6 Bad Meeting Behaviors

Team meetings are necessary for the smooth running of an organization or company. It is a manager's responsibility to conduct meetings regularly to keep their members in the loop, and managers must make sure these meetings are brief yet informative. Otherwise, everyone's time will be wasted.

To make sure your team meetings are good and fruitful, as a leader, you have to put a stop to bad behaviors. What you'll find below are the worst meeting behaviors that must not be tolerated:

1. Doing individual work during the meeting.

Make your staff understand that working during meetings is prohibited. Looking at their laptops and typing documents should not be tolerated. If some team members have deadlines to meet, you might as well excuse them so they can catch up on their work.

2. Eating while in the meeting.

There's no way it is acceptable for team members to eat during the meeting. Having coffee or light snacks can be acceptable, but if they have to bring in a meal, for instance, perhaps you should pay attention to the schedule and the duration of the meeting.

3. Using mobile phones during meetings.

It's common for meeting participants to use their mobile phones under the table. They also turn their devices on silent mode to keep them from becoming a distraction. But still, you don't want your team to have divided attention during your short meeting. You want them to pay full attention to you so that every agenda will be covered and understood by every member of the meeting.

4. Lack of participation from the members.

Naturally, you have participants in your meetings. But the question is whether or not they are participative enough. You need to encourage them to be active during the meeting. Remember that your goal is to get input from each individual, and thus, you have to encourage them to voice out their opinions and suggestions.

5. Taking phone calls.

Texting and using laptops should not be allowed inside the meeting room. And don't forget that taking and making phone calls should not be allowed in there as well. Although this is a no-brainer, many people still make the mistake of receiving calls during meetings, which is very distracting to the entire group.

6. Getting to the meeting late.

Make it a rule to not allow late comers join the meeting. Those who come in more than 5 minutes late should not be allowed to participate in the meeting anymore. What they should do is ask other participants so they can catch up with what's been talked about. As a manager , you need to be tough in implementing these rules if you want your meetings to be effective, efficient, and productive.