Have you faced a situation when you join a meeting with your teams, and you don't know what's going on? You are unable to follow what other meeting attendees are discussing. Rather than an active participant, you are just a silent watcher. Well, that is not a good thing. In the meetings with stakeholders, if you participate well - it will give you lot of visibility. Most of the companies are having hybrid work, some companies still continuing WFH. The meeting or online connect becomes the only way to have a discussion with the stakeholder. If you are able to drive the meeting well, then that will definitely have a positive outcome in your career.
Below are some steps which I follow to drive meetings, and these has resulted quite well for me :)
Managing a meeting is a three steps process -
- Before the meeting: Before the meeting you need to prepare for the meeting. Below steps will help you to prepare well for the meeting -
- Defining the agenda - Be clear on the agenda of the meeting. If the meeting is scheduled by you, then everyone expect you to drive the discussion and close out all the open items. If you are joining to a meeting, then it is a great platform to catch the limelight on yourself. If you are the host, prepare an agenda and if possible, please share the agenda before meeting. It might help other to prepare before the meeting.
- Preparing documents for the meeting - To make the meeting more structured, it is suggested that you prepare some document which can be screen shared during the meeting. People understand more when they see things in front of their eye. PPT, Excel, Word, diagram - think what is needed for the meeting, prepare the same. For example - if you are about to discuss the timeline and milestone for a project, use timeline diagram where all the entities are mentioned.
- Preparation and Preparation: Please note that, there is no harm in doing the preparation of the meeting. It gives lot of confidence and energy if you are prepared for a meeting. You will face lot of questions from the stakeholders during the meeting. If you are prepared, you will be able to handle all the scenario. So do your research before you join a meeting.
2. During the meeting -
- Make notes: This is very important that you make notes during the meeting. You might have a good memory, but to remember easily and for future reference, it is suggested that you make notes. It will also help you to prepare the MOM.
- Ask Questions: Ask questions to the stakeholder if you are not clear on any item. There is no shame in asking the same question twice. It is better to clarify doubts rather than assuming.
Include all participants during the discussion: To make the meeting objective successful, it is important that all the participants join in the discussion. Sometimes you will see that some participants are silent, please give them chance to speak up.
Keep ready all the supporting documents during the meeting, you will save time to search for specific document.
3. After the meeting:
After the meeting there are two major action items to follow -
- MOM - Don't forget to send out the minutes of meeting along with the action items/ next steps. The way you write the MOM, defines how you understood about the meeting. It is suggested to maintain a template for sending out the MOM which is easily readable. Highlight the important task/names/action items/next steps/risk/dependency etc.
- Follow up with the stakeholders on the action items - MOM is a great storage of information and it helps a lot to remember whom to follow up for the updates. Do follow up.
Comment to let me know if I missed out any important point here. Your suggestion is highly appreciated. Happy learning.
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