make sure that you stay tuned Because this is for you, too. While you will be working alone, you can keep yourself clear on your to do's and your vision by scheduling time to think about certain things in your business. And yes, having a meeting by yourself. I know that sounds funny, but let me talk about why meetings are so dang important. They can be a very powerful tool or they can be a massive time sucker. We want to make sure that they are a tool used for good. An effective meeting makes sure that everyone is on the same page. They can help in decision making and encourage that the team moves forward together. so here are some tips for holding an effective meeting. First, you must have a clearly defined purpose and intention. Why are we having this meeting? Updates, making decisions, brainstorming, team meetings. You know, there has to be a clear objective to what you want to accomplish in this meeting. If not, meetings are going to tend to get off topic in a hurry. So make sure that it is clearly defined what you're having this meeting for. Two schedule smartly. don't have a meeting just to have a meeting a long time ago. You know, we used to schedule monthly meetings, weekly meetings, and actually daily meetings with some of our staff at Hay Chix. And a lot of times if we didn't have a lot to cover, it just became a time to just bs. And if I'm completely honest, If you have a meeting scheduled and you realize that really there's not much to cover in this meeting, then you should probably send out an email and just cancel the meeting. We all have things that we could spend our time doing that are probably better than sitting there twiddling our thumbs talking about whatever, right? Limit all your meetings. Every single one of them to less than an hour, 30 to 50 minutes is optimal. Now, Brendan Burchard from the High Performance Habits states that after the 50 minute mark, your productivity and your team's productivity diminishes super fast. So 50 minutes is perfect. Honestly, I've had some 15 minute meetings that were way more effective than a 50 minute meeting. So pick a time when energy levels are high and the priorities are low. Not usually first thing on a Monday morning when everybody is trying to get all their stuff up to speed from the weekend. Mid morning or immediately following lunch are the best times of the day when people are ready to listen and to engage without having that afternoon lull or the good morning let's get to work and get caught up feeling. So, try to schedule your meeting on like a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday and make it so that it's mid morning or right after lunch, but not too far because we all know what happens at one o'clock, right? Anyways, the third tip to having an effective meeting is to create and stick to an agenda. Always. Okay, so a long time ago, I used to hold meetings without an agenda. I had an idea of what needed to be covered, but I really wasn't careful at listing out the actual things that we wanted to cover. So this agenda is going to be your roadmap, and It's going to list out all of the topics that you want to cover, who is going to speak on each topic, and the time that is going to be allowed for each topic. Now, if you want to have a meeting that is less than an hour, you really need to make sure that certain things are kept in check as far as time goes. here's a super important tip. Before the meeting, email or send out the agenda to all of the meeting attendees. This is going to make sure that everybody comes prepared and knows what the intention of this meeting is. This is also going to create a really quick way to summarize your meeting later. The fourth tip to having an effective meeting is to be on time. I know I've talked about it in the past. Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable. Right? Here's the deal. You are probably paying very well the people who are going to be attending this meeting. Any time that is spent not being effective is costing you money. So have meetings on time. Respect everybody else's time by being punctual. And not only starting on time, But end on time if there are things that are going to dribble into the next hour, maybe put those on next week's agenda or the next meeting agenda to cover, but make sure your meetings end at the exact time you say they are going to. and friends, let me tell you, start your meeting on time, regardless if everybody has made it on time or not. That is the only way that you can make a meeting and set a standard where people are knowing that this is going to be an effective meeting and we are going to get to work and we are going to do our best, right? so here's a story. Back when I had Hay Chix, we had team meetings, and we had marketing meetings, we had all these different meetings, and we had certain people who refused to show up on time. Now, if they were employees, they would be reprimanded and known that this is unacceptable. However, We know that stuff happens, so even at our team meetings, we would start without people if they were running late or their kids were sick or homesick from school, And what happens is, they're held accountable Because they don't want to look like they don't care. They don't want to look like a dummy who doesn't know how to tell time, right? So, keeping those meetings rolling and having them to have to walk in on a meeting that's already in progress is a way to make sure that they are held accountable for their actions without needing to be reprimanded. especially when you're on zoom, you have to make sure meetings are punctual. And I know that you guys can relate with me, right? This creates