Meeting Feedback & Follow-up

The final stage in our model for effective meetings is Meeting Feedback & Follow-up. On the MeetingArk website you can find discussion groups about Meeting Feedback & Follow-up, and a set of FAQs (and answers) relating to Meeting Feedback & Follow-up.

Our discussion groups on Meeting Feedback & Follow-up cover a number of topics, starting with briefing non-attendees. Is it sufficient to send a copy of the meeting notes to affected non-attendees, or should someone be nominated to brief them personally? Perhaps you have some thoughts on this.

We think that reviewing the meeting is a topic that is really important, but frequently overlooked. The review need only be answering four questions: What went well? What didn’t go so well? What could be improved? and What should we carry on with / do more of next time? Comments are welcome if you have experience of meeting reviews.

Asking for & giving feedback is something that doesn’t come naturally to many of us. Constructive feedback should help people develop, improve and change. And it can cover both what has been good and bad in the meeting. So why do most of us find it difficult to give or ask for feedback?

Many meetings result in agreeing to do certain tasks, therefore completing actions is a highly relevant topic. People have different approaches to fulfilling their obligations – some prefer to get them done as soon as possible, while many leave things until the last moment. At your meetings you could mentally note when previously agreed actions have been completed and see what patterns emerge.

Consequently following up actions is also an important discussion topic. Is this something that can wait until the next meeting? And how should you tackle someone who repeatedly doesn’t do what they said they were going to do? We feel sure that many people will want to make suggestions on this topic.

In our experience, commenting on minutes / notes is something that happens only rarely (although some formal meetings do have a slot on the agenda of the next meeting for this). Please use this discussion group to make any suggestions on tactful ways of disagreeing with or asking for corrections to the issued notes.

The last discussion topic under Meeting Feedback & Follow-up is spin-off meetings / projects. A lot of good ideas can come from meetings and they don’t always fit within the framework of the meeting that gave birth to them. So this discussion group looks at how best to pursue such spin-offs.

We hope you find these discussion groups useful and hope you will contribute to some or all of these discussions about Meeting Feedback & Follow-up.