Business Organizations comprise many teams working on different projects. Projects are simply said to be tasks to be completed within a stipulated time. While working on a project, it is important to deal with information exchange and communication. Project team meetings help improve communication and collaboration among team members. The way the team meetings are handled should be effective so that every team member will have access to express their thoughts. In addition, it helps in communicating suggestions and feedback. The PMP certification is the world’s leading project management certification offered by the Project Management Institute (PMI). PMP Course guarantees extensive preparation where a candidate masters the practical application of project management processes. This Invensis blog on “How do Project Managers Use Meeting Management Techniques?” will explain techniques to follow in your project management meeting.
What is a Project Meeting?
A project meeting is an activity of delivering the information to the various team members and stakeholders involved. These meetings take place at a specific time and with no prior planning. A project meeting is the form of communication between the team members, managers, clients, and other stakeholders to share their thoughts, suggestions, and feedback. While working on a project, meetings will be there frequently and regularly in a week or a month. There will be several meetings available before starting the project and while working on the project. The project meeting covers various topics, including the project’s scope, timetable, expenses, challenges, benefits, and progress.
The main goal of the project meeting is to improve the communication between the team members and discuss the goals of the project along with the current progress. The meetings help identify any challenges involved and rectify them with the right solution. Project Managers will be responsible person for conducting meetings. Project meetings will be either informed earlier or planned suddenly. The duration of the meeting, plan, and members in the meeting is announced before the meeting. In recent times, most meetings are online with the help of audio and video conferencing modes. But, the aim or focus of the project meeting will be the same.
Now, it is time to understand the importance of managing the meetings.
Importance of Meeting Management
Whether a virtual meeting or a physical meeting, effective techniques help complete them. A meeting is important to deliver information and communicate among the team. So, it is essential to manage the meetings to produce effective outcomes from the meeting. Several types of meetings are available where the techniques used should be appropriate. Failed meetings don’t produce any result and will cost time and effort. The team members collaborate during the meeting, and the knowledge sharing focus in team meetings. But most of the team meetings failed to meet the expected results. Thus, project managers should manage meetings, and hence, meeting management skills are essential for them. Following are a set of techniques for effectively managing the team meetings.
Moving on, we will discuss how Project Managers Use Meeting Management Techniques.
Meeting Management Techniques
A project manager will be the facilitator of the meeting. Hence, the project manager should be capable of managing the meetings with essential techniques. The following techniques help in effectively managing the meeting.
Developing the Objectives of the Meeting
Objectives of the meeting are the most essential. The purpose of the meeting planner is known with the help of the objectives of this meeting. The objectives of the project include crisp sentences regarding the meeting and expected outcomes. Finally, the meeting objectives deliver along with the meeting agenda to understand the meeting.
Developing Meeting Agenda
One of the most important meetings management techniques is the meeting agenda. It is a short description that explains about the happening in the meeting. The plan helps maintain the flow of the project meeting to achieve the outcomes. It also helps discuss only the required information and complete the meeting in the right duration.
Send the Agenda and Objectives Before the Meeting
The schedule and the created objectives are accessible to the team in advance. It would help them in preparing for the meeting. Without the plan and objectives, they will not know anything about the meeting. Therefore, the people should collect suggestions in advance of the meeting. If the suggestion is acceptable, then the plan will modify.
Invite Only the Crucial People
The project meetings are crucial, and hence only the right people are present to attend the meeting. Therefore, people active in meeting the project meeting objectives are only present. If the person in charge is unavailable, the delegation should be given to someone capable of filling the gap. People are present via mail and should get confirmation of attendance.
Schedule the Meeting Environment Effectively
There are several modes of meetings like physical meetings, video conferencing, and audio conferencing. A suitable mode of communication is chosen and notified to the team members involved in the meeting. The meeting’s location, time, and duration are also communicated to the team.
Keep Time-Bounded
Not everyone is only based on meetings. People will have different other tasks following. Thus, meetings should start and complete on time. The duration of the meeting plan should not exceed. The meeting agenda and objectives will be highly helpful in complying with the time duration of completion. The delay of the meetings avoids by following the plan.
Assigning Roles for Meeting
The meeting should be interactive. To achieve this, each and everyone involved should communicate in the meeting. The roles are assigned to the people to focus on the meeting. The focus will be on the meeting without diverging, and hence the meeting will be productive. The interaction between the team members registers with such roles assigned to the meeting.
Ask for Suggestions and Feedback
The team members’ suggestions and feedback are taken at the end of the meeting. People’s opinions will always help improve the project. The collected suggestions and feedback are reviewed and discussed in person or at the next meeting. If time persists, the feedback review at the meeting end to get comments from other meeting members.
Take Notes During the Discussion
The meeting not only focuses on discussing but also to progress in the project. Therefore, every member of the meeting must take notes discussed during the meeting. It would help understand the points discussed in the meeting and implement them in the projects. The notes may be in digital form or hard copy.
Conclude and Wrap the Meeting with a Documentation
After the completion of the meeting, the meeting should conclude effectively. All the points discussed in the meeting should wrap during the end and documented. The documents should communicate to all the people who attended the meeting. A copy store for future reference.
Now, we have a clear idea of How Do Project Managers Use Meeting Management Techniques? in an effective manner. It is time to conclude the discussion.
If you are interested in learning project management plans, check out our blog “What is a Project Management Plan And How To Develop One?”
Conclusion
Meetings will take place to discuss how the project is progressing. It will aid in the discussion of any difficulties or issues that develop during the project. It comprises people responsible for the success of the project. With the cooperation of those present, the stated problem is efficiently remedied. It would also be helpful for others to avoid them or resolve them in their cases. But for all, it is essential to deal with proper meeting management techniques. The above ten techniques help in understanding the procedure of conducting meetings effectively. The project meetings here help communicate and disseminate information to the team members.
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