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7 Effective Ways To Run a Highly Successful Meeting

How to run a meeting

Regular meetings play a large part in how a team comes together to problem-solve, appreciate one another’s contributions, and make aligned decisions.

However, if a meeting is not run well, it can have lasting effects on employee motivation and productivity.

As leaders of these meetings, it’s important to understand what causes bad meetings, the long-term effects it can have on everyone involved, and how to expertly conduct the discussion in a way that saves time and boosts morale.

What Are The Causes of a Bad Meeting?

When a team has an unproductive meeting, everyone in the room can feel it. The energy is low. Not everyone is engaged or interested in contributing meaningfully to the discussion. And as a result, it’s unclear whether the group came to a resolution. There are a number of reasons why meetings can become ineffective and a drain on valuable time and energy. According to SHRM.org, here are the most common meeting problems for employees.

  • Starting or ending late – Starting a meeting late, or ending well after the allotted time, can set the tone for the rest of the meeting. Most people leave the conversation feeling like their time wasn’t respected.
  • Unnecessary meetings – These are the meetings that could have been handled in an email or in separate conversations with the right people instead of unnecessarily pulling together the entire team.
  • Too much time, not enough time – Understanding the purpose of the meeting is important in deciding how much time is needed to get efficient results.
  • Employees appear distracted – This is a sign that some members of the team are not being engaged enough by the conductor of the meeting and are openly distracted by whatever else is around them.
  • Employees interrupt each other – These are behaviors as a result of a poorly run meeting that eventually leads to tense arguments and awkward silences.
  • Not sticking to an agenda or no agenda – A disorganized meeting makes everyone question the very purpose behind the conversation and why they’re even included in the first place.
  • Employee/Facilitator not prepared – This makes a meeting appear sloppy, hastily put together, and unimportant.

Bad Meeting

What Are The Consequences of a Poorly Run Meeting?

Running an effective meeting means more than just keeping people focused on the topic. It’s about fostering the growth of an employee so they can fully step into their role and feel like a valued member of the team. Ultimately, it’s a key piece of the company’s culture.

But if the group is not set up for success, having consistently bad meetings can produce consequences that affect the individual, team, and even leadership.

Let’s take a look at the consequences of badly run meetings:

  • Less time devoted to important tasks – More time is spent being in meetings rather than on actual work tasks, which can create a backlog on critical assignments.
  • Disrupts workflow and concentration – Unnecessary meetings can break concentration and reduce productivity as a result of constant task switching. In fact, Meeting Recovery Syndrome refers to the period that employees need to mentally recover from a bad meeting.
  • Increases burnout and frustration– Back-to-back meetings — especially with most of the world transitioning to a largely remote capacity — can lead to increased stress and exhaustion amongst participants, especially if the goals of the meetings are unclear and remain unresolved (Source: CNBC.com).
  • Reveals dysfunction – Bad meetings can be a symptom of deeper issues within the company and its culture as it can be made abundantly clear who is doing more, who is doing less, etc. which creates feelings of resentment amongst the staff (Source: Forbes).
  • Wastes money – On average, the U.S. spends about $37 billion on salary costs for unnecessary meetings (Source: Atlassian.com). This affects a company’s bottom line and its ability to have continued success.

7 Ways To Improve the Way We Run Our Meetings

Now that we understand how poorly run meetings can have a major impact on a company’s culture, work output, and employee morale, let’s dive into some of the most compelling methods that can help turn a bad meeting into one that engages and motivates.

Tip #1 To Run a Meeting Effectively: Know The Purpose of Your Meeting

Know The Purpose of Your Meeting

A meeting has to have a single objective in mind, and the way towards this destination must be clear for everyone who is expected to contribute to the discussion. One of the best ways to plan a meeting is to first understand the difference between a meeting’s topic vs. its purpose.

According to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, a topic is defined as “the subject of a discourse.” Whereas the definition of a purpose is “something set up as an object or end to be attained.”

So, when we apply this to our internal meetings, we need to identify:

  • What is the topic of discussion? For example, “Weekly check-in meeting” or “Discuss new workflow process.” As topics, these titles work just fine, but for the purpose of the meeting, they’re considerably vague. Your team is going to want more detail than just the name of the topic in order to be better prepared.
  • What is the purpose of the meeting? The more specific we are with the end goal, the easier it will be to form an effective agenda. Using our prior example with “weekly check-in meetings”, the purpose of these particular meetings would be to come up with resolutions for each identified problem that employees find during the workweek.

