Focus on – Making Meetings Better

Meetings: Love them or hate them, they’re a part of business life. And they take up a lot of time. Often more time than they should.

We’ve probably all attended meetings and left with questions like:

These experiences are reflected in one of only three live action training videos we made – The Ineffective Meeting. (The problem with live action is that, even though the learning remains valid, they can become dated just because of changing fashions.) 

Hopefully this one has a few years left in it because it provides a stark (but humorous) reminder of why meetings are so often ineffective. If you’re a member, why not watch it and, as you do, mark a piece of paper for every mistake you’ve witnessed in real life. The late arrivals, the lack of agenda, the late start, the unknown finish time – the list goes on and on. 

The film, supported by comprehensive trainer’s notes, highlights and explores some of the golden rules for effective meetings, which include:

“I have completed this exercise with two groups of 10 managers over the last 6 months and both times the response from the delegates has been tremendous. Very quickly they were able to identify their weaknesses and what improvements they needed to make. There were a few embarrassed giggles at times as the video was a bit too close to home for some of them!!”

Of course, Trainers’ Library has lots of other materials that will help develop your participants’ skills and ensure future meetings are more effective and productive.

Meeting Costs, Calculating the Real Costs of Meetings is an icebreaker that provides a great place to start. Because when people see the true cost of meetings, they can be motivated to use that spend more wisely. 

A is for Apple, introduces the acronym Aims, Preparation, People, Leadership, Environment as a planning tool for meetings. 

The Pets Meeting is a fun story-based module that looks at the skills needed to chair and facilitate meetings. A group of animals, each displaying common workplace behaviours have a meeting that is anything but productive. Participants explore how effective facilitation could completely change that outcome. 

Town Centre Street Names (as well as team building games like Murder at Glasstap Grange and Island of Opportunity) provide participants a safe opportunity to work together and have an effective meeting.

Preparing for a Successful Meeting also taps into the APPLE acronym whilst Running a Meeting introduces the two ‘P’s of meeting management – Process and People. 

Both include worksheets and activities that encourage participants to reflect on the learning and apply it to their own workplace.

So, if you’re a Trainers’ Library member, why not check out some of these resources if you’re not already familiar with them. And, if you’re not yet a Trainers’ Library member and would like to know more about these or any other modules, get in touch – we’d love to show you round.

Until next time...