Agendas are strategic in having a great meeting. Placing items on the agenda for priority and timing on discussion is important.
Great points for agendas. Each meeting leader should prioritize their agendas. Short items first. Long priority items should be given the time.
I believe the hardest task is to staying on the agenda and keeping it within the time alloted. I have noticed that some members tend to get off of the subject causing others lose their focus. We have a few that tune out the main subject and talk to the person next to them, really throwing the meeting off schedule by asking repeative questions.
Creating an agenda has some added duties for clarification. Attendees need to know the ground rules that when they get off task you will get them on track. They need to appreciate your role in good meeting ethics. This will give a more productive meeting.
We have so many meetings that some times it is hard to get my group to a meeting because they are trying to get there job done. I know it sounds odd but we always run out of time to get everything compleated and are able to make all the meetings.
Franz,
Meetings deserve an introduction. Marketing each meeting encourages ownership and interest. Expecting participants to just show and be ready is asking to much. Your role as a leader is to motivate the attendees.
creating the agenda is onething,keeping everyone on task is some times just as hard as keeping the students on task,so choosing how to present the tasks and keep going in one direction to complete in a positive manor seems even harder.
Sidney,
Making a good agenda is important but the preparation of the emplpoyees. The rules of the game while you are leading the meeting should be clear. They should not be surprised when you pull them back on target.
Due to the hybrid program and instructor availability issues I deal with, I find that I have to have three seperate times to meet with my staff -- night, day, and online. I also take the key elements that pertain to all three groups and proceed with that.
June,
I have experienced some of your same challenges. The best way to approach this is with technology available. Meetings can be videoed and sharedm privately on YouTube. Videoing and coping on CD's. Having a note taker a publish on a private Facabook account.
The hardest task I have when it comes to preparing for a meeting is sticking to a time schedule especially when there are 20 attendees wanting to discuss several issues at once.
To stay on task I bring them all back in and I will typically have time at then end of the meeting for open discussion, so we can address anything that was not listed on the agenda
The hardest task for me is preparing the agenda and sticking to it. We have weekly faculty meetings but they are only 1 hour long. Therefore, a big challenge is prioritizing items and then making sure not to put too many of those items on one agenda.
Crystal,
After several years of Chairing meetings this is the biggest interupter of a meeting. These often create side bar discussions. My experience can tell you without any reservation that the answer to this problem is to set meeting guidelines up front. Agenda topics will be attained to only. Anyone bringing up something that is not germain to the topic would not be discussed. We can table it until a later meeting or schedule or meet one on one. Anytime this may occur if we have set up the rules of the meeting we can state this is not germain to the current topic and move forward. I currently Chair an Accreditation Commission with 15 members who all have type "A" personalities. It important we stay on topic.
Crystal
Setting ground rules is very important to keep in the time limits. I always assigned one person to give a 10 minute update on product knowledge about what their program was currently doing. All discussion should be kept on topic. Anyone getting off task should be brought back to the topic at hand.
Local meetings at our campus are not really a big challenge, however preparing Video Conference meetings with our sister campus can be a challenge determining the best time to conduct the meeting. Stake holders in the meetings are often scheduled on polar opposite work shifts, creating the challenge. Ocassionally a member must flex their hours to be available for the meeting, or wait several weeks to align their schedules.
Communication between the managers and other members are the keys to overcoming this challenge.
Michael,
In today's world it is difficult to have an ideal time With that said we have at our disposal many technology possibilities.
The best way to communicate with our people is to ask them how they would like to be communicated with:
email
Facebook
webcast
conference calls
chat room
These are just a few but you get the idea.
I think the hardest task is getting feedback and input from key stakeholders prior to the meeting. If you fail to do this, you may encounter "surprises" during the meeting that will prevent accomplishing objectives. As part of the meeting preparation, you must consider the feelings, attitudes and positions of all key decision-makers that will be present. Various stakeholders may have competing agendae, and they need to be acknowledged, understood and provided for. I say this is hard because it is often difficult to get this input from people.
This is very hard. I have found that some members come to meetings with their own agenda. They will interrupt and bring up an issue that is not part of the meeting agenda, thus disrupting the flow of the meeting and threatening time constraints. If the issue raised is an emotional one, the meeting can then descend into a morass of arguing and hurt feelings. If you play gatekeeper, you can hurt feelings. I have had people walk out of meetings because I refused to acknowledge their points and tried to keep to my agenda.
I agree with your point also. Many prepare an agenda that includes too much. A shorter agenda has a higher probability of success I think. It is tempting to, once everyone is together, address all that you can to get things off your plate. But the more you try to cover, the lower your probability of getting anything valuable accomplished. Priortizing the agenda items can help here. Addressing the most important issues first can help this problem. Then, if the lesser issues are not addressed due to time constraints, the consequences are less harmful. When you have a long agenda, however, you often feel pressure to get through it all and this can become self-defeating.
Joseph,
Two-way communication is a necessity to be aware of what is going on in your department or company. Building a trust level with your colleagues is important to acheive open and honest dialogue. Keeping an open mind and listening to your communicators makes meetings go much better when you have done this in advance.
