The Sunday Mail
A MEETING by definition is a gathering designed to bring people together to discuss issues, improve communication, promote co-ordination or to deal with any matters that are put on the agenda, especially to help get the job done.
For any meeting to be successful it needs the support of the group involved or the organisation behind it, and it must have the intention of achieving some goal or objective.
From the definition it is clear that the purpose is to get the job done.
Is it wise to spend an awfully inordinate amount of time on meetings whose outcomes are not actioned at the end of the day?
Well, the sad reality is that, that is what happens most of the time.
A research by David McCafferty of Baseline, a United States of America-based company, indicates that half of employees consider meetings to be a waste of time as they consume nearly 37 percent of their day. I wonder what the statistics for Zimbabwe would be like.
Do not get me wrong, it is very necessary to have business meetings time and again, but do we understand the purpose of having these meetings?
What must be done in order to have a good meeting? And after the meeting, do we achieve the results that we set for ourselves?
To start with, a clear agenda should be laid out and given to people who will attend the meeting. The agenda should be shared at least a few days before the meeting.
Those participating have to be notified way in advance.
During the meeting, minutes should always be written and action points well noted.
If you have meetings and do not keep minutes, then I would argue that you are wasting your time.
Regardless of how small your business is, always keep minutes. Also ensure there is proper filing of these minutes for future reference. A good meeting should always result in action being taken.
Before the next meeting starts, always highlight points from the last meeting.
Keeping minutes always assists decision makers to identify sticky matters in their business. If an issue has been discussed for a long period of time without action, then it means that issue is surely a major concern to the business, or simply someone is not doing his or her job well enough to address that particular situation.
There should also be an attendance register signed by everyone who attends the meeting. Audit practitioners call these internal control measures.
Do not underestimate the power of a well-organised meeting.
Always stick to the agenda and try not to bore people as they may lose focus. Stick to the agreed timelines in every meeting. The longer it gets, the more people lose focus and at the end they start discussing irrelevant issues that will not be on the agenda.
Meetings are used to solve a lot of issues, from disputes, business performance reviews and planning. Because meetings are very important, they must be taken seriously and done timeously.
It is pointless to have meetings over and over again without actually achieving the desired results.
Businesses should shun the habit of gathering people all the time to just talk and talk without necessarily walking the talk.
Businesses have to be practical.
What was discussed has to be actioned. It is better to fail after trying than not to act at all.
I also believe failure is not an option. If an issue is raised in a meeting, then one way or the other it has to be resolved.
Now is the time for businesses to look into the minutes gathered from the beginning of the year and assess their current progress.
Did you do what you said you will do and did you achieve all your objectives?
Try also to audit the issues that were raised and not addressed and investigate why that is so.
Was it your fault or someone else did not do his or her job properly? Again, I will repeat, do not enjoy wasting other people’s time with useless meetings.
Always have an agenda and be objective.
To sum up the above, have a clear agenda of the meeting, start the meeting on the agreed time, stick to the agenda, end the meeting on the agreed time, only invite people who are relevant to the meeting, the chairperson should not hesitate to cut a discussion that will be going off course and ensuring that the objective of the meeting is met.
Have you noticed how WhatsApp changes its features time and again? All these changes start with an idea and a meeting is conducted. After the meeting, action is taken.
The results are visible. If your meetings do not achieve tangible results, re-strategise and come up with effective ways to improve your business. Through meetings, companies can either fail or succeed.
It all starts with an idea that must be implemented. If you have ideas only and do not take the ideas into action, then meetings are a waste of time.
The golden rule is to always act after meetings. Always give timelines on when issues raised in the meetings should be addressed.
So, remember, do not just enjoy mineral water, orange crush and biscuits in these meetings without taking any action afterwards.
To understand more on meetings, you can always refer to the Companies Act.
Taurai Changwa is an Articled Accountant ACCA finalist. He is managing director of SAFIC Consultancy. He writes in his personal capacity and can be contacted at [email protected] or visit our facebook page SAFIC Consultancy or whatsapp on 0772374784.
