Meetings are notorious for being unproductive, costly and a waste of time. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of truth to this reputation. For some businesses, however, meetings are an essential way to share ideas, inspire staff and map out the direction your company hopes to take. Corporate House offer conference rooms for Brisbane and the Gold Coast designed to facilitate productive meetings, but we’d also like to share some hints to keep your meetings from falling into the ‘unproductive’ category.
Length
The more you talk about work, the less work you actually do. As such, meetings need to be on topic and on time. Strictly adhere to the allocated time and be punctual. Securing regular or one-off access to a conference venue in Brisbane or the Gold Coast facilitates this better use of time. A permanent meeting space encourages meetings that drag on, while the fixed time slot of a hired space ensures everyone knows that there is a definite finishing time and are mindful of making the most of the time they do have.
Encourage dissent
It may seem a harsh truth, but meetings are all too often full of back patting and staff simply reaffirming one another. This may seem like cooperation but in reality, this is not the best way to get useful outcomes from your time spent in a conference venue in Brisbane or the Gold Coast. Critical thinking and challenging one another’s ideas is crucial to finding the best solutions to challenges. Of course this should never take the form of personal attacks, but it should foster debate and stimulate ideas.
Preparation
A major cause of less than productive meetings is ill prepared staff members. Give your staff ample warning and an outline describing what will be covered in the meeting. That way, they should come to the conference rooms in Brisbane and the Gold Coast with valuable ideas and solutions.
Minutes
It may seem old-fashioned, but meeting minutes can be extremely useful. Various people may remember what was discussed and what the outcomes were in vastly divergent ways. If minutes are taken, you will hopefully have an accurate record of what was discussed and decided, what needs to be done and who is responsible for getting it done. Later, you can send the document to everyone who was present at the conference venue in Brisbane or the Gold Coast, to ensure clarity of purpose.
Meetings needn’t be a waste of time and energy – quite the opposite in the fact. If you organise them well and have some structures in place, you might just engage your staff and encourage them to make worthwhile contributions, and your business will grow as a result.