A simple tool to 📈 productivity 50%

Use the Meeting Agenda Planner (MAP) to make your meetings more productive!

As leaders running a healthcare practice, it is our responsibility to ensure that our team is focused on getting the right things done.  If we don’t do this, we are not growing.  If we are not helping more patients, we are not profitable, and pending doom lies ahead. 

One area with a global reputation as a time-waster is the dreaded meeting. The very word, “meeting” promotes feelings of drudgery, and makes many team members’ eyes roll. The reputation is well-earned. We often waste the most time in meetings, and the result of the meeting is often lost to disregard. 

Common time-killers in meetings include the following:  No leader, no clear agenda, no time limit, lack of clarity on decision or assignments, and no record/minutes to refer to after the meeting.  Not only is the meeting a waste of time, the lack of clarity results in fragmented interpretation among team members, leading to fragmented tasks and a fragmented use of time after the meeting.

Our greatest asset is time! We only have 168 hours in a week – and only 40 of those dedicated to a typical 5-day work work. We cannot store more time in the bank and withdraw it when we want or need it. Bad meetings are like trying to heat a house during the winter with the windows and doors wide open!!!

I created The MAP to help myself and our team turn our meetings into jet fuel to reach our highest priorities and goals.  Feel free to share and use this with your team!  Here is the 6-step process.

• Step 1:  Leader: Make a copy and give a name:  “Financial Meeting”
• Step 2:  What is the goal: “Achieve 10% profit in Q2”
• Step 3:  Who needs to be there:  “Practice Managers/leaders”
• Step 4:  Create the agenda and share to attendees in advance
• Step 5:  Leader facilitates meeting and navigates MAP
• Step 6:  Re-Share completed MAP to all participants 

This is simple – and yet the most effective tool we have used throughout the life of our practice. It creates efficiency, alignment and multiplies your team’s ability to achieve your highest priorities and goals.

Grateful to be on this journey with you,

Dr. Matthew Harkness