Behind Closed Doors

Technique: Run Effective Meetings

General Meeting Tips

Meetings can be an effective way to accomplish group work. But meetings have a bad reputation, largely because there are so many bad meetings. It doesn’t have to be that way. Most companies could realize significant productivity gains—without fancy methodologies and high-priced consultants—if they put only a little effort into improving their meetings.

Figure 17, ​Meeting organization template​ shows our template for organizing a meeting.

Each Role in the figure describes how people may participate. You may require a facilitator, a moderator, a scribe, or a timekeeper. If you will be requesting that people serve specific roles, this is where you define them.

Figure 17. Meeting organization ...