Our five golden rules for a successful meeting

Our five golden rules for a successful meeting

 

In our post on 9th March, we looked at the top five skills all project managers should have. Number five on our list was being able to manage meetings. Because well-run meetings are such a vital part of a project’s success, we said we’d look at them again in a future post.

So today, we’re going to look at how you can make sure your meetings are a success.

The professional meeting goer

Many of us go to so many meetings it can seem like that’s all our job is. An endless round of agendas, minutes, background papers, reports, coffee, biscuits and hoping you’ll be able to park.

Will your morning meeting be over in time so you can go back to your office before your afternoon meeting? How many of the people who were in your last meeting will be in your next meeting? How many people do you only ever meet in meetings?

What are all these meetings for?

But, however much we may moan about them, we do need meetings. They’re a key part of how we share information, make decisions and keep a project moving forward.

Meetings can also be the only time different people involved in a project get to see each other. So they can be an important way to keep partners connected and involved.

How to make sure people come to your meetings

When people are confident that your meetings are relevant, useful, well run and overall a good use of their time, they’ll come to them. And, perhaps more importantly, they’ll keep coming.

This is key, because consistent commitment and participation from the right people is one of the things that will help your projects succeed.

So take a look at our golden rules for how to run a successful meeting. They’ll help your meetings succeed and, as a result, help your projects succeed too.

 

Our five golden rules for successful meetings

 

 1. Make sure you invite the right people

Only invite people who are involved in the business of the meeting, can contribute to it and make decisions - or who have a direct link to those who can. This is particularly important with public sector organizations where the decision-making process can have several layers and be complex.

Generally, for a meeting to be effective no more than 12 people should be part of the core group. However, from time to time you may also want to invite people who you need to hear from or who need to hear what you’re discussing.

 

2. Plan the meeting carefully

When you’re putting the agenda together make sure you stay focused on a clear outcome (or outcomes, but not too many – see point about timing below). Think about what the meeting needs to decide, discuss and hear about now. If something doesn’t require immediate action or isn’t clearly relevant, leave it for a later date or don’t include it at all.

Show whether each agenda item is for decision, information or discussion. As people are usually more lively and creative at the start of a meeting, put items that need mental energy and clear heads at the top of the agenda. However, it can also be helpful to put items of significant interest and concern further down the agenda. This can help people get over the natural attention lag that happens about 20 minutes in to a meeting.

It’s also worth thinking about the impact agenda items will have on the group. Some will bring people together while others can create a divide. The order in which you include these items will make a difference to the whole atmosphere of the meeting. For example, it is worth ending the meeting with an item that creates consensus so that people leave on a positive note.

 

3. Time the meeting carefully

Set a time for your meeting and stick to it. And try not to let it last longer than two hours. Meetings that go on too long become less effective.

Include the start and end time on the agenda as well as the timing for each agenda item. This will help keep people focused and prevent the meeting from overrunning.

We all hate lengthy meetings that go on and on so doing this will help people look at your meetings in a positive way and encourage them to attend regularly.

 

4. Set the right tone

You, or the chair, need to set the tone for the meeting from the start. Make sure it’s purposeful, focused and energetic. However, you also want people to feel comfortable and able to contribute so make a conscious effort to include everyone and allow some time for a more easy-going approach.

The right tone also relates to what happens outside of the meeting. So make it clear you expect people to prepare, to turn up on time, to participate and to carry out actions they commit to.

 

5. Follow-up the meeting properly

Once you’ve held your meeting send the minutes to everyone promptly, preferably within a week. Include the actions you agreed on and the names of the people who will carry them out.

Minutes also help people who weren’t at the meeting catch up on what was discussed and agreed. If necessary, get in touch with them in person to share what happened and discuss any particular issues with them. This will show they were missed and encourage them to stay committed to the work of the group and attend next time.

Well-run meetings are particularly useful when you’re managing multi-agency projects. They can bring people together who otherwise wouldn’t meet. They can help to define the partnership. And they can help people to understand both their collective aim and the way in which they and others can contribute to and influence this.

