Most people spend several hours a week in meetings at work, in volunteer organizations, or perhaps in committee meetings or church boards. Most people can relate to wasted time due to poorly planned or conducted meetings.

One of the top five “time wasters” in business today is ineffective meetings, according to a 2010 survey of 331 business leaders from 21 states by Management Methods, Inc. (Note: Survey was conducted by the author who is president of the firm).

Early in my career I worked for a manager who invariably kept staff waiting 15 minutes or more for staff meetings to begin. Over the course of a year, this represented many hours ($$$) of lost productivity. However, one did not dare to show up after the set start time for fear of the boss’s wrath if he arrived on time that day. Today, in a client organization, meetings typically don’t start on time, top managers allow endless discussions on a “five-minute” topic, and action plans aren’t created. In essence, most meetings do not have a clear outcome, thus they are a waste of time and negatively affect productivity and morale.

Effective meetings will prevent time wasters and improve productivity in an organization. However, most organizations don’t know or don’t practice simple guidelines to make meetings more effective. This article presents 12 guidelines for more productive meetings. Some of these are common sense and well known, while others may be a bit surprising to you. Here are my 12 simple rules for effective meetings that have been developed over the past two decades as a consultant to dozens of organizations around the world and served on numerous church and volunteer committees.

12 rules for more effective meetings

1. Have an agenda with a schedule
2. Involve only the necessary people
3. Start on time
4. Come prepared
5. Stay on track
6. Encourage input from participants
7. Don’t bore people with too many slides, fancy or otherwise.
8. Have appropriate brochures or other information
9. Know when to end the discussion and identify the necessary action items
10.Finish on time
11. Publish minutes and action plans that include responsibilities and deadlines.
12.Follow-up

Perhaps a “13” rule is needed and it may be the most important of the rules. The leadership team should follow these guidelines and expect the people in the organization to follow them as well. Following these simple, common-sense rules will reduce time wastage and can improve meeting productivity at your business, organization, or church.