Every business that I have ever seen has meetings of some kind. Some are productive but the vast majority of meetings start late, rehash some old stuff, and end even later, rarely producing much in the way of progress. It seems that many meetings happen by inertia, existing because they always have existed and will always exist no matter if they produce anything of value. This is expensive in terms of wasted time and talent. If your business is in this endless loop of non-productive meetings I have one word to help you produce more from future meetings – “Agenda.”

An agenda lists the order of the meeting and should be posted to all participants before the meeting. Begin the agenda by stating the purpose of the meeting, the anticipated outcome(s), and the time the meeting will end. When everyone meets to work on the stated issue(s), they will know why they are there, what is to be accomplished, and the time limitations that will be imposed. The agenda creates a businesslike atmosphere instead of a social reason for being together. If all that is in place, amazing and efficient progress can occur.

The responsibility for productive meetings falls squarely on the shoulders of the meeting leader. Don’t go in to a meeting without that agenda then be prepared, have tools at hand, a method of moving the agenda forward and wear the hats of quarterback, coach and cheerleader to get things done. The leader must be a good delegate and have a system to follow-up with those who become responsible for various tasks thereby taking the agenda farther into the future for completion. Having good minutes of the meeting allows verification of solutions decided upon, pinpoints responsibilities, and completion dates for various activities decided upon in the meeting and it is up to the meeting leader to stay on top of those tasks.

The agenda creates the structure for good meetings which adds energy, gets all the players acting together towards goals that increases the velocity of the enterprise so agenda-ize your meetings and benefit from better meetings.

Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, "Front Lines with Larry Galler" Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.larrygaller.com Questions??? Send an email to larry@larrygaller.com

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