 

To find out more about how Verto can make your project management easier please call us on 0844 870 8785 or message us here.

How Verto is helping the NHS deliver improvements

Health services are under constant and increasing demand. So the best way for healthcare staff to respond to this demand and meet the needs of their patients is through partnership working. As experts in collaboration, Verto is well placed to support the NHS in these partnerships.

 

In 44 areas covering the whole of England, the NHS, local councils and other providers are working together to improve health and care. Each area has developed a proposal, called a sustainability and transformation plan (STP), that focuses on the needs of the local population.

 

We have been working closely with the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) area.

 

The BNSSG STP

 

The whole of the local health and social care community in BNSSG has been involved in developing the STP. This includes hospitals, local authorities, community providers, mental health organizations, the ambulance service, GPs and other commissioners.

 

Their aim, under the STP, is to design and deliver health and care services that are affordable and sustainable. The different organisations are working together under one vision that focuses on keeping people well rather than treating illness.

 

We’ve worked in partnership with them to create a collaboration hub that makes it easier for them to work together and successfully deliver their STP.

 

The key numbers

 

1 vision

Covering 21 overarching projects

For 15 partner organisations

With more than 48,000 staff

Serving a population of nearly 1 million

Spending nearly £1.5 billion every year

 

 

What Verto is providing

 

We have created a cloud-based collaboration hub where staff can:

 

Manage projects and programmes together

Access their project toolkit

Read the STP and other project documents

Find information on new processes

Access a shared calendar with dates for events, meetings and workshops as well as key project deadlines

Find out the names and contact details of people working on projects

Complete standardised project management approaches

Complete and review reports

Share files and documents

 

Because Verto is based in the cloud it supports mobile working so staff can access the hub from any device, whenever they need to and from wherever they are.

 

It also means staff will receive real-time updates. These will keep them up to date with everything that’s going on. They’ll know when actions are complete and they’ll know if things start to fall behind. This will help make sure the STP stays on track to deliver its 21 key projects.

 

And Verto’s instant messaging tool means staff can communicate with each other quickly and easily. Whenever they need to they can chat to one person, a specific team or everyone involved in a project.

 

 

We’ll include a case study of our work with the BNSSG STP area in a future post. In the meantime, to find out more about how we can support your partnership working, please call us on 0844 870 8785 or message us here.


Who can benefit from Verto’s project management software?

You can benefit from Verto’s collaboration and project software, even if you don’t have the words programme or project management in your job title.

It doesn’t matter if you work in the public or the private sector either.

 

The benefits of our cloud-based software extend to a wide range of roles in a wide range of organisations, such as:

  • Private sector companies from SMEs to large corporates
  • NHS STPs
  • Other NHS organisations and health authorities
  • Local authorities including county, city and borough councils
  • Fire and Rescue Services
  • Government departments
  • Shared services organisations

 

Any PMO, organisation or individual who manages a number of different projects will benefit from using our software. For example, Peterborough City Council was managing 70 individual projects when we started working with them.

And any organisation working in collaboration with others will benefit from Verto’s shared platform too.

 

Verto can help you with:

  • Service delivery
  • Performance planning
  • Client and stakeholder engagement
  • Programme control and governance
  • Risk analysis
  • Shared practice
  • Managing resources
  • Flexible working
  • Costs and timesheets
  • Measuring project delivery
  • Business intelligence and reporting

 

We don’t just provide the software either.

We can train you and your team how to use Verto, and train you to train others in your organisation too.

We can help you move your operations to the cloud.

We can configure Verto to suit your individual requirements. For example, we can help NHS organisations run their QIPP reports and ISFE returns.

We can help you manage corporate transformation programmes.

We can help you manage your capital portfolio.

We can help you improve levels of governance and visibility across your projects.

And we can help you manage resources more effectively and make savings – to date we’ve helped our clients plan and track savings of £13.2 billion.

