The One Thing That Will Make Your Meeting Better

Complaints about meetings are common.  Research indicates people consider 1/2 the meetings they attend to be 'mostly or totally unproductive'.   Therefore, if you are in charge of organizing or facilitating a meeting there are a few simples rules to follow, which I'll expand upon in future posts.  But the easy, #1 way you can improve your participant's perception of your meeting is this:

Start the dang meeting on time!

First reason is Time=Money.  A few years back I coached an Executive Director of a larger nonprofit.  The monthly staff meetings always started 10-15 minutes late waiting for her to come in and get things rolling.  I sat her down and tallied up the lost time:  15 minutes x 50 staff x 12 meetings ultimately equals 150 hours of lost time per year!

Nothing says "I do not respect your time' like wasting it by starting 10-15 minutes late. .  Get started, even if all the players aren't there.  It sends a cultural message that you value their time. And here's the most important reason: Your best organized and most enthusiastic people will be there on time.   Delaying the start wastes their talents in favor of those who are less organized and less enthusiastic.  Why favor the weak over the strong?

Get to be known as a person who starts 1:00 meetings at 1:00....not 1:15, 1:10 or even 1:01.  Watch how much more respect you get from those who attend.