the wrong example. And it creates the wrong culture. And we're all about having a business that has a good culture, right? we all want our business to be the business that we wish we worked for when we were younger, right? The fifth tip to an effective meeting is to encourage participation. We all know that in all the different dynamics of people at work, some people are a little more outgoing. other people would rather just not speak up at all and just hope that their, ideas come across somewhere, right? You need to make sure, whoever is conducting this meeting, that everyone chimes in. Ask for input, especially from those quieter team members. Now, in our team meetings at Hay Chix, I always broke the ice with a high light and a low light. that each person has had since the last meeting. that made everybody have to chime in and talk. And when you do that, it kind of diffuses the embarrassment, or just those people who don't want to, Talk out loud. Some people are really good at it. Some people are not. And so having each person say something in the beginning to break the ice is a great way to make sure that everybody is comfortable Now, another thing that we did was we would do prizes and the prizes don't have to be anything like spectacular. Now we did a lot of shipping through Uline and so Uline would give us free logo gear with every order. So we would give that away to whatever thing we decided to award it for. And this doesn't have to be your metrics. This can be the person who went above and beyond since the last meeting the most. It can be a drawing. It can be a trivia. We used to do a lot of trivia because it got people interested in our business. and most of that trivia was completely related. to our business. So it kept everybody learning more about our business, even if they were in the manufacturing part and didn't do a whole lot, with like numbers or with marketing. There is a story somewhere, I can't remember where it was, where the prize that they gave away at every meeting was a can of LaCroix, like bubble water. And it was a coveted prize they'd bring a can of LaCroix and decided to give the LaCroix to whoever conducted themselves the most effectively or offered the most input during a meeting. And that's a great idea to encourage people to come and to speak their minds. Because you know what? Some of the best ideas come from the most unexpected places. the sixth tip for an effective meeting is to recap and assign action items at the end of every Meeting. So in your agenda, make sure that you put about five minutes for this part because at the end of every meeting, you need to recap all of the things that you discussed and the decisions that were made and then assign tasks to make sure that everybody knows exactly what they are responsible for and the deadline. Then, after the meeting is adjourned and everybody goes to their respective cubicles or whatever, then what you need to do is you need to take that agenda that you had earlier and just put the notes of all the decisions made, who is assigned to what action tasks, and all of the recap on that agenda form and email it to everybody who attended the meeting and anybody who missed the meeting. This is going to ensure that everybody remembers all of the things that were discussed and that everybody knows exactly what they are held accountable to do. All right, the seventh thing is probably one of the most important things, Meeting etiquette. This makes for a very effective meeting And honestly, I would send this out with the agenda so that everybody knows what is expected etiquette wise. Okay, there are nine etiquette items that I think every meeting, participant needs to know. First, etiquette. Start and end on time. We already talked about that. Second, come prepared. Review the agenda ahead of time and bring pertinent information or materials that you would need to whatever the agenda topics include. Three, respect the agenda. Avoid going off topic. If you have something that needs to be added, write a note for after or for another meeting. stay on task. Four, be an effective and respectful participant. Now, what that means is to engage with people who are speaking, answer questions if necessary, but listen. You need to listen actively, not just staring down at your notebook or whatever. Make sure that the person who is speaking has your full attention. 5. Limit distractions. Alright, this should go without saying, you need to silence all your devices. No multitasking. If you have other projects that need to be done and you're trying to think about those while you're having this meeting, it is going to distract you and it's going to make this meeting last even longer because you're going to have to need to ask questions to get back up to speed. There is no such thing as multitasking, especially when it comes to meetings. So just don't do it, right? Six, maintain professionalism. Dress accordingly, even if you're on Zoom. Make sure that your language is casual but professional and keep personal stuff to a minimum. This is not the time for BS. That is for the water cooler or for lunchtime. Seven? If you are using this as a Zoom or virtual, use video, if possible, that way people feel included and make sure that everyone is actively participating, even if they are in a remote location. Eight, mind your body language. Okay, this should also go without saying, but like I just did, don't sigh and don't be rolling your eyes if somebody says something that doesn't support what you think. Okay. This is to be professional. Even if you are a casual workplace, let's make this meeting professional. All right. And last but