Know what the biggest time waster is in people’s days?  Ineffective meetings!  We’ve shared previously on how to run effective and more productive meetings, and the focus today is on how to take your meetings to a higher level of efficiency with the 3Ps: Place, Players and Process.  

Place: Ever hear the complaint that someone didn’t know a group discussion of a document was on the agenda? That’s a Place issue. Much of the inefficiency of running a meeting is the preparation time before the meeting.   

The goal for organizations should be to reduce email communication and start leveraging technology like Microsoft Teams’ communication and collaboration hub. When you understand the many ways to use Teams you will reduce the number of meetings you need. The Teams apps also allow you to create an organized place so people know where to go to find information and be prepared for meetings.  (If you need help with Teams, check out our free webinars.)  

With Teams you can create a OneNote notebook for the Agenda, Minutes and Parking Lot items, a plan in Planner for action items, and a SharePoint database where files and information is stored. Thus creating a central location (aka Place) for important meeting information.  

Players: Everyone should know why they are at the meeting and what role they play. Are they a Contributor, Decision Maker, Facilitator, Scribe or someone who Needs to Know? People are more likely to be engaged and contribute value when they know the role they have.  

Process: Running a highly effective meeting is a process workflow just like other processes you have in your organization. There is a set list of tasks that need to happen for each person before, during and after the meeting.   

Imagine what could happen if your meetings were carefully planned with the right Places, Players and Processes in place and needless emails eliminated! Business nirvana!  

If you have a special case that needs attention, contact us at CTC Productivity.  I can present to your group in person or virtually on various subjects including Time Management, Office Organization and Productive Meetings.  This might just be the investment your organization needs to stop the madness of meetings.