How to become a better meeting participant

There’s a better way to participate in meetings than the way you do today. You probably know best what it is you need to refine, but the question is: how will you remember to act in a new, better way at your next meeting?

For you who prefer listening to reading, this post is also available as an episode of the ""Done!"" podcast:

When you take on too much

A reader wrote to me, saying that he often ends up taking on too many tasks that come up during meetings – even ones that don’t fall within his area of responsibility.

He often leaves meetings with a heap of tasks to complete before the next one. Since he has lots of meetings each week, he naturally ends up with too much to do. To avoid this, he could:

At the start of the meeting, remind himself what his role is in this particular group and where the boundary lies for the tasks he should take on.
During the meeting, stay alert to only accept tasks that fall within his area of responsibility.
After the meeting, review the tasks he’s taken on and quickly check whether they really are his to handle.

That would make things better.

The intention is good, but…

But how is he supposed to remember to do all this when it’s so easy to get enthusiastically engaged in the meeting? And how will you remember to act in the new way you’ve decided on, whatever it might be?

Do this

Place your self-reminders about behaving differently where you absolutely can’t miss them – right where you take notes during the meeting.

In your meeting notes template, add control questions and prompts that help you act in the right way – whether you’re taking notes in OneNote, Word, Notion, or on paper using a template like the one I’ve created and use myself. If you don’t already have a template to base your notes on, get or create one to make note-taking easier in meetings.
- The reader I mentioned could, for example, write at the top: “What is your role here? What types of tasks aren’t your responsibility?”
- Next to where he writes down next steps/tasks, he could write: “Really? Is this yours?”
If you’re going to send the notes to other participants after the meeting, simply delete your reminders and control questions – by then they’ve served their purpose (and your colleagues won’t benefit from seeing them).
Try using the updated template at your next meeting.
After the meeting, ask yourself if you would benefit from adding another prompt or question. If so, add it to the template so you can try it out at your next meeting.

Easier and better

If you make it impossible to miss the reminder about what you should do differently in the meeting you’re currently in, you’ll more easily refine how you act in meetings. With less effort, you’ll become a better meeting participant – to the benefit of both you and your work.

What’s your method?

What tricks do you use to get better at participating in meetings? Write to me and share. If we all help improve our meetings, we have a lot to gain – in both efficiency and job satisfaction.

(Do you also feel like you a lot of your time is taken by “back to back” meetings? Read my tips on how to get the important stuff done inbetween!)

There is more!

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If you want more tips on how to create good structure at work, there are many ways to get that from me - in podcasts, videos, books, talks and other formats.

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