In any organization, if people are your greatest resource, then meetings and training are the tools for helping you to unlocking their potential.
I believe meetings and training should be interactive, innovative, useful, and they should be interesting. I think most managers, owners, boards, and leaders agree; however, the gap between what is desired and what transpires may be more significant than it should be.
Fortunately executing effective meetings is a learned skill. A good place to begin is always to find out what your people think and begin from there.
- Ask how effective your meeting are. Try not to be defensive and encourage your people to speak their minds without fear of retaliation, as difficult as the truth may be to accept, the cost of not having effective meetings is even more harmful to your organization.
- Remember the purpose of your meetings and training. To succeed, meetings and training must engage your people, and to give them the skills and experiences they need to succeed in an ever more competitive environment, regardless of your sector in the economy. Monitor the scope of the session and ensure connectivity builds rather than dissipates. Never have a meeting just because it is scheduled.
- Topics should be relevant to your audience. Inclusiveness and awareness are predicated on asking and knowing what is important to attendees. Effective leaders anticipate, solicit, and listen to what their people are asking for and respond with timely and appropriate topics.
- Continuous training and constant evolution is “on-purpose.” Whether in short 10–15-minute daily huddles or weekly hour-long sessions; each meeting should be connected to the previous meeting and to the next meeting; all topics links in an overall strategy to accomplish the goals of the organization.
- Meetings and training should always provide value. Regardless of the length and type of meeting, each attendee should “takeaway” value from each meeting, some lesson(s) they can use “right away.” Remember providing the skills, knowledge, and tools to your people require is always the priority.
- Be organized and prepared or cancel the meeting and/or training. In every meeting or training session you are being tested, do well and your people’s trust and respect will grow; do poorly, the opposite happens. If you are not ready it is better to reschedule a meeting or training session than to have an ineffective one.
- Have the right people in attendance. Meetings and training sessions should include those people who need to be there and who are interested in participating. Allow other people the choice on whether to attend or not. Too often with certain meetings, both “online” or in-person, superfluous attendees can appear to be unengaged or a distraction to those people whose attendance is most required.
- Make your meetings interesting. Be animated, show passion and excitement in your expressions and voice, use tools like PowerPoint (although never just read from them), use personal stories, and get everyone involved by asking random questions. If your people are bored, whatever value you are trying to impart is blunted. Don’t waste your people’s time and your time with boring and forgettable meetings.
- Make your meetings or training fun. While this may not always be completely possible, it is worth the effort. I have seen sales organizations that use “Jeopardy” type formats to learn product knowledge, charities that use “icebreaker” games to get people communicating; the fun should not takeaway from the purpose, but it can loosen and expand “comfort zones.”
- Be unorthodox. When doing large meetings, I like to move around, I like to ask everyone in attendance at least one question to get their insights and thoughts. Other times I will “pre-ask” different people to do segments in a training session to help develop their leadership skills; never be limited by only using the ways you have always done things in the past.
- Listen and be responsive. I cannot understate the importance of meeting with your people every day. As a retailer we were open 77 hours and 7 days per week, it was rare to have the same group of people two days in a row. I learned to listen to my people, to learn about them and what was going on in their lives. I also learned to listen to their opinions and ideas, I wish I had learned sooner than what I did.
- Assign readings or “homework”. Every kind of organization can learn from what other organizations are doing. With the internet, virtually everything that has ever been written on any subject is available – use it. Find useful articles or videos and ask your people to review them and then come prepared to discuss them. Use agenda’s, send the agenda to all possible attendees a minimum of 72 hours prior to the session to allow them to prepare.
- Have an underlying structure to your meetings and training. Meetings and training “tactical” and should have some structure. For example, begin with a short re-cap of the previous meeting. Mention positive accomplishments by the team or individuals as a starting point for today’s discussion. Review assigned work interactively. Move into the focus for today’s session and end with a summary of three to five “take-aways” along with an upbeat message to finish the meeting and/or training.
- Start and finish on time. Starting on time sets the tone for your people and is a sign of professionalism and respect for those people who make the effort to be on time. Finishing on time shows your respect for your people and their responsibilities.
- Ask for feedback on an ongoing basis. Provide “safe” environments for your people to share their comments and opinions.
- Provide summary notes to everyone. Too many meetings topics are discussed and forgotten. Taking meeting notes and sharing them with your people, even the ones who didn’t or couldn’t attend, is a great teambuilding tool. Use the summary to cover key points and things that you want people to carry forward.
- Building “Willing Learning.” By using these techniques as a starting point and adding even more, before long, you will discover your people will want to attend your meetings and training sessions. Participation will improve, engagement and ideas will flow, and your organization will grow.
Meetings and training do not have to be boring; they do not have to suck. By using these lessons, you can easily begin having more effective meetings and training sessions. Your people will learn faster, and they will be more engaged. These few points are just a start, the lessons are universal, from retail to charities, embrace and add to these ideas, your people and your customers/clients will be grateful.
Good luck,
Paul