The only difference between us griping about Monday and the person behind the lyrics to "Manic Monday" is the pretty penny someone is sitting on for writing an infectious tune that's basically one big complaint.
Fun fact: That person is Prince, and while he may not have to deal with Meeting Mondays anymore, most of us do.
Meetings are a necessary, unavoidable workplace time sync, and as they happen frequently throughout the week, it's no surprise that many employees may find themselves spending nearly half of the 40-hour work week in some sort of conference setting. But how much of that is actually useful?
Try one of these four communication techniques for boosting your meetings' productivity and getting a headstart on your week.
Avoid scheduling meetings for early Monday morning or late Friday afternoon.
Admit it: The last thing you want to do on a Monday morning or a Friday afternoon is respond to an email. And studies show that open rates during these hours are especially low. Apply the same idea to meetings. Most folks play catch up from the weekend during the first few hours of the work week’s official start day, and by the week’s end, many employees have their mind set on putting on weekend warrior mode.
Instead of syncing up with the team first thing on Mondays, try pushing back your meetings closer to lunch time, between 10:30 am and 12 pm. This gives your team a few hours to settle in, get focused, and put together anything they need for the meeting. Also, holding meetings a bit later in the morning allots time for unexpected interruptions or last-minute tasks, like your boss asking you to hop onto a customer call, or a team member getting stuck in Monday traffic.
Create an agenda and stick to it.
There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned plan and schedule to track key action items. Meeting agendas don’t have to be overly detailed, but should outline discussion points based on the ultimate goal you want to achieve during a meeting. An agenda helps avoid frequent tangents that derail the conversation, like bringing up a new topic or spending too much time on one point.
Ashley Cobert breaks it down into three categories:
• The Bounce-Back: If someone moves on to a different topic before one question is answered, acknowledge the new subject, but bring the discussion back to the topic at hand: “That’s definitely an area we need to discuss, but before we do, let’s wrap up our conversation on the seating chart.”• The Parking Lot: This strategy involves keeping a list of topics you want to acknowledge but not discuss at this time. That way, if someone interrupts with something off-topic, you can just say, “That’s a great conversation that deserves its own time. I’ll note it for later, but for now, let’s get back to the event details.” Then write it down to come back to at the end of the meeting (or set a time to talk about it later).• The Time-Keeper: If you find the group spending too much time talking about unrelated things, remind them that you all want to get out of there on time: “Great conversation here, but we only have about 10 minutes left, so let’s be sure to stay on track."
Get up, stand up.
Try having chair-less meetings. Research tells us standing during meetings can lead to more productive, creative results. In the study, two groups were placed into separate rooms, one with a whiteboard and five chairs, and one with a whiteboard and no chairs. The group who conducted a standing-only meeting were more collaborative and less territorial than the other group given the option of sitting.
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If you’re more inclined to sitting, keep meetings level-headed, literally. Physical cues like standing up while the rest of the team sits creates hierarchy between the speaker and group of listeners, which can imply the meeting is more of a lecture, rather than a discussion. Try this: Get rid of the seat at the head of the table, avoid having speakers stand, and keep meeting participants in a position where everyone is eye-level, for the most part. You could also try walk-and-talk meetings – a healthy alternative that’s also said to spark productivity and creativity.
Close meetings with a roundup of action items.
Ever leave a meeting wondering what you actually got done? Before breaking, go around the room and review each team member’s to-do list and steps to reaching the week’s goal, which should be made clear at the start of the meeting. Your team will have a sense of accountability for their tasks and you’ll be able to gauge how each employee will need extra support in order to complete a project. Use questions like, “Tell me how I can help” or “What do you need from me to get this done” to clearly communicate you’ve got their back.
Found a way to make your Mondays not so manic? Share with us how your team brings on their A-game in the comments or tweet us @Entelo!