Tip #2 To Run a Meeting Effectively: Remove Ambiguity

63% of meetings are still conducted without an agenda (Source: ReadyTalk.com). This means that most people come unprepared to their meetings and are unable to participate effectively. In order to run an efficient meeting, create a plan that paves the path towards the end goal. Putting together an agenda is a great way to set expectations and provides an opportunity to get ready for the discussion in advance.

According to the HR Daily Advisor, an agenda is critical for meetings as it avoids being an extra cost to a company’s resources when participants show up unprepared.

Remove Ambiguity

Agendas are beneficial for a few other key reasons:

  • Saves valuable time
  • Keeps everyone focused
  • Gets the right people in the room
  • Increases productivity
  • Reminds the conductor of what else needs to be covered with the team

If the agenda is framed in questions, this could help zero in on who really needs to be there and what answers are needed.

After an agenda is created, circulate the materials a few days before the meeting to all the relevant individuals who are considered mandatory participants. Give them ample time to review the contents and ask any clarifying questions. This will also give the key players time to contribute to the agenda, leading to well-rounded and thoughtful talking points.

Tip #3 To Run a Meeting Effectively: Assign roles

Everyone should have a role. Not only does this ensure that everyone is actively engaged, but it also improves the dynamic of the meeting so that the entire team can get through the agenda in a timely manner.

There are four critical roles that should be present in every meeting:

  • The Timekeeper – In this role, the Timekeeper will make sure that each action item is discussed within an allotted amount of time to keep the meeting going at a good pace. The leader of the meeting may be too busy facilitating to keep track of time.
  • The Notetaker – Someone on the team should be dedicated to taking notes so that everyone can contribute without having to worry about missing any crucial details. Any conclusions or next steps as a result of the discussion will be routed to everyone at the end.
  • The Participant(s) – These are the individuals presenting their expertise on the subject and any important insights that help the team arrive at a decision.
  • The Leader – The leader is the facilitator and ensures that everyone is heard and has had a chance to speak and voice their thoughts. This role will also reiterate key points and conclude the meeting with clear next steps.

In order to get a better picture of how to run the meeting and get the best outcome, it’s important to know your team and their individual strengths.

Tip #4 To Run a meeting Effectively: Be a Good Host and Lead With Purpose

Be a Good Host and Lead With Purpose

Because meetings are such an integral part of the workplace — on average 62 meetings are attended per month by most employees — it’s no wonder that bad meetings can have a significant impact on employee morale! (Source: Atlassian.com)

We strive to nurture an employee culture of compassion, respect, and honesty, yet we also want to cultivate a high-performing team that is solution-focused. This means that the way we run meetings must also reflect these values.

As the facilitator of the meeting, it’s your job to help everyone feel welcomed and appreciated from the beginning.

Once you have created an encouraging atmosphere, you can then establish clear rules and expectations for the rest of the meeting:

  • State the purpose
  • Do a quick, high-level overview of the agenda
  • Be clear with the outcome that needs to be achieved
  • Address how questions will be answered (whether that’d be at the end or throughout the meeting)

It’s also important to keep in mind that “COVID fatigue” has affected a large amount of the workforce. Virtual meetings have increased dramatically since the start of the pandemic. And as many companies consider a full transition into a fully virtual or hybrid workforce, “Zoom fatigue” can be a real issue as more people are left feeling even more exhausted and irritated than ever before.

Running a meeting during a pandemic means understanding that the participants will be experiencing a heavier cognitive load, according to Stanford News. They’ll be occupied with things that are normally absent during in-person meetings:

  • Focusing on what they look like while they video conference
  • Making more effort with nonverbal cues to communicate that you agree/disagree with something
  • Misinterpreting nonverbal cues
  • Staying in the same spot so that they’re centered in the video frame
  • Trouble identifying where to look on the screen

While we still have many challenges to tackle when it comes to our virtual meetings, we can use this as an opportunity to practice leading with compassion and keeping the meetings concise.

Tip #5 To Run a Meeting Effectively: Make Timekeeping a Priority.

