Conducting the Best Business Meetings & Professionalism in Them

71% of senior managers say meetings are unproductive and inefficient according to Golden Steps ABA and almost 50% of employees consider meetings to be a waste of time according to a survey by Salary.com. With so many individuals feeling like meetings are not worth it, it’s important to conduct the best meetings you can and ensure you are professional both as a team leader and a team employee.

Steps to Having an Exceptional Business Meeting

First and foremost, your meetings need to have a clear agenda with set goals. Like anything, having a thorough plan is vital. Your goals should entail what you are hoping to achieve from the meeting/why you are having this meeting as well as determine any challenges that may present themselves and how many individuals really needed this meeting. Your agenda, which is like a timeline of the meeting, should cover your goals (as detailed above), who will lead each topic/the whole meeting, time spent on each topic, questions you would like answered, and time for attendee questions. Once you have your agenda outline detailed and ready, it’s time to decide who to invite. Inviting the right team members is vital to the success of the meeting. When thinking of who to invite, consider the following: those with knowledge, responsibility, and authority of said topic, those that are crucial to executing what you’ll need, and those who are the most affected by the problem. Keeping all these factors in mind can help your business meetings soar to new heights.

Once everything is in place to have the meeting, it’s important to keep direction throughout the meeting too. For starters, stay on time in both start and finish. Workers will be more enthusiastic to participate knowing that they can still have time for everything else they are busy with. Furthermore, staying on track will keep everyone from wasting additional time. Next, although not needed, consider changing up the time and/or place of your meetings. Meetings can become more mundane to some if they are at the same set time and/or place everyday. During the meeting, there may be a lot of problem-solving. As the leader, you want to make certain that you have good conflict resolution skills to guide the meeting smoothly. Some ways to handle this could include: having a zero tolerance policy for personal attacks, avoiding direct blame, and identifying common goals and then building on them. Lastly, be sure to keep records of the meetings and try to gain feedback on it. Like anything, feedback can show what is disliked by people and helps you to change whatever needs to be done to have a successful meeting!

Standing Out in Your Business Meetings & Proper Etiquette

Whether you are the one conducting a business meeting or are simply just a part of one, it’s paramount that you act accordingly. Although many of us know the basic meeting etiquette, it is still in good interest to review. First off, dress formally, arrive on time, and maintain good posture! These are the basic fundamentals of appropriate etiquette in any meeting. Moreover, keep away any personal items that could make you seem distracted. (The biggest example being your phone.) Finally, be sure to show that you are actively paying attention. This means maintaining eye contact with the speaker and nodding along to show your engagement.

With all that is mentioned above, there are still a few ways to help you stand out. To start, be sure to speak up. If you are being addressed, be confident and comfortable to speak up clearly and loudly (at a reasonable level of course). Speaking up also means expressing your ideas/thoughts as soon as it’s appropriate. By actively participating and sharing your thoughts, you are one, having more attention focused on you and two, by promptly sharing your thoughts, you are jumping on ideas before anyone else can say the same thing. Another way to, subtly, garner attention is by sitting near the boss. Those that are sat around the boss show the most amount of attentiveness. It displays to others that you are their right-hand person. Finally, arrive early to the meeting. This indicates you are eager and ready for the meeting. Additionally, arriving early can often give more insight to the meeting since the leads will usually be there first.

Have the Best Business Meetings You Can!

Since business meetings are mostly unavoidable, it’s important to maintain professionalism and learn how to conduct the best meetings you can!

Creating and Perfecting your Business’s Website

29% of businesses still do not have a website as of 2023. Furthermore, a shocking 82% of all websites are inactive! With our world being so entwined with the digital one, having a website is vital to your business.

Basic Building Blocks to Creating a Website

Whether you’re tech savvy or not, creating a website can seem like a daunting task. Starting simple, determine the purpose of your website. Contemplate what an individual will be looking for about your business. The website should make this purpose simple and straightforward. After you have an idea of what you want your website to achieve, it’s time to decide your domain name. This name is very important as this is what the website will show to everyone. This will usually cost you, but it’s imperative as it protects your domain name from being taken and ensures that the name you’ve chosen is not already taken. (More on picking a domain name here, from MailChimp.) The last major part of creating a website is, of course, choosing your website host! A website host is exactly as it sounds – another site that will host your website. You can find both free and paid website hosting services. Free may be the easiest when you’re getting started (and there’s nothing wrong with that!), but it usually comes with other stipulations that may be displeasing to you or future customers/clients. This could be as simple as the host website trademarking on your website or something more galring like using ads around your website. Whatever host you decide to use, be certain that you understand what their services are offering and how much space you get so you can choose the best place to begin growing your website!

After all of the fundamentals are out of the way, it’s time to start building your website! Earlier, you determined the purpose of your website and what host site you would like to use. Many host sites provide templates for starting your website. This can be an invaluable tool for beginners. Whether you use a template or not, some common pages to start with include: slogan & mission statement, description of services, name and about us. Also, it is vital to include a contact information page or ensure it is somewhere on your website. This contact section should include all possible contact information for your business which usually entails: your business phone number, email address, and location (if applicable.) Your website should also include your business logo. If you do not currently have one, many host sites provide a service where you can create your own. A logo is paramount as it makes your brand easier to identify for clients/customers, allows you to create business cards, and keeps everything indistinguishable between your social media and website.

Once you have the website set up the way you like, be sure to test it. Many host sites allow you to view what it looks like from a customer point of view. Testing it also means ensuring it works across all (major) browsers. Also, don’t forget about mobile! You want to make sure that your website is displaying correctly to those on phones (or tablets) and that it still looks clean and professional to those customers/clients as well.

