Management: Team Meetings How team meetings are managed can play a vital part in the overall eciency and communication within a team. The ability to manage meetings so that they are structured and productive is an essential skill of any good leader... Here are some key points to keep in mind when managing a team meeting... Outline Your Meetings Purpose Give all those invited to the meeting a clear understanding of the intended objectives of the meeting in advance, so that they know how to prepare for it. For example, if your meeting is to set an outline for an upcoming project, or to make a decision on a specic matter, you should make this clear beforehand in any emails or calls to schedule the meeting. Creating a written agenda that can be emailed to all attendees is a great way to ensure that everyone knows exactly what theyll need to be ready to discuss. Delegate Leadership (When Appropriate) If the meeting is covering a subject that another member of your team is directly responsible for, or is more knowledgeable about, it makes sense to delegate the leadership of the meeting to them. By allowing the appropriate member of your team to lead the meeting, you can ensure that they cover the most relevant topics in relation to the meetings objectives. Additionally, by allowing a team member to lead the meeting, you are showing your condence in their abilities to do so, and their expertise in the topics that the meeting is covering. Encourage Open Discussion As the manager you should be prepared to lead a team meeting, however you should ensure that you do not dominate discussion. Invite opinions and input from all members of your team. Keep in mind that some of the people in your meeting may be shyer about sharing their ideas than others, and be ready to ask questions when addressing the topics that your meeting is covering. You should ensure that you give all team members the opportunity to speak and to contribute. Keep The Discussion On Track In any team working environment, there will invariably be plenty of dierent topics that are relevant for discussion whenever the team comes together for a meeting; for this reason it is vital that you are prepared to interject if the discussion starts to wander too far from the meetings agenda. Arrive at Action Points When a topic or item on your meetings agenda has been discussed in full, you should make sure that everyone is clear on what the next step or action point is. If you have discussed a specic task within a project, or an ongoing team objective, you should ensure that you and the whole team have a clear idea of who the action is on to take responsibility for this. Try to press for closure on all topics discussed, to ensure that the meeting has had clear outcomes, and that each topic has taken a step forward as a result of the meeting. Keep It On Record If you are holding a regular team meeting, it is a great idea to allow your team members to take turns in keeping the minutes each time you meet. Alternatively, it may be appropriate to ensure that one of your team members is keeping note of every topic discussed, to later be circulated in an email to all attendees of the meeting. This ensures that the outcomes of your meeting are made completely clear. In a long meeting it is easy to lose track of who said what, and more importantly who committed to what. For this reason it is a great idea to ensure everyone has a record of everything in writing! Connect For more tips on professional development and to see all of our latest opportunities, connect with the InterQuest Group InterQuest Group plc is an award-winning, specialist recruitment organisation providing contract and permanent services within niche disciplines globally. The Group is divided into specialist businesses, with each one aligned to one of the following market sectors, Finance, Retail, Public Sector, Not for Prot or in an area of technology such as testing, analytics, ERP or digital. These are augmented by other businesses specialising in services which span the various vertical niches - such as recruitment outsourcing or executive search and selection. As specialists in contract, permanent IT and analytics recruitment, the InterQuest Group trades as distinctly branded, individual, specialist recruitment businesses.