Timekeeping

Start and end a meeting on time. Every meeting may have a few stragglers, but that doesn’t mean the meeting should be held until they arrive or waste precious time trying to catch everyone up on what they’ve missed.

This can be detrimental to the productivity of the group as it’s already off to a bad start or needs to be constantly interrupted.

Instead, plan to dedicate the first few minutes to an activity such as an ice-breaker or informal check-in so that everyone has a chance to speak and loosen up before they dive into the essence of the agenda. This will also provide a window for late-comers to settle in without missing vital information.

To save time as the meeting progresses, any off-topic items or questions that come up can be sidelined. Acknowledge that it’s an essential point to go over and will be evaluated for discussion at the next meeting.

End the meeting at its scheduled time by letting everyone know that you want to respect the time they reserved for this discussion and recap any conclusions. If you can even end the meeting early, the better!

Tip #6 To Run a Meeting Effectively: Conclude With Next Steps or a Clear Decision

As the meeting draws to a close, it’s important to open up the floor to the team:

  • How is everyone feeling about the resolution or proposed next steps?
  • Do they have any final questions or comments?

More than 35% of employees feel like they have nothing to show after wasting at least 2 to 5 hours in meetings per day, according to Otter.ai.

Use the last few minutes of the meeting as a way to optimize the entire time by clarifying key takeaways, responsibilities, action items, and what will follow afterward.

The goal is to have the team leave the meeting feeling accomplished and clear on the next steps.

Tip #7 To Run a Meeting Effectively: Evaluate Meetings

Evaluate Meetings

Gathering feedback on meetings is another way to intentionally include your team and gain valuable insight into how they’re going.

This is an opportunity to get a temperature check on what’s going well, what isn’t working, and what could be improved to fix any gaps in communication. The key here is to not take any criticism personally. It’s not a reflection of your abilities as a host or as a leader.

Based on their thoughts, you can then try new and creative ways of engaging the team, being clearer with your expectations, and refining your methods to run efficient meetings.

In Conclusion

Learning how to run a meeting is an essential skill that can foster an environment of high-performers within an organization. If not conducted well, it can have serious repercussions on productivity and motivation.

Using these tips that we’ve given you here, you can begin to assess the way you currently run your own meetings and implement new strategies to hone your processes…and grow the company with positive and focused momentum.

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7 Super-Effective Ways to Boost Employee Morale

Boost Employee Morale

The happier your employees are, the more efficiently your business will operate–which is why employee morale is a topic worth taking seriously.

In this blog post, we’ll delve deeper into why that is and share 7 highly-effective methods to boost employee morale at your workplace. But before we do, let’s first clarify what employee morale actually is.

What Is Employee Morale?

Employee morale can be defined as “the overall satisfaction, outlook, and feelings of well-being that an employee holds in the workplace.”

At an organization where employees enjoy their jobs, support the company’s mission, and appreciate the corporate culture, employee morale is said to be high. By contrast, when employees feel mistreated, undervalued, or overworked, employee morale is often low.

Why Is Employee Morale Important?

Employee morale has a huge impact on numerous corporate goals, like profitability, productivity, and competitiveness. For instance, take a look at some of the ways employee morale affects the workplace:

For instance, take a look at some of the ways employee morale affects the workplace:

  • Work Quality – Work quality deteriorates when employee morale is low. In fact, according to the Journal of Applied Business Research, “engaged employees make fewer mistakes than disengaged employees because they want to ensure a job well done. They pay more attention to details and work with a greater sense of accuracy.”
  • Customer Experience – Great customer service helps to build brand loyalty. By contrast, disengaged or rude employees anger customers–who will often take their complaints to social media. When employee morale is low, employees are more likely to provide bad customer service–undermining all the efforts a company puts into attracting those customers in the first place.
  • Productivity – Unhappy employees are less engaged at work … and subsequently, get a lot less done. So much so that one Gallup report estimated that disengaged employees cost US businesses as much as $550 billion a year from lost productivity. By comparison, companies with engaged workers have 17% higher productivity and 41% lower absenteeism.
  • Employee Retention – Low employee morale is linked to higher turnover–which can be incredibly expensive for employers. For instance, according to Organization Science, the estimated cost of losing an $8/hour retail employee ranges between $3,500 and $25,000, due to hiring expenses, training labor, lost sales, and productivity. Worse, high turnover lowers employee morale even more–as overworked employees are forced to work harder to make up for a smaller or untrained workforce.
  • Profitability – Higher employee morale translates into greater profitability. For instance, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) found that companies with the highest employee engagement and happiness rankings earned at least double the amount of revenue as companies with the lowest employee engagement rates.Furthermore, companies with employee engagement programs report a whopping 223% greater customer loyalty and 26% higher increases in annual revenue.

