Are You Struggling to Build a More Productive Meetings Culture?

We all hate them. We all need them.

Why is it so damn difficult to conduct a productive one, where people remain energized, develop ideas, have open, critical and productive discussions, create applicable outputs, etc.? Of course, you already know what I am talking about. Meetings. Just like everyone else, I feel that I not only had my share, but also your share, her share, his share –  I actually have had way too many… just like all of us do during these days.

This is terrible. Even before the pandemic and the spike in calls, meetings were considered as one of the worse level purgatories as described in Dante’s divine comedy. The only catch is that there is no spiritual growth associated with the end of a meeting, just mere, and very pure relief.

Online and remote work did not help but worsened the situation. So, what to do? Well, we all read the theory on how to design and conduct useful, fun meetings. But there is always this tiny annoying difference between theory and practice.

And at enpact, we were fed up with this. The team was fed up. And the management was fed up, too. The good news is, that we jointly developed our own best practices guidelines on how we want to conduct meetings as a team, put together with the input of 50+ employees from different cultures, countries and backgrounds.

The even better news is, that we’d now like to share it with you.

While we certainly have not yet reached a 100% compliance to our own set standards, the frequency, punctuality, and actual quality of our meetings already increased significantly. And, come on, Rome was not built on one day, either. This is our reminder that it takes time to get everything right – but the important part is that you have to start somewhere.

So, please go and check it out, test it if you want in your own setting and – most of all – give us feedback!

Here’s a sneak peak with our top 8 tips for more productive meetings: 

1. Have meetings only when they are really necessary.

2. Before scheduling a meeting, decide on the purpose & format of it.

3. An efficient meeting is a meeting well prepared.

4. Assign specific roles for your meeting attendees, so everyone knows how to prepare.

5. Use people’s time respectfully by setting appropriate timing and duration for a meeting.

6. Give yourself and others the chance to plan for meeting-free time. (We do meetings-free Friday!)

7. Collect feedback to know how the meeting went and always thank participants for their time!

8. Clarify with the attendees how you will follow-up the meeting.

To learn more about how we created the guidelines, and a detailed plan on how you can turn the above tips into actionable steps in your organization, download the full guide through the link below. Hint: This guide works for any type of organization or startup, but will be especially useful if you have an international team across different timezones.

Download enpact’s best practice guide for conducting effective meetings!