“A meeting is an event where minutes are taken and hours are wasted.” Milton Berle

We have all been required to attend meetings at work. Some of them are even necessary. Occasionally, one is actually productive! Most, however, are only marginally beneficial, and many are a complete waste of time. They start late. They are poorly led. They are long on ideas and short on execution. There is no follow-up or accountability. Good ideas are labeled “risky” while bad ideas are pondered for hours on end. Then everyone retreats back to their offices and races to catch up on their work before the next meeting is called. Then, the cycle starts all over again.

Many of the same bad ideas are debated all over again. While others argue, you wonder about the work you could be getting done. You doodle. You fume. You wonder why the leader doesn’t see how much valuable time is being wasted.

Sound familiar?

There are some people who just LOVE to have meetings. In some instances, it is a great replacement for actually getting some real work done. In many cases, however, a manager simply hasn’t learned how to lead a productive meeting.

Here are eight steps to follow that will produce shorter, more effective meetings:

1. Create an objective for the meeting

2. Create a specific agenda for the meeting
3. Ensure that any contributor to the meeting is fully aware of his/her individual role in the meeting
4. Establish a firm time frame for the meeting and stick to it
5. Assign a note-taker for the meeting
6. Record all decisions, action items, and critical information
7. Assign process owners to all action items
8. Distribute notes immediately following the meeting

If you follow these guidelines, you will definitely have more productive meetings, but, there is one last thing you need to do to have the best opportunity to have a productive meeting. In the old west, people were often required to check their guns at the door – too many chances of someone drinking a little too much and shooting up the place. Because of the chance of ruining an otherwise productive meeting, might I suggest that you have meeting participants check their cell phones at the door?

OK, you don’t have to actually collect them (lots of luck with that), but before you start the meeting, insist that all participants turn off their electronic devices. In the past, meeting participants may have needed them just to stay awake, but now they will serve as a constant meeting interruption if you don’t shut them down.