What Causes Low Employee Morale?

There are a number of factors that can contribute to low employee morale. According to the HR Daily Advisor, the top 10 causes of low employee morale are:
Low Employee Morale

  • Employee Mistreatment – When employees feel disrespected or mistreated by their managers, understandably, morale plummets.
  • Constantly Changing Goals – Employees get frustrated when employers change goals so frequently that new ones contradict past ones. Worse, not only do frequently changing goals create confusion, but they can also make previous work obsolete.
  • Unclear Expectations – When employees don’t know what’s expected of them–or the criteria they’re being judged against–it’s natural for them to feel discouraged.
  • Lack of Communication – Nobody enjoys being kept in the dark. Worse, a lack of communication provides an opportunity for workplace gossip to run rampant … which is why companies that fail to keep their employees in the loop typically have low employee morale.
  • Lack of Appreciation – Every employee wants to feel like their hard work is valued–when they don’t, they’re apt to seek out new opportunities. In fact, according to Forbes, 79% of people who quit their jobs cite “lack of appreciation” as their reason for leaving.
  • Micromanagement – Employees want to feel like they have the leeway to do their job–without their decisions constantly being called into question.
    Micromanagement prevents that kind of autonomy, while showing a lack of trust in employees–which, as you might imagine, reduces employee morale.
  • Unreasonable Workload – It probably goes without saying that when someone is feeling constantly overburdened at work, they’re much more likely to experience resentment, burnout, and job dissatisfaction.
  • No Clear Employee Development Plan – When accepting a new job, most employees do so with an eye for the future, as they envision their path up the corporate ladder. However, when there’s no opportunity for growth–or the path is unclear–employees can start to feel frustrated.
  • Inadequate Compensation – Although compensation doesn’t affect employee morale as much as some of the other items on this list, everyone wants to be fairly compensated. In the absence of that, employees are more likely to experience low morale–especially if they’re also dealing with other workplace frustrations, like micromanagement or lack of appreciation.
  • High Turnover – As mentioned earlier, high workplace turnover typically means that other workers are stuck picking up the slack–which creates a stressful and unpleasant work environment.

7 Ways to Boost Employee Morale

Fortunately, there are a number of highly-effective ways companies can boost employee morale at their workplace. Here are some of our favorite methods …

Employee Morale Booster #1: Create a Culture of Thanks

Thank You

One of the best ways to improve employee morale is to express appreciation. While there are a number of different ways to show employees that their hard work hasn’t gone unnoticed, we particularly like how Badger Maps does it.

At Badger Maps, the leadership team sets aside time at the end of each Friday for team members to “give props” to anyone else on the team. This Friday forum presents a convenient opportunity for employees to publicly recognize their coworkers for their accomplishments and contributions throughout the week.

During this “TGIF meeting,” the company fosters an atmosphere of appreciation, respect, and teamwork–which goes a long way toward showing employees that their contributions are valued.

Employee Morale Booster #2: Adopt a Remote Work Policy

Remote Work Policy

Clearly, not every business can implement a remote work policy. However, among those companies that can, it’s an idea well-worth considering, since not only do most adults (87%) want the ability to work remotely, but remote workers are also 22% happier than those who never work remotely.

More importantly, a remote work policy is a great way to boost employee morale. For instance, one study monitored the wellbeing of 255 call center employees for 9 months-half of whom worked from home, while the other half continued to work at the office.

At the end of the 9 months, the authors of the study concluded that remote workers had a higher positive attitude, less work exhaustion, and less attrition (17% vs. the control group at 35%).

Even better, workers tend to be especially appreciative when they’re given the ability to work from home–which is why according to one Flexjobs survey, a whopping 79% of employees said they would be more loyal to a company that offered more flexibility.

