One Meeting Minute Thought for Your Week
2022 is almost over but it’s not too late to prepare for next year’s meetings.
But if you wait for January, you’ll risk missing out on some rare opportunities.
Here are 5 simple steps you should take to prepare for your 2023 meetings while you still can.
5 Simple Steps To Prepare for Next Year’s Meetings
1. Grab open calendar time
This tip is first because it’s the most important.
Most people don’t do what you’re doing. They wait until January to schedule meetings.
That means you have a limited window to grab open time for the people you need to meet with regularly.
But don’t wait.
If you start scheduling your meetings in January, you’ll be one of countless coworkers watching open calendars fill up and your chances to meet with critical partners disappear.
2. Cancel and decline meetings
You lead effective, productive meetings – meetings people actually WANT to attend.
And, in Step 1 you added a bunch of outstanding meetings to your coworkers’ calendars.
But, no one wants too many meetings. Even excellent meetings!
You need time to do individual deep work and your teammates do too.
The end of the year provides the perfect opportunity to control what you can control.
You control the meetings you schedule and your RSVP to the meetings you’ve been invited to attend.
Exercise the power you have to prepare for next year’s meetings.
3. Scrub your invitee lists
Step 2 put you in the mindset to evaluate your own meeting participation. Now apply that thinking to those you’ve invited to participate in the meetings you own.
The second P of the 3Ps for productive, effective meetings is People (click here to get the free 3Ps worksheet).
Purpose – Why is this meeting being held?
People – Who needs to be in this meeting to accomplish the Purpose?
Preparation – What work needs to be done prior to the meeting to enable the People to accomplish the Purpose?
As you prepare for next year’s meetings, invest time considering who the right people are to participate in the meetings you’ve scheduled.
4. Check meeting series end dates
Has this ever happened to you?
The new year has started and you’re looking forward to your weekly meeting with your project team.
You’ve met together every Thursday morning from 10:00 to 10:50 for months and you’re excited to keep the momentum going in January.
It’s Monday morning and you’re getting ready for your first Thursday morning meeting of the year.
Then you realize there is no Thursday morning meeting this week. Or any week of the new year!
Your recurring meeting series ended on the last Thursday of last year.
So you hit your knees praying no one has applied Step 1 and taken your spot on your team members’ calendars.
If they have, your routine is shot and your momentum is gone.
Don’t let this happen to you (like it’s happened to me)!
5. Learn from last year’s meetings
The end of the year is a good time to look back and assess your meetings.
You’ve likely led and attended more meetings during the year than you can remember.
The number of lessons to be learned exceeds the numbers of meetings you’ve been in.
But those lessons will also slip away as vanishing, useless memories if you don’t take time to reflect and document how to improve.
Take time to do a simple Lessons Learned activity for your meetings from last year.
More Resources to Help You Build Your Career and Your Business
That’s a quick summary of the 5 Simple Steps To Prepare for Next Year’s Meetings to get you started.
If you want a full explanation of each step and free tools to make this work even easier, check out my new blog post.
Click here to read “How To How To “Prepare For Next Year’s Meetings – 5 Simple Steps”
And Now a Word from Our Sponsors
A new year provides the perfect opportunity to prepare not only for your meetings, but also for your career growth.
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That’s All for this Issue
Thank you so much for reading and wrapping up 2022 with me!
I’m excited about the many opportunities you and I have to transform our businesses and people’s lives in 2023 by leading productive, effective meetings.
If you have ideas for topics you’d like me to cover in upcoming issues of M4 – the Monday Morning Meeting Minute, please send me an email with your recommendations!
In 2023 and every year let’s lead our people and our meetings with kindness and confidence!
Greg
Here are 3 ways I can help you when you’re ready:
- Get more free resources you can use today (Click here to Start)
- Improve on your own with digital courses (Click here to Improve)
- Accelerate your progress with coaching (Click here to Accelerate)
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