You know nobody looks forward to meetings. A lot of people feel like they’re a waste of time, not to mention boring.
But engaging staffers isn’t an impossible job.
Make sure other supervisors follow these best practices for making meetings more engaging:
1. Have a clear agenda
Remember: Meetings take valuable time from your staffers’ days.
Don’t waste it by rambling or by going into a meeting with only a general idea of what you want to discuss.
Make sure you know exactly what needs to be accomplished, in what order and in what amount of time.
If you can’t come up with a clear-cut agenda, it’s likely a meeting isn’t really necessary at that time.
2. Involve only essential people
If it’s not important for someone to be in a meeting, don’t invite them.
Taking them away from their jobs decreases productivity. Plus they’ll probably be bored.
For example: While it might be good for supervisors to sit in on safety refreshers, they don’t need to be there every time.
3. Create conversation
Nobody wants a meeting to turn into a lecture. Before the meeting, give staffers the agenda or what you want to accomplish.
Ask them to prepare questions or ideas that contribute to the topic. Make sure staffers know you’re open to new ideas, even if they challenge your own.
4. Finish with action steps
Some meetings can leave staffers asking, “So what?”
Throughout the meeting, make sure you define clear action steps or takeaway messages for your participants that can help make a meeting feel worthwhile.
Then toward the end of the meeting, recap a few important points and action steps to drive the message home.
