Sorgenfrei ApS’ Post

How to chair a meeting

Jamais Vu Meetings You've probably heard of "déjà vu," the feeling of experiencing something familiar that you're sure you've never experienced before. But have you heard of "jamais vu"? In corporate circles, this term refers to meetings where attendees, despite discussing important matters, leave with no clear memory of what was actually accomplished. It's a reminder to ensure meetings are purposeful, action-oriented, and truly add value. #knowledgesharing

**Effective Meetings** Meetings are an essential part of any organization, but they can often be unproductive and uninspiring. However, by incorporating the concept of oscillations, we can make meetings more effective and inspiring. **Oscillations in Meetings** When we think of oscillations in meetings, we can consider the following: * **Frequency of Meetings**: How often do we meet, and what is the optimal frequency for our team? * **Duration of Meetings**: How long do our meetings last, and what is the optimal duration for our team? * **Tone of Meetings**: What is the tone of our meetings, and how can we create a more positive and productive tone? * **Participation in Meetings**: How can we encourage more participation and engagement from team members during meetings? **Inspiring Meetings** To make meetings more inspiring, we can consider the following: * **Clear Objectives**: What are the clear objectives of our meetings, and how can we ensure that everyone is aligned and focused? * **Creative Agenda**: How can we create a more creative and engaging agenda for our meetings? * **Interactive Elements**: How can we incorporate more interactive elements into our meetings, such as group discussions, brainstorming sessions, and hands-on activities? * **Follow-up Actions**: How can we ensure that we follow up on actions and decisions made during meetings? **Good Meetings** * **Preparation**: How can we prepare for meetings to ensure that we are focused and productive? * **Active Listening**: How can we practice active listening during meetings to ensure that we are fully engaged and present? * **Clear Communication**: How can we communicate clearly and effectively during meetings to ensure that everyone is on the same page? * **Follow-up**: How can we follow up on meetings to ensure that we are implementing the decisions and actions discussed? By incorporating these concepts into our meetings, we can make them more effective, inspiring, and productive. **Example of an Effective Meeting** * **Frequency**: The team meets once a week for 60 minutes. * **Duration**: The meeting is divided into three segments: 20 minutes for updates, 20 minutes for discussion, and 20 minutes for action items. * **Tone**: The tone of the meeting is positive and productive, with a focus on collaboration and teamwork. * **Participation**: All team members are encouraged to participate and engage in the discussion. **Example of an Inspiring Meeting** * **Clear Objectives**: The objective of the meeting is to brainstorm new ideas for a project. * **Creative Agenda**: The agenda includes a creative brainstorming session, followed by a group discussion and action items. * **Interactive Elements**: The meeting includes interactive elements, such as a group brainstorming session and a hands-on activity. * **Follow-up Actions**: The team follows up on the actions and decisions made during the meeting.

Ineffective meetings are a waste of resources. When you must have a meeting, implement these suggestions to stay on track and make the most of everyone's time and the company's dime. #bestadvice #meetings #timemanagement #productivity #business #entrepreneurship #success #achieveabettertmoorrow

There are different ways you can prepare for meetings depending on DiSC profiles. This can vary from keeping the meeting high pace to sticking to time or allowing time for them to listen and to ask lots of questions. Read more about these differences in my latest blog. 

To keep everyone on track during meetings the following are things I try to incorporate, here are those few things… First, set a clear agenda and share it with everyone beforehand. During the meeting, stick to the agenda and encourage participants to stay focused on the topics at hand. I also assign a facilitator or timekeeper to help keep things on track and ensure everyone has a chance to speak. And finally I don't forget to politely redirect the conversation if it starts to veer off topic. I hope my insights have been helpful!!! Cheers!

Thoughts on making meetings effective: 1 / Preparation. Sett clear objectives and ensure that all participants are ready to contribute meaningfully. 2 / Participation. Active participation from all attendees. If you can't contribute, leave. 3 / Efficiency. Avoid unnecessary elaboration and stay focused on the main points. 4 / Clear Objectives. Clear agenda and objectives. The aim is to transform meetings from being time wastage into valuable opportunities for collaboration and decision-making. Thoughtss???

I am finding that some of our candidates and clients are talking a lot more about the type, quality and feelings that they have about the meetings in their organisations. It seems that although meetings have been around since the beginning of time, not every participant has mastered the art of running of participating in a good meeting. I found this article was a good reminder for me of the keys to successful meetings. One of the interesting points is that teams that are together for longer often are better when it comes to getting outcomes from meetings.

Building on my earlier posts regarding effective meetings, here is a great video from the Harvard Business Review on how to speak up at meetings, being strategic about it, and when you should hold back.

Meetings can easily go to waste. Great discussions, beautiful ideas, excitement at future possibilities, but if the meeting is concluded without a proper mapping of who is doing what and when, you will find that the meeting just ended as a meeting, without more. At a time when TIME is such a valuable commodity, make sure you have productive meetings. Meetings are productive when discussions are put into action. Discussions are put into action when tasks are assigned to different individuals and supervised to fulfilment. 👌