From the course: Leading Productive Meetings

Taking meeting minutes

From the course: Leading Productive Meetings

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Taking meeting minutes

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- Ever heard of the concept of taking minutes in the meeting? The idea is that one person acts as a scribe and summarizes comments and points covered in the meeting. They then share those notes with the whole team after the meeting is over. To some, this may seem like an outdated or unnecessary concept, especially when a meeting is recorded but it's not always necessary. However, I've found having one person take minutes helps keep everyone on the same page, both during and after the meeting and can save all team members a lot of time. It starts with the facilitator designating one person as the notetaker. You can rotate this responsibility. However, if one person likes it and is good at it, you might want to stick with them. Great notetakers often have high attention to detail and write quickly and accurately. Next, the notetaker can use or adapt the Meeting Minutes Template I provided in the exercise files. At the top of the form, you'll find places to indicate the facilitator, the note taker and the date and time of the meeting. There's a place to track the training moment, previous commitments, and how much time each attendee will have. The middle section is most important. This is where you make notes about what each attendee discussed during their time. There isn't a lot of space and that's by design. The notetaker should focus on actions, rather than trying to cover every word a person says. Actions typically revolve around doing, changing and making things happen both inside and outside the group. For instance, if during the meeting I commit to Revee that I'm going to deliver a document by next Tuesday, then you would note that in the who, what and when box. Who? Dave. What? Will send the document to Revee. When? By next Tuesday. Why are we tracking this? First, when wrapping up at the end of the meeting, the notetaker will remind everyone of their commitment and second, after the meeting's over, the notetaker can send an email with the notes to everyone who was in attendance or even absent. This gives everyone a chance to quickly review what was covered. When you receive your copy of the minutes, pay extra attention to any time your name is mentioned, especially if they say you made a commitment to someone else. If for some reason you see something you want to clarify, you can send a message to the team with your suggested change. That helps everyone stay on the same page. With simple notetaking, you can help people follow through on their commitments and strengthen team communication.

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