Second Cup: Until we meet again

Be clear on next steps, so everyone stays accountable

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that at the end of any meeting, you
should go through the action steps everyone needs to take

(00:26):
before you meet again. This quick and simple step will
increase the likelihood that you make the progress you plan
to make between meetings. So, for better or for worse,
many professional and volunteer teams rely on meetings to create accountability.

(00:48):
Nobody wants to be sitting across the table from coworkers
and acknowledge that they haven't completed the tasks that were
assigned to them, so they generally do of the tasks
they are supposed to do before the next meeting. Now,
you might argue that colleagues should be accountable to each

(01:08):
other even when they are not meeting face to face,
and that you shouldn't have to waste time sitting in
meetings when there's nothing to actually discuss, and I would
totally agree with you. I truly dislike the inefficiency of
having people sit in meetings just to see that yep,

(01:30):
everyone is still doing their jobs. But we live in
the real world, and I know that many workplaces have
a meeting heavy culture, where scheduling a meeting is the
way you get your tasks to rise to the top
of people's priority lists. So if you do work in

(01:51):
such a place, you may as well make the most
of this accountability to keep things on track. One way
to do that is to make absolutely sure that at
the end of each meeting everybody understands exactly what needs
to happen before the next meeting. You will probably have

(02:14):
decided on action steps through the meeting, but at the
end of the meeting it is still incredibly helpful to
review them again. As in Caroline, you'll draft the Ford
proposal and circulate it to the team by next Tuesday,
and Blake, you will find out from accounting how much

(02:35):
is left in the reserve account and email the team
and update you get the idea. Make sure everybody is
clear on what work they are going to get done
before the next meeting. Then when you send out the
meeting follow up notes, it is wise to remind people

(02:55):
of the action steps you agreed on yet again, and
when you circulate the agenda for the next meeting, it
is also not a bad idea to review the action
steps once more. This creates one last chance for people
to fulfill the responsibilities before the meeting. If you are

(03:17):
the one chairing the meeting, you are well positioned to
set the norm of doing all this. If you are
the one taking notes or providing support to the meeting,
you may also be able to build in ways to
remind people of their action items. But even if you
are not the meeting chair or assistant, you may still

(03:41):
be able to make sure that everyone understands what they
are supposed to do. One option is that if there
is any sort of any questions moment or anything else
moment toward the end of the meeting, you can pipe
up to reflect back what you think the action steps are,
or at least those that you are responsible for, so

(04:04):
to confirm I am responsible for finding co chairs for
the Winter Gala and connecting them with last year's co
chairs and Jack right. That way, you'll at least know
that everyone is aligned about what you are doing. Your
question may prompt others to reflect back what they see
themselves as responsible for, or the meeting chair may get

(04:27):
the hint and take the opportunity to recap everyone's action steps.
Whether we like it or not, that meetings are used
for accountability. It is wise to make the most of
the fact that they are confirm exactly what everyone should

(04:47):
be doing at the end of the meeting and perhaps
in the follow up notes and subsequent meeting agendas too.
That way, when you meet again, at least you won't
waste time rehashing what was supposed to be done. You
can keep moving forward, or at least we hope you can.

(05:10):
In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

(05:31):
me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.
That's b the number four then Breakfast pod. You can
also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at
iHeartMedia dot com. That before Breakfast is spelled out with
all the letters. Thanks so much, should I look forward

(05:51):
to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartRadio.
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