Meetings; love them or hate them, they are often a necessary activity when working in developing projects. They gather the right people and they provide room for doubts, questions, acknowledgments, and planning. If you have left a meeting feeling it was unnecessary, boring, and unproductive, chances are, that meeting was not well planned nor prepared.
We’ve all been there. Swamped with work and still scheduled to spend the day in back-to-back meetings. Leaving people with the feeling they’ve attended a meeting in which they lost their time and focus can do more harm than good. This is a common situation in busy workplaces, which is why is crucial to make the most out of everyone’s time.
But to be fair, meetings can also be very efficient and extremely productive when they are planned right. In business and in project management, meetings are a vehicle of communication and they can be the key factor in kicking off a highly successful project.
A meeting organizer is an efficient way to plan, design, and perform an effective meeting; one that will deliver a positive impact on everyone that attends. In project management, a planning meeting document is a highly useful tool to organize and structure the course of a meeting, avoiding any downfalls by making sure you stay committed to what really needs to be communicated.
Benefits of Running Organized Planning Meetings
Whether you are hosting kick-off meetings, project proposal meetings, or daily stand-up meetings, there are always benefits that can be found upon performing them effectively. For instance:
They generate fresh, new ideas.
By generating ideas, people tend to participate more.
They empower teams by enabling decision-making.
They help paint the bigger picture by explaining ideas and objectives.
They allow open-discussions.
Key Elements of a Planning Meeting
In order to run effective planning meetings and to see those benefits come true, there are certain guidelines that must be followed. Keep in mind that the more prepared you are, the more productive the meeting and the more efficient your project planning will be. These are the core items you should consider when preparing for a planning meeting.
Vision, goals, and objectives. Before you can even start scheduling people, you need to have a plan. You need to have a clear understanding of the goals and objectives you are looking to accomplish. This requires knowing what are the issues you are trying to solve, on order words; the vision of your plan. By having a crystal clear vision on your goals and objectives, you will be ensuring team members and stakeholders will also have a clear understanding of what you’re communicating.
Critical success factors. Having a clear vision of your goals also means you’ve determined the things you cannot fail to accomplish. These are also known as critical success factors, which usually include deliverables, budget, and schedule. These basics components need to be prioritized and safeguarded, and they need to be communicated in your planning meeting.
Key performance indicators. An effective planning meeting must also address your project’s KPIs (key performance indicators). Why? Because it shows how your project is working towards meeting its value and goals. Make sure to include KPIs, this will help to explain the target, as well as your team’s part in reaching the target.
Key issues. When managing projects, there are always factors or obstacles that must be cleared before moving forward with a plan. It’s important to identify, to list, and to communicate those key issues in order to be able to discuss the approach that will be chosen as well as who will be responsible to solve those pressing subjects.
Prepare Your Planning Meeting With Instagantt
Whether you’re gathering your team for a short planning session, or rather a long strategic planning meeting, you will be benefiting your everyone’s time thoroughly by preparing upfront. By taking the time to prepare your planning session, you will be taking a productive approach, one that will have a positive impact on your project by keeping your team aligned with your vision, strategy, and overall goals.
An online gantt chart software such as Instagantt can greatly help this process by allowing you to prepare and outline your project’s vision, objectives, critical success factors, and KPIs. Also, you will be able to attach any important data and documents that will help to provide a background for your planning meetings, as well as to move forward with your action plan by listing and scheduling tasks, and assigning them on the spot to the ideal responsible parties.
