Home Health & Hospice Week

Lead a meeting like a pro.

Whether you’ve been supervising for years or are new to the job, making the most of limited time with your employees is essential in the home care world.

Make a New Year’s resolution to optimize your meetings by putting these tips from www.effectivemeetings.com to use:

• Give your audience a clear explanation of the meeting’s purpose. Before the meeting starts, determine the goals and objectives you want to reach. Why are you having the meeting? Then, tailor your agenda so that it helps you meet those goals.
• Start with a meeting overview. Introduce the meeting agenda and discuss each item briefly. Ask if there are any questions before you begin.
• Don’t forget your audience. While you’re speaking, don’t forget to include the participants as much as possible during the whole meeting. Ask some of your quiet members to give their opinions, but don’t allow anyone to dominate the whole meeting. Getting everyone to participate will result in a more enjoyable and productive meeting.
• Check for understanding. Ask periodically if the audience is following what you’re saying. Ask if anyone has any questions or needs clari fication. Doing so is considerate and saves you from having to recall something you said when a participant asks you a question at the end of the meeting.
• Watch the clock. Time is very important, because many consider meetings to be a waste of time and money. Create a timeline and stick to it. Try putting time limits next to each of your points in the meeting agenda and having a time-keeper monitor the meeting. Stick to your agenda and avoid going off-topic.
• Assign action items as they come up. Don’t wait until the end of the meeting; otherwise, you could forget to assign certain tasks. Plus, when you call upon a teammate in front of everyone, she’ll be more likely to agree because most people want to look helpful in front of their peers.
• Finish with a summary. Give yourself five minutes to summarize your main points, confirm action assignments with your participants and ask the group to assess the meeting. Take notes of their assessments for your next meeting.