Making your staff more effective in meetings
If your staff meetings are constantly overrunning or veering off topic, it might be time to give your team some training on how to run an effective meeting.
Regular staff meetings can be a valuable knowledge-sharing and problem-solving event – but more often than not they tend to be less effective and efficient than you’d like.
And while meetings can be a big part of most people’s working life, it’s an area of business that we don’t often get training in.
If you want your staff to perform better in meetings, here are a few areas to train them in.
Public speaking
One reason issues don’t tend to get tackled in meetings is that those with the problems don’t speak up. It can be daunting trying to articulate what you want to say, especially in a room full of people.
But if people don’t have their say, you risk skirting the issues at hand. Or, one of your employees might have the answer to the problem but is too afraid to speak up.
Training your staff in public speaking will give them the tools to handle themselves better in meetings. Not just with colleagues but also with clients. They will learn not only how to speak clearly, but also how to argue their point in a calm and collected manner, leading to fewer disagreements and more time on topic.
Scheduling
Learning to keep your workloads manageable and on track is a skill in itself. Scheduling how and when you approach various tasks can mean the difference between a relaxed working environment and one where you find yourself constantly working up to deadlines.
And the same goes for meetings – learning to prioritise topics can be vital in meetings. If your staff are better organised, they’ll come into meetings knowing what needs to be tackled that week.
Also, knowing what needs to be done and when, can help them keep things brief and on topic, instead of constantly bringing in non-work related subjects or going over and over the same point.
Group psychology
How we work with our colleagues often comes to a head in meetings, one of the few times when everyone’s in the same room focussed on the same topic.
Learning how group psychology works can help people in meetings to spot issues and deal with them before they get out of hand.
For example, you could notice the subtle signals that the room is getting bored or someone wants to speak but is being blocked by others.
By knowing what people in the meeting are aiming for, you can resolve issues faster.
Posted by Ashleigh Sharp
