by Young Entrepreneur Council – @yec

We’ve all been there – sitting in a last minute all-hands meeting that was only scheduled to discuss another upcoming meeting. There’s no real agenda, items have been delegated to thin air, and two hours later, no one has any idea what they’re doing there in the first place.

Here’s how you can reclaim your meetings with five productive steps:

Make Someone Directly Responsible for Specific Tasks

This way, you can be certain that it will get done. The person you assign the project to should be someone who understands the message clearly, and who is able to delegate organized instructions and follow up with their team as the project progresses.

 Create an Agenda and Circulate it 24 Hours Prior to Meeting

Team members will benefit from staying on track, and will better understand the priorities of each task.

Set Strict Meeting Times, and Stick to Them

Meetings should last 30 minutes maximum, but if it needs to go on longer, take an intermission for team members to regroup and refresh before diving back in.

Ask Your Team to Recap During the Last Two Minutes

To ensure everyone is on the same page, use the last two minutes of the allotted meeting time to have each delegated member provide a 15-20 second summary of what they are responsible for.