Ask your employees what they love best about their job, and they’ll most likely respond that it’s the monthly birthday cake. Then, ask them what they hate. There’s a high likelihood they’ll say they hate all the boring, meaningless meetings.

You might be offended by that, but it’s probably true. Your employees hate meetings—just send them out an informal employee satisfaction survey; you’ll hear the cold and hard truth.

Why employees hate meetings

Employees hate meetings because they feel that meetings waste their time, don’t offer any value to their job, and can even foster an environment where the most outspoken staff members overtake the meeting and use it as a time to air grievances and complain.

This opinion hurts for you to hear. After all, you spend your time trying to disseminate all the information at once to make their jobs easier.

By the way, this unpopular opinion holds true whether you hold meetings in person or online. Sorry.

5 Tips for Effective Meetings

Now that you are clear that your employees aren’t feeling that weekly sales/production/planning meeting, you might wonder how to proceed. Here are 5 tips on how to reinvigorate your employees with sessions that inspire rather than bore.

1 - Set a Time…and Stick to It!

Don’t think that your employees believe that you or the information you share during company meetings are a waste of time—they don’t. Rather, they are annoyed by their less punctual peers who hold back the session from starting on schedule, show up late and want you to backtrack, or raise issues that are irrelevant to the matter at hand.

When you send out a meeting invite, set a definite starting and ending time. Stick with that schedule.

When a team member shows up ten minutes late, don’t start over or bring him up to speed during the meeting. This only makes the team members who made it on time feel that they are punished for doing as asked.

Instead, hold the latecomer after the meeting if he has any questions—after you’ve dismissed the rest of your team.

2 - Present with purpose

Plan productive meetings by setting a definite purpose and goal from the outset.

Define your goal on a dry erase board so that all attending obtain a clear understanding of what you’re trying to achieve.

Remain on task throughout the entire time that you meet.

Whether you are sharing new sales goals, getting feedback on staffing requirements, or planning a budget for the next fiscal year, keep everyone working towards that same purpose.

If a staff member shows up intending to use the meeting floor to shine the light on a personal issue that’s not meaningful in accomplishing your meeting goal, don’t let her run away with the meeting. Her concerns might be legitimate, but agree to meet with her at a more appropriate time.

3 - Shake it up

Make your employees begin to look forward to meetings by positively engaging them. Some of the most productive meetings work in brief team building activities, a pizza lunch, or even a small “awards ceremony” to acknowledge the contributions of outstanding team members.

Move the meeting location from the typical meeting room to an office. Host “walking meetings” when weather permits. A walking meeting is one of the most effective meetings you can plan— you’re incorporating fresh air and exercise with accomplishing goals. Plus, you can leave those latecomers in the dust.

You might feel silly trying some of these things, at least at first. However, once you’ve seen the boosted employee engagement, you might grow to love these techniques.

4 - Skip the notetaking

Don’t require your employees to take copious notes; provide them with a meeting agenda and an outline with the most significant bullet points. Later, email out meeting minutes and any pertinent details that must be recapped along with written workload assignments.

Here’s why.

If your staff is scribbling on their legal pads or tapping on their tablet, you don’t have their undivided attention.

There is a school of thought claiming that humans don’t possess the ability to multi-task; instead, those who claim they are multitasking are, in reality, jumping from action to action with a rapidity that can make your head spin.

If that theory is correct, then you are not holding an efficient meeting–which could contribute to that sense of employees feeling as if they don’t get a good takeaway from the session.

5 - Stay on track

If your meetings get derailed by continuous sidebars, see #2 and remember your purpose. Stay on track to ensure an effective meeting.

But, what if genuine concerns or issues arise that need attention? Park them to the side and agree to circle back at a later time.

Stock your meeting venue with an easel, marker, and easel pad. Take a moment to acknowledge that vital concerns do exist then jot them on the pad as a visible confirmation that you share the interest. You’ll maintain efficient meetings that start and end on time when you squash conversations that go off the rails; yet, you will agree to investigate the source of contention.

Here’s an example of a legitimate concern raised at an inopportune time.

A retail boutique employee reports an area where he has found evidence that customers are shoplifting in a far corner of the store—he’s found merchandise stash piles and discarded tags. He is very concerned and airs the issue during a new product training meeting with a vendor. Rather than delaying the training, you notate the concern. You’ll have a reminder to pull your cameras and take a look or take preventive measures in that corner of your store after you get back to your office.

Before you email out the meeting minutes, tear off the list from the easel pads; create a small section within the minutes for follow-up actions needed and assign the remediation measures required.

Make meaningful meetings

Moving forward, try these five tips that make meaningful meetings. As employees see you’ve implemented these changes, they will begin to change their notions about their attendance. You will witness increased engagement and more attentive staff as you share information.

In fact, the next employee satisfaction survey you send out could reflect that they grew to like meetings as much as they enjoy that monthly birthday cake. Nah. Just kidding—you’ll never trump the cake.

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Author Deborah Tayloe

Deborah Tayloe

Deborah is a blogger and freelancer who often writes for EmailMeForm. When she’s not blogging, you’ll probably find Deborah working on DIY projects around her home in North Carolina.

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