Practice Management Alert

Question: Our staff meetings are unwieldy and absolutely dreaded by everyone. It's my turn to lead next month's meeting: What can I do to prepare?

Arkansas Subscriber

Answer: Knowing exactly how you want to use your meeting time will go a long way in effectively facilitating a meeting. Putting your time in to prepare beforehand can go a long way in making a meeting seem worth everyone's time.

Make a plan and stick to it. Write a detailed agenda and distribute it to all attendees at least 24 hours before the meeting. Consider what news or items are effectively covered simply by being in the agenda and read by everyone, and then focus on addressing in the meeting anything that requires a conversation or deserves in-person recognition.

Organize the agenda by putting the most important topics at the very beginning, and tackle those first. Build in time for discussion and conversation, so everyone will be on the same page before leaving the meeting. Craft action items in your agenda, and don't be afraid to assign particular items to particular personnel if you think that will increase the likelihood that you'll see results.

Take your moderating duties seriously. Make sure that any team member who wants to discuss a relevant topic is heard, but make sure you take your timekeeping responsibilities seriously. If you feel like the team member is straying from the agenda or topic at hand or reiterating something already discussed, you may interrupt politely and move the conversation in a more productive direction.

Feel empowered to make meetings a little bit fun. For most staff, that probably means including food of some sort. Consider splurging on a time-of-day-appropriate treat, and make sure you advertise said treat in the agenda beforehand.