The Assistant’s Role in Driving Focused Meetings
Meetings, whether in-person or virtual, are the lifeblood of corporate communication. As an Assistant, you play a pivotal role in ensuring that your Executive’s time is spent in a manner that is both effective and efficient. In this article, we will look at the importance of the Assistant’s role in driving focused meetings.
As you know, an Executive’s calendar can sometimes be an absolute minefield, with back-to-back meetings vying for attention and an Executive rushing from one to the next without context or focus. You must ensure that the time spent in a meeting is valuable, focused, and productive. To achieve this, there are seven habits that you, as an Assistant, can help facilitate, ensuring that every meeting is a well-oiled machine.
The seven habits of highly focused meetings
In a recent session at our Virtual Summit, Austin Nicholas shared seven habits of highly focused meetings. These habits can revolutionise how we organise, approach, and conduct meetings, ensuring they are productive, purposeful, and engaging for all participants. The Assistant’s role in driving focused meetings comes into play when using these seven habits.
Be Free from Distractions
Distractions are the enemy of productivity. A meeting where participants are half-heartedly engaging while glancing at their phones or checking emails is doomed to be ineffective. Encourage a culture where devices are silenced, windows are closed, and participants are fully present. This habit is particularly important in today’s remote working world, where it’s all too easy to be distracted by a multitude of things.
Be Open to Engage
Engagement is key to any successful meeting. Ensure that participants, including your Executive, are mentally prepared to contribute. This means coming into the meeting with an open mind, ready to listen, and prepared to speak when needed. Encourage an atmosphere of transparency and honesty, where all voices can be heard.
Commit to the Routine
Consistency is the bedrock of success. Effective meetings follow a structured routine that everyone is familiar with. As an Assistant, you can help by setting up these routines – whether it’s a weekly check-in or a monthly strategy meeting. This not only helps in managing expectations but also in building a rhythm that leads to productive outcomes.
Unite on Objectives
Every meeting should have a clear objective. Is it a brainstorming session? A decision-making meeting? Or perhaps just a quick check-in? By clearly defining the type of meeting and its objectives beforehand, you can help your Executive and the team to come prepared and focused on the task at hand. This is where you can shine by setting clear agendas and ensuring they’re communicated effectively.
Share Ideas
Encouraging the sharing of ideas is crucial for fostering creativity and problem-solving. Understand that different people contribute in various ways at different stages of a meeting. Whether your Executive is a big-picture thinker or a detailed analyst, ensure that the meeting structure allows everyone to contribute at the right time.
Evaluate on Merit
Not all ideas are created equal. It’s important to assess ideas based on their potential impact versus the effort required to implement them. As an Assistant, you can help streamline this process by ensuring that meetings include time for evaluation and prioritisation. This could involve using tools like the 80/20 rule to focus on what will deliver the most value.
Delegate What Matters
After the ideas have been discussed and evaluated, assigning clear action points is crucial. Who’s doing what, and by when? Ensure there’s time allocated at the end of the meeting for this purpose. You can assist by following up on these action items, ensuring that tasks are completed and nothing falls through the cracks.
How Assistants can facilitate highly focused meetings
Now that you’re familiar with the seven habits let’s delve into how to ensure these principles are applied to your Executive’s meetings and the importance of the Assistant’s role in driving focused meetings.
Managing Distractions
Start by creating a meeting environment free from distractions. You might suggest your Executive places their phone in airplane mode or closes unnecessary applications on their devices. If the meeting is virtual, encourage them to find a quiet space without interruption. You can also help by scheduling meetings during times when your Executive is less likely to be bombarded with other requests, allowing them to focus fully on the task at hand.
Preparing for Engagement
Ensure your Executives have everything they need to engage fully in the meeting. This might include briefing them on the meeting agenda, providing them with any necessary background information, and reminding them of the meeting’s objectives. Encourage your Executives to take a moment to centre themselves before the meeting begins, perhaps by taking a few deep breaths or reviewing the key points they wish to discuss.
Setting and Maintaining Routine
Help establish a consistent meeting routine for your Executive. This could involve setting regular times for recurring meetings, ensuring agendas are always prepared in advance, and making sure that meetings start and end on time. By establishing a routine, you’ll help your Executive develop a rhythm that leads to more focused and productive meetings.
Clarifying Objectives
As the gatekeeper of your Executive’s time, you have a unique opportunity to ensure that each meeting has a clear and well-defined objective. Before scheduling a meeting, ask yourself (and others):
- What is the purpose of this meeting?
- What outcomes are we aiming for?
By seeking clarity upfront, you can help avoid unnecessary meetings and ensure that those that occur are productive and goal-oriented.
Fostering Idea Sharing
Assistants can be critical in fostering an environment where ideas are freely shared. You can do this by encouraging diverse voices to be heard, ensuring that quieter team members have an opportunity to contribute, and reminding your Executive to listen actively to all perspectives. You might even suggest specific agenda items where team members can bring their ideas to the table, making the meeting a more collaborative and creative space.
Facilitating Merit-Based Evaluation
To help your Executive evaluate ideas on merit, consider providing tools or frameworks to streamline this process. Whether it’s suggesting the use of the 80/20 rule or other prioritisation techniques, your role can be pivotal in helping the team focus on high-impact ideas that require the least effort. Ensure that there is time in the meeting agenda for thoughtful discussion and evaluation of ideas rather than a rush to decisions.
Ensuring Delegation of Tasks
One of the most important outcomes of any meeting is the clear delegation of tasks. As an Assistant, you can help by summarising action points and assigning them to the appropriate individuals. You can also follow up after the meeting to ensure that tasks are being completed on time. This not only helps in maintaining accountability but also ensures that the momentum gained in the meeting carries through to actual results.
Managing your Executive’s schedule for highly focused meetings
As an Assistant, you’re in the unique position of being able to shape your Executive’s schedule to ensure they are walking into focused and effective meetings. Here’s how:
- Prioritise meetings wisely – Not all meetings are created equal. Help your Executive prioritise their time by distinguishing between essential meetings and those that can be delegated or postponed. This ensures that they’re only attending meetings that truly require their presence.
- Buffer time – Schedule buffer times between meetings. This allows your Executive to decompress, gather their thoughts, and prepare for the next meeting, ensuring they can be fully engaged rather than rushing from one meeting to the next.
- Agenda review – Ensure that your Executive reviews the agenda before the meeting. This gives them a clear understanding of what’s to be discussed and allows them to come prepared with any necessary questions or insights.
- Follow-Up mechanisms – After the meeting, set aside time for your Executive to review and follow up on key action points. This ensures that tasks are not only delegated but also completed, driving the meeting’s objectives to fruition.
In conclusion, as an Assistant, your ability to facilitate highly focused meetings is a game-changer for your Executive and the entire team. By embedding these seven habits into every meeting and managing your executive’s schedule with precision, you’re enhancing productivity and driving the team toward greater success.
To further hone your skills and ensure that every meeting you organise is impactful, join the Effective Meetings Management Online Course. This course is designed to equip you with the tools and strategies you need to master the art of meeting management. Take the next step in your professional development and transform how your Executive and your organisation conduct meetings.
