Women tend to be super-stars in the work place, but sometimes we make mistakes that could have been avoided for meetings. Read on to see if you make any of these mistakes at meetings. Then learn how to avoid them. What I advise is easy and makes common sense.

1. DEADLY MISTAKE #1: Arriving late for the meeting when you are either the facilitator or an attendee. This is very disruptive and often contributes to meetings going over time. HOW TO AVOID LATENESS: First of all be sure you leave plenty of time to stop your previous task so you can get to the meeting on time. Many times women arrive late to morning meetings, because they have to take their children to school or sitter. Be sure you leave in plenty of time to drop them off early. Many women also consider it rude to end a previous meeting advising that they have another meeting to go to. The best thing to do in this case is to advise the person(s) you are meeting with ahead of time that you must leave at a certain time to get to your next meeting. Also you might want to have your secretary buzz you on your cell or the land phone notifying you that you have another meeting. This will bring heightened attention that you have something else planned that is also just as important even if it is just getting back to your work.

2. DEADLY MISTAKE #2: Arriving without a “written” agenda and especially if you are the facilitator. Even if you are not the facilitator it is still a good idea to have your own “written” agenda planned with your possible questions, but be sure your agenda is consistent with the main agenda items. Agendas should always have a timeframe associated with each item. This keeps participants focused on not only the agenda item, but also the time. HOW TO AVOID HAVING NO AGENDA: The only way to avoid this one is to write an agenda “prior” to the meeting. Do not under any circumstances start writing the agenda at the meeting. When this is done, you look unprepared and unprofessional. Also if you are the boss you send the wrong message to your employees: I am unprepared. Professional women should appear totally prepared for meetings at all times unless there is a major catastrophic event involving you…prior to your arrival!

3. DEADLY MISTAKE #3: Speaking about “things” (and that is exactly what they become “things” when they are non-agenda items) that are not on the planned agenda. Sometimes it is appropriate to add items to the agenda, but request permission of the group to discuss the additional item. This statement also applies to the meeting facilitator. HOW TO AVOID SPEAKING ABOUT NON AGENDA ITEMS: As the facilitator and also as a participant you always have the right to request tabling discussion of non agenda items until the group meets again or to direct the group to hold an off line or ad hoc meeting to discuss other topics.

4. DEADLY MISTAKE #4: Assuming other people will arrive prepared. Most of us have been to meetings where we are prepared but others are not. This contributes to all kind of confusion! HOW TO AVOID OTHERS SHOWING UP FOR THE MEETING UNPREPARED. There are a couple of things you can do here. First send the agenda to all participants “prior” to the meeting. Next you can personally contact or have your assistant contact other principle participants of the meeting to remind them of specific agenda items. Additionally, it is often a good idea to send an email ahead of time asking the participants for their input. “Of course you might not need their input”, but they will actually be in preparation for your meeting.

Page 1 of 2 :: First | Last :: Prev | 1 2 | Next