How to Run No Fail or Effective Meetings

Running effective meetings is always a challenge. We all have different needs when it comes to running our meetings? Meetings can make or break a company. With all of us working together in a distributed manner, running effective meetings is critical for our success. This will also be a big differentiator for us as a company. I recently read this book No Fail Meetings by Michael Hyatt. It is a small book and an effective one, which elucidates the art of organizing effective meetings.

11 million meetings are held each day, which means that 55 million meetings are held per week, and 220 million meetings are held per year. On an average, professionals attend 5.1 meetings every day. (source: Google)

Tips to Run Effectivee Meetings

Here are some thoughts on running effective and No-Fail meetings:

Start and End Meetings on Time

A good way to start and end your meeting is by establishing a time limit for each segment of the meeting. This will help avoid long drawn out discussions and will also ensure that all parties have time to present their ideas and share their views.

Do not Accept Meetings Without an Agenda

To make sure that your meeting has an agenda, it’s best to ask yourself a few questions before accepting any requests for a meeting:

●What is this meeting about?

 ●Who needs to be there? 

●When do they need to be there? 

●How long will it take? 

●What should we discuss?

If you have all these questions answered before accepting a request, then you’re ready to go!

Do Not Meet Just For the Sake of Meeting 

When you meet, try to make sure that you are productive by focusing on what you need to accomplish during the meeting. If you find yourself wasting time in idle chit-chat or listening to other people ramble on about irrelevant topics, then it’s probably not worth your time anymore.

Write Effective Meeting Notes

In our community, we emphasize a lot on writing. On similar lines, writing a effective meeting agenda is important. This way we know what is expected of us from meetings. Please give time to prepare for the meeting. 

Do Not Skip Meetings in the Last Minute:

I am guilty of this. It is okay to do it once or twice, However if it becomes a habit you lose credibility. Michael Hyatt talks about this in his book. If you accept the meeting, it is a commitment for you to prepare and attend. Do not cancel meetings at the last minute. It affects everyone – (We understand that emergencies come up and in this case we have no choice but to decline- it is okay).

Maintain Meeting Notes, Call to Action & Follow-Up

Send meeting notes, end the meeting with a call to action and have appropriate follow-ups scheduled. If you are the facilitator of the meeting, make sure you take notes. It will also motivate everyone to take notes. 

Do Post Meeting Activity

Block time on your calendar to review meeting notes and complete tasks if any. Make sure you review meeting notes then and there or by end of the day so  you do not lose track of things.

Learn the Art of Saying No 

If you have daily routine meetings or other meetings that you feel is a waste of your time say NO.

Here are five tips Michael Hyatt provides to organize an effective meetings:

1. Decide
2. Schedule
3. Prepare
4. Meet
5. Follow-up

This is how Michael Hyatt ends his book No Fail Meetings. ‘effective meeting ‘gives an opportunity to take your business to new heights. Kill or quit meetings that aren’t needed and revolutionize the ones that are’.

An effective meeting shouldn’t lead you to a sense of despair or impending doom. They should be inspiring and enjoyable, something that you look forward to every week. If running your meeting tends to make you feel stressed, take the time to review each item on this list. Look at ways that you can incorporate simple changes to your everyday practices. Indeed, the end goal isn’t perfection—it’s improvement.

I hope you find these notes helpful.

Thanks!