The Importance Of Successful Meetings

Successful meetings are subjective. With so many corporate leaders now attending more meetings than actually leading an organization, one may believe that her job is to attend meetings. According to Jacobs and Rosenthal (1984), middle management spends on average 35% of their day in meetings. The number of meetings that are required for leaders to attend and/or present becomes repetitious, which can cause both presenter and audience to become cynical. Often at meetings, people are talking over the presenter, having side conversations, checking emails on their phones, or not listening; these distractors are pervasive to both the presenter and attendees. When this occurs, the audience become disengaged and the meeting becomes ineffective,

Other times, meetings are held to communicate information to line level employees, resolve conflict, or introduce new training materials (New Hampshire Business Review, 2003). Whatever the case may be, the desired outcome of the meeting should be informative and productive. Successful meetings are engaging and involve contributions the audience. According to Harnish 2015, some companies give their employees a “Meeting Attendee’s Bill of Rights” to hold themselves accountable for all actions required by the presenters. By assigning specific tasks to specific individuals, it ensures accountability and more specifically, it assures that they are paying attention. According to Barrett (2014), group assignments are ineffective in meetings because not one person is held accountable; therefore, assigning tasks to a group can lead to vagueness which can send the wrong message to the audience. For example, during meetings, groups tend to talk amongst themselves, people checking emails and so forth can be disrupting, which ultimately impacts the entire meeting. However, by assigning tasks to individuals and placing responsibilities to key participants they are more likely be attentive, thus, able to deliver the

With increasing numbers of meeting that is required, it is salient to ensure meetings have a purpose and necessary actions are taken to prevent the idea that it is a waste of time (New Hampshire Business Review, 2003). By conducting a follow-up shortly after the meeting, the leader can ensure unanswered questions are addressed, attendee’s concerns are heard, vagueness’ are clarified, and deadlines are met. More importantly, this follow-up process also reinforces the importance of the meeting and the urgency of completing assigned tasks. This can also serve as a gentle reminder and ensure timely action according to Barrett, 2014. In addition, according to Barrett 2014, the steps taken might be perceived as micromanaging, however, it is good leadership to follow up on required