an objective for every meeting

i was reading an article on planning effective meetings and one very basic statement jumped out at me. the author said "every meeting should have a written objective and a written agenda."

i think most of us agree with the agenda part but clarifying (and writing down) the OBJECTIVE is so critical. how many meetings have you planned or simply attended where you had no idea what you were trying to accomplish? you've met, you've talked, you've given updates, but it doesn't lead to any particular conclusion or goal.

i've been challenging myself lately to be much more intentional with my meetings. i'm heading out of town for vacation this week. so yesterday, the written objective for a short meeting with my team was "to make decisions on things that would require my input while i'm gone." clarifying that objective ahead of time was SO HELPFUL! it helped me keep us focused on specific issues that might come up this week instead of drifting into the many other things that, while important, don't require a decision this week.

hopefully instead of more meetings, we can all have more effective meetings.