Q: Once a week, I like having all my employees come together for a staff meeting so everyone knows what’s going on. Over time, however, these meetings have been getting longer and longer –eliciting grumbling from some employees.  I know I must change the way I run these, so what can I do to have shorter meetings yet have all my staff feel included and informed?

When trying to trouble-shoot why a regularly scheduled meeting has become unwieldy, it always helps to go back to basics: What is the purpose of the meeting?

Is it to convey information, to solicit information, to make decisions as a group, to brainstorm, to seek input, to gain support, to plan, to prepare, to motivate, to build teamwork, to recognize accomplishments, to outline a project, to assign activities?

If you’re trying to do too many (or all) of the above, then you might be asking too much from your weekly meeting. This is a common ailment of many regularly scheduled meetings: they become the catch-all for widely different purposes. The result? Meetings become larger, longer (to accommodate more topics) and more irrelevant to individual participants. No wonder a 2012 survey by Salary.com found employees rated meetings as the No. 1 productivity killer.

So if one meeting can’t do it all, what should you do?

First, make sure you practice good “meeting fundamentals” such as: email agenda 24hrs prior, come prepared, set meeting ground rules, no side conversations/comments, no smartphones, stay on topic, start and stop on time.

Then consider changing the structure of the meeting so that you have a match between participants and purpose. For example, if you want “everyone to know what’s going on” start out with a 10-minute lightning round of information exchange (important deadlines, big client visit, a key player is on vacation, administrative announcements). Then those participants who were there for that purpose are free to go. Those who need to make decisions, brainstorm or update projects can stay or even break-out into smaller meetings. You get the gist.

Staff meetings don’t have to include everyone for the full duration to be inclusive. Mix and match to your purpose.

© Copyright Eva Del Rio