Improve Accountability in Your Meetings

You’ve seen it all too often. You hold a great meeting that seems productive and focused, and everyone has made a commitment to a particular project or goal. As the days and weeks go by, you start getting excuses for why you’re not seeing results.

What happened?

You didn’t establish accountability at the meeting. That left your team without real guidance about what to do next. They may have great intentions, but those intentions won’t go anywhere without a firm guide. Here are some tips for getting real results.

Enforce Meeting Rules

If you’re using the books, training, and software from MeetingResult, you already know that it’s important to set up rules for every meeting. These rules govern not only who must attend but who will make presentations, who will write the minutes, and who will prepare the agenda.

Your meeting should also have rules for how discussions and disagreements are handled. In a well-run meeting, everyone has the chance to speak, and nobody hogs all the attention.

Ask for Accountability from Everyone

At the end of the meeting, wrap up by going around the room to each attendee and asking, “How do you plan to work on this goal, and when I can expect your results?”

Be sure to ask while the meeting is still on and everyone’s still in the room. This makes each person accountable to you, to each other, and to the project.

Ask for specificity. Make sure each answer comes with a firm date for those results. Let your team know that they can approach you early if something unforeseen interferes with their ability to meet the deadline.

Write the name of each person, their goal, and their deadline date in the minutes. Distribute copies of the minutes to everyone after the meeting as a reminder.

Don’t Forget to Follow Up

Secure your team’s accountability with a follow-up plan. Use software to incorporate your action plan into existing workflows. This helps team members make that work a priority. If your company uses task management or other planning tools, make the action items part of those tools.

Put in place a system to track their progress. Knowing that you’ll follow up regularly with them keeps your team members accountable in the long run. It lets them know what you expect. It also helps you plan for larger, longer-term projects.

Get Accountability at Every Meeting

You’ll find tips like these and many more in our book, Powerfully Simple Meetings: Your Guide for Fewer, Faster, More Focused Meetings. It’s your roadmap to productive, engaged meetings that deliver tangible results.