Do you find yourself in recurring meetings that turn into the same ineffective meeting over and over and over where little is accomplished or decided? You discuss the same topics, you rehash the same issues and then nothing is resolved, launched or progressed because you were inefficient and ran out of time. So, the next meeting you try to remember what was discussed in the previous meeting, rehash the same information and try to come up with a solution again and again and again.

Don’t hold meetings just to hold them. Make sure that they have purpose, an agenda and desired outcomes. Also be sure to leave the meeting with those outcomes or decisions documented.

Unproductive meetings are a huge time waster. Having a purpose and working to achieve desired outcomes in a meeting can be an efficient tool – when done correctly. Next time you have a meeting, at the conclusion ask, “What did we accomplish?” If no one can answer the question, then you have some work to do.