Brian Tracy on running meetings that don't waste time: state the purpose upfront, set a hard end time and stick to it, start on time without waiting for stragglers, and move through problems by laying out facts, then alternatives, then deciding.
Hello, I'm Brian Tracy. Meetings are an essential part of the life of every organization, and your ability to run effective meetings with your management skills is a critical part of your success in meeting management as a leader. There are a series of things I recommend that you keep in the back of your mind. One of the most important tasks you need to do to improve your management skills and hold more effective meetings is is to begin with an outline of the purpose of the meeting in the first place. When everyone sits down for the meeting, you say, we're holding this meeting today to accomplish these goals and objectives. The opening five to seven minutes in any meeting is the most important component to conducting more effective meetings. It sets the foundation, it establishes the parameters, it organizes the terms of reference, and it tells everybody in the room why they are there for how long and what they need to accomplish. I also recommend that you write out your introduction word for word and read it out. This clarity will allow a person who doesn't know you or the situation coming in to get right up to speed at the start. And by the way, if you can't write out a brief description of the purpose of the meeting, it means perhaps you don't know what it is. Improve your management skills during a meeting by being both specific and punctual with the timing. Be sure to announce the duration of the meeting in advance. This should also be printed at the top of your agenda, but you want to restate it in your introduction. Begin right on time. Don't penalize the people who were not there on time by waiting for others who are late. The rule is assume that the late comer is not coming at all and get right on with the meeting. This helped me so much when I first learned this. If someone comes in late and finds out they've missed important information, refuse to start over for them. They will eventually get the message and they'll be more punctual and they'll help you improve your management skills in a respectable manner. Many companies have a policy where if a meeting is called for 10:00am they lock the doors from the inside at 10:01. You only have to do that once to get people to be on time next time. Now, if you're there to solve a problem, you say, we are here to talk about this problem and come to a decision and a conclusion and a resolution. Here are the facts of the problem, here's the information that we have. Here are the alternatives we've considered, and here's our market intelligence or knowledge about the situation. Now what do we do from here. Thank you for viewing this video on Meeting Management Tips for Success. If you enjoyed this video, please press the like button below and click on the link on the screen to subscribe to my YouTube channel.
