How to Run Meetings That Employees Will Actually Like

How to have productive meetings

According to research by Ragan Communications and PoliteMail, meetings, including all-team meetings and direct manager meetings, remain one of the most effective employee communication tools, ranking just behind broadcast email for reaching employees.

Unfortunately, not all meetings are productive. Atlassian says meetings are ineffective 72% of the time. And researchers claim that companies lose billions of dollars every year due to unproductive meetings.

The most effective meetings help employees make decisions, solve problems, share information, or coordinate work. When attendees understand why they’re there and what is expected of them, meetings become more focused and valuable.

What makes staff meetings effective?

Effective staff meetings help employees stay informed, aligned, and connected to organizational priorities. The best staff meetings:

• Focus on information employees need.
• Encourage two-way communication.
• Provide opportunities for questions.
• Avoid unnecessary updates that could be shared via email.
• End with clear responsibilities and follow-up actions.

Leaders should regularly evaluate whether recurring staff meetings are still serving their intended purpose. If a meeting no longer adds value, it may be time to shorten it, redesign it, or eliminate it altogether.

What are the 5Ps of effective meetings?

One popular framework for running effective meetings is the 5 Ps:

Purpose

Clearly define why the meeting is taking place and what success looks like.

Participants

Invite only the people who are needed to achieve the meeting’s objective.

Preparation

Provide agendas, materials, and expectations ahead of time.

Participation

Create opportunities for attendees to contribute ideas, ask questions, and share feedback.

Progress

Document decisions, assign action items, and establish next steps.

When organizations consistently follow the 5 Ps, meetings become more productive, engaging, and action-oriented.

How to have productive meetings

1. Establish meeting goals.

Atlassian found that “62% of workers often attend meetings that didn’t even state a goal in the invite.” To plan an engaging meeting, start by defining your goals. Tell attendees what you hope to accomplish. If you can’t identify a goal, don’t have the meeting.

2. Determine the type of meeting.

While there is no universally accepted taxonomy of types of meetings, they generally try to accomplish one of six things:

1. Share information (e.g., briefing, all-hands)
2. Make decisions (e.g., board, governance)
3. Solve problems (e.g., working session, troubleshooting)
4. Generate ideas (e.g., brainstorming, whiteboarding)
5. Coordinate work (e.g., stand-up, project sync)
6. Build relationships (e.g., team-building, check-in)

What you hope to accomplish will determine the type of meeting you need to coordinate.

3. Create an agenda.

A productive meeting agenda should answer four questions before the meeting begins:

1. What is the purpose of the meeting?
2. What topics will be discussed?
3. How much time is allocated for each topic?
4. What decisions or outcomes are expected?

Sharing an agenda 24 to 48 hours before the meeting allows participants to prepare, contribute more effectively, and determine whether they need to attend. A well-structured agenda also helps prevent conversations from drifting off-topic.

4. Choose the right time of day.

A 2020 study of 715 remote Microsoft employees found that it’s best to avoid important meetings early in the day. “Email multitasking behavior occurs most often in the morning.” Conversely, lightweight morning meetings may help remote employees transition smoothly from “home” to “work” mode. Your meeting goals, type, and agenda should inform when you schedule your meeting.

5. Encourage active participation.

If you want to lead engaging meetings, you need to intentionally design ways for people to participate. While participation might occur organically in some teams, it doesn’t occur naturally in many others. And talk time isn’t usually evenly distributed among attendees. The same voices typically dominate the conversation.

How to encourage participation during meetings

To encourage more balanced participation—and foster more engaging meetings—invite attendees to:

• Submit questions before a Q&A session or all-hands meeting.
• Participate in live polls.
• Discuss meeting topics in smaller groups.
• Share their thoughts with other attendees.
• In virtual meetings, ensure that someone is appointed to monitor the chat box and respond to relevant questions or comments via text or voice.
• Provide ample silence after you ask for thoughts or questions. In virtual and hybrid meetings, you also need to account for the time it takes attendees to unmute or type a thought and share it in the chat box.
• Watch for “hand-raisers” who prefer to be called on, both in-person and virtually.
• Watch for folks who want to speak but don’t get the opportunity because someone else unmutes or speaks before them. This often happens silently, so watch for attendees who unmute their mics or in-person attendees who open their mouths, but don’t get a chance to speak. When you see this occur, you might say, “Taylor, I saw you unmute. Did you have something you want to add?”

When attendees know their contributions are valued, they will participate more. Conversely, if an employee feels ignored during a meeting, they won’t be motivated to participate in future meetings.

6. Schedule shorter meetings.

The Microsoft study found that longer meetings are associated with more multitasking. Similarly, researchers have found that 80% of workers think most of their meetings should be half their current duration. Experiment with shorter meetings. If you schedule 30-minute meetings, trial-run 15-minute check-ins. If your organization plans 90-minute all-hands each month, consider 45-minute all-hands bi-weekly.

7. Determine next steps.

Before you end a meeting, determine the next steps. Assign tasks to attendees or confirm responsibilities that folks committed to during the call. Attendees should know what’s expected of them after a meeting.

How do virtual meetings differ from in-person meetings?

While the fundamentals of productive meetings remain the same, virtual meetings present unique challenges. Participants are more likely to multitask, experience distractions, or hesitate to contribute to discussions when they are joining remotely.

To make virtual meetings more engaging:

• Use polls, chat, and Q&A features to encourage participation.
• Build in opportunities for attendees to contribute throughout the meeting.
• Allow extra time for questions and discussion.
• Watch for participants who raise their hands or indicate they want to speak.
• Keep meetings concise to reduce screen fatigue.
• Ensure someone is monitoring chat comments and questions.

For hybrid meetings, it’s equally important to create an inclusive experience for both in-person and remote participants. Meeting leaders should actively invite contributions from remote attendees and avoid side conversations that exclude those joining virtually.

How to measure meeting effectiveness with PoliteMail

Running productive meetings is important, but how do you know if employees are actually engaging with your meeting invitations?

PoliteMail’s Appointment Measurement feature helps communicators and leaders measure Outlook meeting invitations the same way they measure email communications. Instead of relying solely on attendance, you can track key meeting response metrics and gain visibility into how employees interact with meeting invitations.

With Appointment Measurement, you can:

• Measure Outlook meeting invitations directly within Outlook.
• Track acceptance, decline, tentative, and pending responses.
• View meeting-specific reports separate from email communications.
• Personalize meeting invitations using PoliteMail features.
• Identify trends in employee participation and meeting engagement.

These insights can help communicators answer important questions:

• Are employees accepting invitations to staff meetings?
• Which recurring meetings have the highest participation rates?
• Are certain departments or audiences more likely to decline invitations?
• Is meeting attendance improving after changes to agendas, timing, or format?

By combining meeting best practices with appointment measurement data, organizations can move beyond assumptions and make informed decisions about how meetings are scheduled, structured, and communicated. Rather than guessing whether a meeting is effective, you can use data to continuously improve participation and engagement.

Transform how you conduct meetings

You’re well prepared to lead engaging meetings. Establish meeting goals and identify the meeting type. Create an agenda and schedule it for the optimal time. Intentionally create ways for participants to engage by asking for thoughts and questions, and giving people meaningful time to think and share. If applicable, schedule shorter meetings. And always determine next steps before you wrap up.

Productive meetings are a direct result of intentional planning and thoughtful scheduling. By fostering a culture of purposeful and efficient meetings, you can reduce the risk of boredom and ultimately disengagement.