Do your people complain that there are too many meetings in your organization and that not enough gets done in them?
Perhaps you have a weekly management meeting. Why is it weekly?
Do you have a purpose and a desired outcome for the meeting? Does everyone know what that is? If the desired outcome changes each week, are you the only person that knows that?
Do you have a written agenda that is shared with everyone? Do you stick to it? If someone goes off agenda do you bring it back to the agenda without making them feel small? Do you have a parking lot (a place to list topics for other meetings) that records all the good ideas that pop up?
Do you have an allotted time for the meeting that you stick to?
If you are rolling your eyes and moaning, I get it. This takes preparation and focus.
In addition to the suggestions above, you could have the team rate the meeting on a scale of 1-10 and make one suggestion on what could have been better. If the suggestions make sense, implement them. Always say thank you for the suggestions. Don’t disagree or defend. Restraint here creates a culture of upward feedback-that you take input.
Model good meeting hygiene and people will learn from you. If you want to take this further, set a purpose and a desired outcome for each day. Review it at the end of the day while you plan the next. If you give yourself a 4 out of 10, remember that without this intentionality, it could have been a 1 or less. Imagine if everyone at your company did this. Wow. This is scary good.
Illustration and great electronic meeting resources at http://quickbase.intuit.com/blog/how-to-make-scheduling-meetings-easier-and-more-productive