 

We could go on, but the best way to find out how Verto can help make your work easier is to talk to us. Please message us here.


Northgate Vehicle Hire, Aylesbury Vale CCG and Perth & Kinross Health & Social Care Partnership All Choose Verto

We are delighted to now include Northgate Vehicle Hire, Aylesbury Vale CCG and Perth & Kinross Health & Social Care Partnership to our list of Verto users.

Northgate Vehicle Hire

Northgate vehicle hire provide van hire and leasing options to businesses as an alternative to purchase, contract hire or lease. With a growing network of 75 branches from Aberdeen to Plymouth their business continues to grow. Their fleet is made up of LCVs from the UK's leading manufacturers, including Mercedes Benz, Ford, VW and Peugeot, and a majority of branches have their own workshops which enables maintenance to be planned and scheduled at times that will cause least disruption to customers. Northgate Vehicle Hire also have a partnership in place with the AA to provide breakdown support and recovery. Verto enables them to maintain communication with their suppliers, while supporting their PMO and the management and delivery of their key projects and programmes.

Aylesbury Vale CCG

Verto has proved popular amongst many CCG's and now Aylesbury Vale CCG has been added to our list of users. The clinically led membership organisation is responsible for commissioning local NHS services to meet the needs of local people. Supporting the development of partnerships between patients, healthcare professionals, social care, voluntary services and commissioners in North Buckinghamshire, Verto is also instrumental in helping Aylesbury Vale CCG support collaboration amongst their project teams and with partner organisations, allowing them to build effective working relationships with other CCGs including Oxfordshire and Milton Keynes.

Perth & Kinross Health & Social Care Partnership

An initiative of Perth & Kinross Council, this strategic commissioning plan has been designed to ensure that the needs of the local community and individuals are met. Perth & Kinross Health & Social Care Partnership use Verto to support their coordinated approach to the way in which care services are delivered. This includes working collaboratively with GPs, hospitals, health workers and social care staff forming integrated partnership arrangements.

 

Find out more about which organisations are using Verto here.


21 Reasons Why You Should Use Verto for Your Project Management (as told to us by our clients)

We’re lucky enough to have received some great testimonials from our clients over the years.

And, like you, we listen to all the feedback we get and use it to help us continuously improve what we do.

Here are 21 reasons you should use Verto as your project management software, taken from what our clients have told us.

We’ve summarised their comments but you can see them in full here.

  1. Verto is a flexible management tool that will support your PMO.
  2. It means you can easily keep all your project documents up-to-date and secure in one place.
  3. It’s easy to navigate.
  4. Verto gives senior leadership improved visibility of projects across the whole organisation.
  5. You can easily see exactly what is going on in a particular business or service area.
  6. Everyone involved in the project can access the system to view and update it as appropriate.
  7. It removes the risks of silo working and makes it easier to work collaboratively.
  8. It will help you improve communication.
  9. It will help you improve accountability.
  10. It will help you improve stakeholder involvement.
  11. Verto will give you a clear view of all project budgets.
  12. Verto will give you a clear view of all project risks and help you manage them effectively.
  13. Verto will help your PMO allocate their time more efficiently and effectively.
  14. Verto is preset with best practice templates and controls to help ensure the integrity of your data.
  15. Its reports are quick and easy to customise, update and run.
  16. It will help you produce your corporate and strategic plans.
  17. We can tailor Verto to your exact needs, for example by creating bespoke reports.
  18. Verto gives you automatic document control.
  19. It’s good value for money.
  20. We’re continuously improving Verto’s scope, tools and functionality.
  21. Verto is backed-up by fantastic support from a first-class team.

 

For more information on how Verto can help you please call us on 0844 870 8785 or send us a message.

With thanks to Brent Council, Camden Council, Cheshire West Council, Denbighshire County Council, Gloucestershire County Council, Harrow Council, Horsham Council, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, Basildon Council, Newham Council, Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council, Wolverhampton Council, York Council, Central Eastern CSU, Thurrock CCG and Basildon CCG.