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Faizan
Business Etiquette for Successful Meetings
Business meetings can be an extremely useful forum for the exchange of ideas and disseminating information to staff. They can also be an undisciplined free-for-all that achieves little and can lead to disengaged employees who don't contribute to the business or themselves in a constructive way. People who attend these meetings often come away feeling very frustrated and without knowing the purpose or outcome of the meeting that they were just in. What is it that makes these meetings derail? Or, more importantly, what can you do to rescue them and get back to having meaningful, productive discussions around the boardroom table? Previously, I have written about some of the ways you can make your meetings more effective. In this article, I'm going to talk more about managing the flow of the meeting and in particular the rules, or etiquette, etiquette that you can utilise.
Whenever a group of people get together to discuss important issues there is bound to be tension, conflicting views and clashes of personalities. These can all be good influences when it comes to the creative process that must form part of any meeting designed to debate issues and find solutions. However, they need to be harnessed and controlled in such a way as to bring out the best in those who take part. While some meetings are run according to Robert's Rules of Order, many are not. An informal approach can yield many benefits by virtue of free flowing debate and relaxed atmosphere, yet there still needs to be a clear set of expectations regarding the behaviour of those present and how the meeting will proceed.
These rules are by no means proscriptive, nor are they the only rules that you could apply to a meeting - especially if you find that your meetings are unproductive or even unruly at times.
Start and finish on time. Everyone will appreciate being respected and are more likely to be punctual and look forward to attending your meetings.
If you can't avoid long meetings (more than 45 minutes) then need to have regular refreshment and toilet breaks scheduled. The ideal length of time between breaks is 45 minutes and no longer than 1 hour.
Have a clearly defined purpose and/or agenda for the meeting. Meetings that do not have clear objectives are vulnerable to being sidetracked or even hijacked.
It's a good idea to publish the agenda/objectives prior to the meeting and require any pre-work to be completed beforehand. Don't let people turn up to meetings without having prepared for it. Most meetings should not be designed to complete work that should have already been done.
Business meetings can be an extremely useful forum for the exchange of ideas and disseminating information to staff. They can also be an undisciplined free-for-all that achieves little and can lead to disengaged employees who don't contribute to the business or themselves in a constructive way. People who attend these meetings often come away feeling very frustrated and without knowing the purpose or outcome of the meeting that they were just in. What is it that makes these meetings derail? Or, more importantly, what can you do to rescue them and get back to having meaningful, productive discussions around the boardroom table? Previously, I have written about some of the ways you can make your meetings more effective. In this article, I'm going to talk more about managing the flow of the meeting and in particular the rules, or etiquette, etiquette that you can utilise.
Whenever a group of people get together to discuss important issues there is bound to be tension, conflicting views and clashes of personalities. These can all be good influences when it comes to the creative process that must form part of any meeting designed to debate issues and find solutions. However, they need to be harnessed and controlled in such a way as to bring out the best in those who take part. While some meetings are run according to Robert's Rules of Order, many are not. An informal approach can yield many benefits by virtue of free flowing debate and relaxed atmosphere, yet there still needs to be a clear set of expectations regarding the behaviour of those present and how the meeting will proceed.
These rules are by no means proscriptive, nor are they the only rules that you could apply to a meeting - especially if you find that your meetings are unproductive or even unruly at times.
Start and finish on time. Everyone will appreciate being respected and are more likely to be punctual and look forward to attending your meetings.
If you can't avoid long meetings (more than 45 minutes) then need to have regular refreshment and toilet breaks scheduled. The ideal length of time between breaks is 45 minutes and no longer than 1 hour.
Have a clearly defined purpose and/or agenda for the meeting. Meetings that do not have clear objectives are vulnerable to being sidetracked or even hijacked.
It's a good idea to publish the agenda/objectives prior to the meeting and require any pre-work to be completed beforehand. Don't let people turn up to meetings without having prepared for it. Most meetings should not be designed to complete work that should have already been done.
Posted in: business
