Strategic Meetings Management Key to Leading a Successful Meeting

Have you ever heard your working friend complaining about attending a meeting to set goals for another meeting? And now, it is your responsibility for leading a successful meeting but don’t know how exactly?
Strategic planning or meetings management refers to the idea of deriving maximum benefit from a set meeting. It is necessary in order to not miss out on any crucial point and addressing the key areas that need the individuals’ attention. A planned meeting, thus, includes pointing out errors, coming up with solutions, setting goals, and preparing an action plan.
A meeting never begins when it has been set. In fact most productive meetings begin way before their proposed time. Be it one-to-one, internal team, inter-teams, or clients meetings… an agenda must be defined. This is why you must prepare and strategize for them beforehand.

BUT WHY???
Meetings aren’t just open discussions with members you want to invite, they are much more than that. A productive meeting sets everyone’s focus to an organization’s goals or the goals of the team. However, it is not the only reason.

You can also achieve:

• Timely feedback from the teammembers/clients/stakeholders involved
• Progress status update of all the individuals in the meeting
• Setting up future targets and goals
• Solutions to the on-going challenges
• Identifying the priorities

Setting timelines for the pending tasks
…And the list goes on.

WHO NEEDS TO BE INCLUDED?

The answer to this is quite simple and depends on the outcome of the meeting you want to have. For review meetings it must include the individuals who need to get feedback on their tasks. For setting future goals or support required, it must include individuals who will put the proposed ideas to action. Further, for client meetings, it must include clients, individuals who are in contact with the clients, and the ones who will act as the representatives from both sides.
It must be remembered that along with the planning, individuals involved are also part of the strategies to hold effective meetings.

WHEN AND WHERE SHOULD YOU BEGIN FROM?

The way to define a strategic meeting management agenda begins from an individual spot. It is possible that you might not need to bring people together yet, And in those cases, even the planned meetings with the right individuals can turn out to be fruitless.
So, you must begin with:

• Defining your vision
• Evaluating your place and progress
• Identifying the missing points and whether they hold importance for your current priorities
• Assessing the actions need to be taken along with the individuals who can help

Finalizing whether it needs a proper meeting or it could be assigned directly

If the tasks are complex and must require everyone’s presence, then only one should initiate the meeting plan. In case, the things can be handled on a personal level, one must avoid unnecessary hassle.

HOW TO ENSURE A STRATEGIC MEETING’S SUCCESS?

We also fancy some tips or steps to move forward with, don’t we?
Well, we got you covered.
To fortify your goals for the meeting, you must first prepare a solid strategy for meeting management to ascertain the success. Let’s go through these steps one-by-one.

1. Start with the agenda:
   A strategic planning meeting management agenda is the first in line when it comes to set-up a meeting. Without it, there is no purpose and direction to follow and so, that should be the first step to hold effective meetings.
2. Ensure that the individuals are clear about it:
   Not just you, but all the individuals involved in the meeting must be aware of the meeting agenda. They must be on the same page in order to achieve maximum output from the meeting.
3. Address the issues and challenges of all:
   Leading a successful meeting should be one of the foremost goals. This means addressing the issues and challenges. Every individual must be asked to share their concerns as it will also ensure 100% participation.
4. Take up ideas from the attendees:
   Once the problems are identified, the next step should be brainstorming the ideas to overcome those. Make sure you are getting ideas from everyone because you never know what can fit the requirements.
5. Set up individual as well as team goals:
   Next is dividing the planned tasks among the individuals. Clarify the expectations from individuals as well as the team as a whole to avoid ambiguity. This leads to putting the ideas into actions.
6. Document the minutes:
   Last, but most important, prepare MoMs for the discussions. This can help you track the progress of the activities after the meeting.

Productive meetings, thus, begin way earlier than the time when individuals gather together. It may be tiring to have a meeting before a meeting, but it can save the time of having a meeting after the meeting. You know if you know…
However, if the planning gets too overwhelming, use the expert tips to avoid burnout at work.

Written by – Priyanka Rampal

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