Evaluate Your Meetings

People familiar with continuous improvement principles know that the last step in any activity should be an evaluation of performance. Meetings are no different.

Use the last couple minutes during a meeting to evaluate the group's meeting performance. Then apply the lessons learned to future meetings.

What are you trying to learn during an evaluation? Here the some of the basic questions the evaluation should address:

* Was the meeting well planned?
* Did we achieve the planned objectives?
* Were the right people involved in the meeting?
* Did people come prepared?
* Did we manage our time wisely?
* How well did we manage the interaction between participants?
* What did we do well that we should keep on doing?
* What did we do that we should avoid doing in future meetings?
* What didn't we do that we should have done?

There are lots of ways of quickly evaluating the meeting. Here are several simple options.

1) Draw a line down the middle of a flip chart or a white board. On one half write the word "Keep" and on the other half the word "Change." Ask people to reflect on the meeting and yell out things they think should be kept or changed for the next meeting.

2) Each person gives the meeting a letter grade (A-F). After recording the grades, ask people for one or two reasons they graded the meeting as they did.

3) Distribute a short survey card at the end of the meeting that asks people to comment directly on the evaluation questions.

It doesn't matter how you collect the information. It only matters that you do collect and use it. The insights gained will lead to better meetings.

Tom LaForce is a speaker who wins over audiences with his enthusiasm and playful style. As a facilitator he runs meetings that get results...fast. And as a team development expert, he always is able to get to the heart of the matter. Tom offers a wealth of free teamwork and personal effectiveness advice at his website.