definitely not least, take notes and follow up afterwards. This is something that you should do as a meeting attendant is to make sure that you're taking notes on any things you have questions for, ask the questions and also follow up and do the things that have been assigned to you as action tasks. this is what's going to set you apart in the workplace. Doing what is expected of you, even without reminders. Alright? so that's enough about etiquette, but let me tell you, Oh, it's such a game changer! When everybody is on the same page and they know what is expected of them etiquette wise, meetings go so much smoother. Okay. Now we know how to do it effectively. When are meetings a must? Team meetings are something where all hands on deck everybody who works with you should be held on a schedule. It should be weekly, monthly, at the beginning of every shift, at the beginning of every day. That is up to you how often you need to have a all hands on deck powwow. Once again, remember if you have 20 or 30 employees, all the minutes that are spent in a team meeting are actually costing you whatever the combined hourly wages of all of those people are. So something to keep in mind when scheduling weekly, monthly or shift or even daily, meetings. Now I worked for Target way a long time ago and they did a very, very quick, beginning of the shift meeting that ran about three to five minutes. And that was definitely something that was doable because it let you know who you were working with for the day and what the tasks were. Now at Hay Chix, every morning at 7 o'clock, we did a team stretch. That was also because we did a very physical job sewing hay nets. So, everybody would get together and we would go through our list of stretches and we would also chat for a little bit. And it was a great way to get everybody on the same page, make sure that they were limbered up so there was less injuries, just things like that. So, keep in mind that when you schedule a meeting, you want You can always cancel it, but please schedule it effectively and when you need one. other times that meetings are a must are when you're kicking off a new project or launching a new product. Those meetings are going to be so important. So everybody is on the same page moving forward. Brainstorming meetings. Oh, these are so fun. However, You do need to be very careful with scheduling because these are the meetings where creativity starts overflowing and then you start going past the time that you scheduled for. So be very mindful to take breaks in a brainstorming meeting and to make sure that you have an end time that you are going to be stopping this meeting for sure. Also, milestone check in meetings are great to assess the progress of certain projects, crisis management meetings. This is when you have to put out fires and an immediate action is necessary. I've had, Quite a few of these meetings in my past, so I understand that these are definitely something you do not want to delay and you want to make sure that everybody who is, touched by whatever the crisis is, is in for that meeting so that everybody knows what's going on moving forward. And the last type of meeting that I think is a must is a retrospective or a review meeting. Looking back on what went well and what didn't in the past. Friends, be sure to question whether a meeting is necessary or if it could be a quick call or an email. I have been invited to so many meetings that could have just been a phone call or could have just been an email and I'm not saying reply all because we all know how bad it is to be on one of those Reply all Email threads so just make sure that if you can avoid getting everybody together for a meeting, that you Do it, because it's going to be way more time effective and cost effective. There are several apps that also work to track meetings and projects that can really cut down on the number of meetings that you need to have. I have personally used an app called Basecamp and there are other apps kind of like it, like Asana and Monday. com that are visual project management programs to help you see what action steps have been completed, where things currently are in your company as far as different projects and marketing and what the theme is for this month. And I highly recommend Basecamp because it is relatively cheap and it keeps everything visual and you can keep people in certain teams on certain things. So the marketing people aren't going to be in the manufacturing, projects. So, it'll limit the alerts that people get on things that need to be tended to. Alright, so let's recap this episode. First, define your purpose. Second, schedule it smartly. Third, create and stick to your agenda. Fourth, be on time. no matter what haha Fifth, encourage participation Sixth, recap and assign tasks and last and seventh, Remember proper meeting etiquette. Remember, not every issue needs a meeting. So, be a good steward of your time. Let's make these meetings count. There is a great resource called Death by Meeting by Lencioni that dives deeper into the subject and I will link that book and the links to Basecamp and others in the show notes. Well guys, I hope that this helps you to hold more effective meetings and free up some more time in your schedule to act on the things that actually move the needle. If you found this episode helpful, give it a like and share it. Especially if you are not the one scheduling the meetings and would like to have a more effective meeting, if you know what I mean. Don't forget to subscribe for more tips on how to get from business idea to big business. I will see you next week on the quality of life podcast. See ya.