A Guest Post by Rupert Everett
Business meetings are common forms of business communication. The main distinctive feature of this form of communication is that it involves the interaction between the organization’s manager with the staff in the form of discussion of organizational and production problems and issues that need to be addressed through an exchange of opinions or collective reflection.
Like other forms of business communication, every meeting is just a mean of management, which serves to the main goal – achievement of the desired result in the most effective, optimal, and rational way. Thus, it is necessary to approach it seriously. This includes the choice of meeting type, as well as some other relevant decisions such as the participants, goals, venue, agenda, etc. Exactly these small details are the keys to a productive meeting!
What Different Types Of Business Meetings Exist?
All team gatherings can be divided into various categories by the following nuances: their goals, methods of arrangement, degrees of preparedness, number and profiles of participants, periodicity, etc. To help you find the right option, I have divided some of the most common types of meetings into a few smaller groups, and below I will provide a short explanation to each of them.
- Regular Progress Meetings
This is the most common one. Such gatherings are regularly arranged in every organization, and their main goal is always to evaluate the progress and team’s productivity in order to adjust the workflow and improve results. Also, during such events, team members discuss their individual (or shared) projects, discuss the occurred issues, and define the plans for the future. As a rule, such gatherings are not too long. Also, they are usually arranged for the whole team. However, depending on the company’s focus and particular situation – the format of the gathering can vary, but there is one thing that remains unchanged – this type of meetings usually takes less time for preparation.
- Team Building
All business gatherings should have a positive impact on the relationships between the employees and their teamwork. However, there is also a separate category of events with the same goal – such meetings can be more informal (this category also includes corporate events) and can be arranged even outside of the office. The main aim of such gathering is to enhance your company’s corporate culture, strengthen the relations, and create a friendly atmosphere inside the organization. These events are harder to arrange. As a rule, they require more time and funding. However, they surely are irreplaceable components of an effective workflow because satisfied members of a good team tend to work more efficiently.
- Problem Solving
As a rule, this is the most complex kind. Such gatherings often occur without any planning, and their goal is to find the fastest and most effective solution to the recently occurred issue by means of sharing ideas and collective brainstorming. Such situations require prompt decisions and actions. Therefore, as a team leader, you should learn to evaluate the risks, define priorities, and find possible solutions as fast as possible. In addition, not less important – you have to understand how to stimulate your staff to contribute to the problem-solving process and work together to generate the best solutions.
- Creative or innovation
Creative or innovation gatherings are all about effective brainstorming, share of ideas and / or important information, and thinking outside the box to come up with fresh and interesting ideas that would help them reach their shared goals. The main goal of such process is to allow each employee to share his thoughts and ideas, and, as a result, collect as many ideas as possible. Later, all offers should be reviewed and assessed. You will have to define your organization’s priorities to make the list of ideas narrower and finally identify the most engaging and innovative offers that can be implemented in life!
- Informational
We can add to this category all events that aim to share information. Such gatherings can be arranged in the form of lecture, presentation, debates or other similar formats and their main goal is to allow people from your company to share some significant data with his fellow colleagues. As a rule, the main orators during such events are managers or CEOs, who tell their staff about the future plans, new production, changes that will soon occur, etc. Thus, the employees are just listeners. However, if you can make your gatherings a bit more interactive using different devices – you can increase the productivity of such presentations and reach better results!
This is another common option. In fact, the biggest number of important plans and ideas are created collectively during such decision-making gatherings, and although there is a certain part of decision-making process during every gathering, this one assumes a discussion of more global questions. The most influential decisions often are made during the separate meetings, at which staff members are discussing a particular matter exclusively. There are different nuances that should be considered before arranging such event. You should be aware of the most effective techniques of arranging productive group processes such as voting or data sharing, which means that the preparation for this gathering should also take quite a lot of your time.
So go make it happen
Choosing the right and most suitable for your company type of team meeting is very important because a well-arranged meeting cannot only help you make your company more productive but also help your employees raise their team spirit and develop better relationships. Without a doubt, making the right decision is not easy. To select the most suitable one among many different types of meetings you need to carefully analyze and evaluate each option to see which one can be the most beneficial, convenient, and efficient for your company!
How to simplify this process? Although, making such a significant choice takes lots of time and can be quite challenging, following these meeting guides you can greatly save your time and simplify the whole process!
Author’s Bio: Robert Everett knows what issues can occur while planning, arranging and conducting a team meeting. Currently, Robert works as a writer at https://australianwritings.com.au/case-study-writing-service and runs a blog to help other people cope with some of the most common issues related to the meetings, teambuilding, management, and other.