Improving your Website

If you already have a website or are looking to elevate the one you just made, there are many tips to perfecting your website. One of the simplest ways to help your website out is marketing it through your social media. Having your website available through social media makes everything flow cohesively and can bring more attention to your website. Posting on your social media showing yourself (and others) in your business can show the more human side of you, thus making people more attracted to your business. (For more ways to improve your social media, check out our previous monthly blog: Social Media Presence). Another way to show trust in your business is by keeping reviews/testimonials on your page and/or badges, awards, or certifications showing what you’ve accomplished in your business. As mentioned in a previous blog of ours, reviews can make or break immediate trust in your business. Showcasing good reviews on your website can improve the chances of clients/customers coming to you for their desired services.

Creating additional content for your website is another way to engage with customers or clients. This could look like blogs, video tutorials, frequently asked questions (about your business or the industry you work in), and more! This allows your audience to learn more about your business without dedicating time to it immediately. It should go without saying, but all content should be original and not copied from anywhere else. It’s okay to use examples and quotes from other people or sites, but plagiarizing content can both get in you a lot of trouble as well as cause search engines, especially Google, to prevent your content from even being shown in search results. By doing this regularly, it allows others to see your website is currently maintained and up-to-date as well as gives it fresh, new content for others to see or look forward to.

Finally, within our website, there are quite a few other small ways to make your website pop! Templates can be extremely helpful to those starting out or those with less time to spare, but creating a theme for your website and setting it up in an unique way can really draw more attention to your website. Be sure to still keep it simple and classy as too much, or too little, can push people away from your website. A whopping 75% of customers/clients judge a business’s credibility based on their website’s design, according to a study done by Kinesis Inc, so it’s vital you spend time ensuring your website is clean, easy to navigate, and direct but still simple. Moreover, make your home/landing page an attention grabber. Like the rest of your website pages, you want to ensure this page is just as clean, easy, etc, but also that there are stunning/aesthetic visuals, any easy way to get where needed immediately, a direct statement to hook clients/customers in, and your CTA. A CTA, known as call-to-action, is a text that prompts customers/clients to inquire for a response from your business or get an instant sale.

Having a Website is Crucial to Business

Websites can seem like a challenging task but by breaking it apart, it can get done easier. Moreover, the website for your business attracts more clients/customers and allows others to understand your company at first glance, easily and efficiently.

Organizational Structures & General Organization Importance in Business

According to the Wall Street Journal, office workers waste an average of 40% of their workday. “Not because they aren’t smart, but because they were never taught organizing skills to cope with the increasing workloads and demands.” With such a large number of individuals lacking organizational skills, it is crucial to have an organizational structure in your business and assure you have organizational skills in your life.

Different Organizational Structures in Business

An organizational structure determines how an organization is set up to deal with responsibilities, roles, decision-making, and who will report to who. Organizational structures are broken apart into two categories with the first one being Centralized versus Decentralized. This is also described as a vertical structure. Centralized is popular among businesses as this structure has a very clear chain of command and understanding of their roles, responsibilities, etc. Decentralized structures allow an individual in a business to have more independence in their group/team with their decisions and these individuals or teams may reach out to others within the business to further their work or goals. This structure may work well for a business that is constantly adapting and changing. THis structure may also be referred to as a flat structure. The other category of organizational structures is Hierarchical vs. Circular. The hierarchical structure is the most commonly seen in business with the triangle shape. With the triangle shape in mind, the top will be one person as the highest in command with each person falling under it having a supervisor. As you go further down, it leaves employees with less and less decision-making, responsibility, etc. A circular structure is similar but instead of that triangle shape, you’re looking at a circle where the next ‘ring’ is the next level of management. Although all organizational structures fall into these categories, there are many variations of these structures out there when deciding what suits your business best. To give you an idea and some examples of organizational structures; we’ve included a set of pictures below.

(All pictures credited to Forbes)

Why Organizational Structures are Beneficial

Having a clear organizational structure is important for many reasons. For starters, it allows everyone to have a clear understanding of their expectations and holds individuals accountable in their roles. Additionally, with everyone knowing their place in the organization, it can improve efficiency; especially as a business grows and every part of the organization becomes more specialized in what they’re doing. Depending on your organizational structure it may also encourage growth in employees and stimulate more collaboration throughout the organization.

Personal Organization is Vital

Being organized in the workplace can be just as important as your day to day life. First off, organization can help you to create a daily routine. Having a routine can allow you to be more comfortable and reduce feelings of stress and disarray in the workplace. Furthermore, this routine can aid in making you feel more prepared for each day; thus saving time as you don’t have to make as many decisions and already know what you need to do. Another way organization is beneficial is that it can improve work relationships. By being organized, you can spend less time honing in on deadlines and may have more time to attend work events or collaborating with your co-workers; therefore improving your work relationships. Good organization also fosters problem solving as it makes you realize possible problems before they become an issue. Organization can also combat stress from burnout, forgetfulness, and lack of time management.

Keeping everything organized can also be extremely valuable when it comes to the end of the year. Knowing where all your tax statements, receipts, and other important documents can save you additional stress and prevent wasting time searching for things that should have been filed away correctly throughout the year. Moreover, if your business gets audited, not having the appropriate documents can create more issues, cause unnecessary hassle, and may even cost you money. There are numerous other ways that organization can improve business that are not mentioned here – showing that organization is such an essential part of everyday life.

Organization & Organizational Structures are Paramount

Having a defined organizational structure in your business and ensuring you are organized in your life prevents extra stress, wasting needed time, and benefits you in many ways with productivity, good health, and much more!