Employee Morale Booster #3: Promote Work/Life Balance

Not only are overworked employees more prone to anxiety and resentment, but they also experience lower morale and reduced productivity.

For instance, new research from Stanford shows that hourly productivity drops sharply when the workweek exceeds 50 hours, and when it exceeds 55 hours, productivity declines so much that there’s no benefit to having someone work beyond that.

So, rather than promoting a morale-killing culture where working nights and weekends is the norm, show workers you value their wellbeing by establishing a corporate policy that they can’t respond to emails on nights or weekends … and have to use their full vacation time every year.

Although these are relatively small changes, they’ll signal to workers that you care about their health and happiness–which will have a big impact on employee morale.

Employee Morale Booster #4: Small Gestures Mean a Lot

People experience high employee morale when they believe their employer truly cares–and views them as individuals, rather than merely “resources.”

For instance, according to the Limeade Institute, when employees feel cared for:

  • 60% of them say they plan to stay at their companies for 3+ years (as opposed to only 7% who don’t feel cared for)
  • 90% say they’re likely to recommend their workplace as a great place to work
  • 94% feel personally engaged in their work

That’s why it’s a great idea to surprise employees from time-to-time with meaningful, small gestures–just to let them know your company cares.

For example, you might try offering pizza parties, donut days, casual Fridays, occasional gift cards, paid birthdays off, or the opportunity to leave work early from time-to-time.

Not only are these gestures fairly inexpensive, but they can also go a long way toward boosting employee morale.

Employee Morale Booster #5: Solicit Employee Feedback

Employee Feedback

It can be tough to improve employee morale if you don’t actually know what employees are thinking–which is why it’s so important you ask them.

Not only will soliciting feedback help you learn how employees really feel, but it’s also a great morale booster, since workers want the ability to provide feedback–but most companies give them little opportunity to do so.

Even better, there are lots of different ways you can implement this. For example, you could collect feedback using an employee engagement survey, a suggestion box, or even during a one-on-one meeting.

Just remember that the method you use for collecting employee feedback is less important than that you act on the feedback you receive.

Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for employees to believe that nothing will come of the feedback they provide, so for this to be a successful morale booster, your organization needs to actually listen to employees–then respond accordingly.

Employee Morale Booster #6: Encourage Team Building

Encourage Team Building

Research shows us that team building improves collaboration, productivity, employee retention rates, and engagement. It also helps foster workplace friendships, which is great for boosting employee morale.

For instance, according to one Officevibe study, 70% of employees say that friends at work are the most crucial element to a happy working life.

Furthermore, team building activities are a really effective way to improve communication in the workplace. So much so that according to Keka, 50% of the positive changes in communication patterns within the workplace can be accredited to social interaction outside of the workplace.

So, how can you encourage and promote social interaction beyond the office? We suggest trying some of the following activities:

  • Scavenger hunts
  • Volunteer outings
  • Trivia & game nights
  • Happy hours
  • League nights (bowling, softball, etc.)
  • Classes (painting, cooking, etc.)
  • Sporting events

By planning fun activities, not only will you promote team cohesion and trust, but you’ll also create an awesome corporate culture that’ll have a huge positive impact on employee morale.

Employee Morale Booster #7: Buy Green Plants

This one may sound like it’s coming from left field, but hear us out … by merely purchasing green plants and placing them strategically around the office, you can significantly boost employee morale.

For instance, according to Live Science, when 450 office workers were questioned about their job satisfaction and work environments, “people who toiled in offices with plants and window views reported they felt better about their job and the work they performed, compared to those in windowless offices without shrubbery around.”

And interestingly enough, plants were shown to have a greater impact on work happiness than windows … which is why research suggests that “plants are one of the least expensive, most useful ways to improve your employees’ experience of the workplace.”

So, if you’re looking for a cheap and easy way to boost employee morale, consider heading to your local nursery to pick up some green plants–stat!

In Conclusion

Employee morale may be one of the most important issues facing companies today–especially when you consider the impact it has on retention rates, productivity, and profitability.

Fortunately, there are plenty of simple ways companies can improve employee morale … and by trying any or all of the morale-boosting methods we’ve given here, you’re virtually guaranteed to experience happier, more engaged employees.