Are your weekly meetings starting to become a bore or failing to provide your team with the much-needed boost to achieve their goals? As these meetings are an essential part of your business week, if you feel that they have become just a par for the course then it is time to make some adjustments. We have pulled together 5 strategies that some of the worlds top CEOs have adapted to achieve highly productive team meetings within their companies.
Reduce Meeting Size
This technique is favoured by Jeff Bezos of Amazon and was also a favourite of Steve Jobs. Keep meetings small with only the most relevant people present. This will ensure that everyone present will have something valuable to contribute.
Reduce the Length of Meetings
By reducing your meeting length, you prevent your team from losing interest. Have shorter 15 to 20-minute meetings to keep your team focused and goal orientated. This is favoured by Marissa Mayer, Yahoo! CEO who holds approximately 70 sort meetings per week.
Try Standing
Give team members the choice to stand either at the back of the room or the side of the room and still be part of the meeting. Better still remove the chairs and have everyone stand. Doing this will ensure shorter more focused meetings and allow the team to stay alert and energised.
Take a Proper Time Out
If you are not in favour of short meetings or standing meetings, then try to ensure that your meeting doesn’t go any longer than one hour without a 10-minute break. It will give team members some time to absorb what you have discussed and an opportunity to return to the meeting refreshed.
Make it a Moving Meeting
If there are just two or three people attending the meeting, you could try a walking meeting outside if the weather permits. This will allow you all an opportunity to get out of the office, get some fresh air and keep you energised.
