Final answer:
Productive meetings have clear objectives, effective communication, action-oriented outcomes, efficient time management, and active engagement. Unproductive meetings lack preparation, suffer from poor time management, have disengaged participants, lacked clear outcomes, and exhibited ineffective communication.
Step-by-step explanation:
The characteristics of a productive meeting:
- Clear objectives: A productive meeting has clearly defined objectives that focus on specific topics or tasks.
- Effective communication: The meeting encourages open and effective communication among participants, allowing everyone to share their ideas and perspectives.
- Action-oriented: Productive meetings result in actionable outcomes and clear next steps to ensure progress is made.
- Efficient time management: Time is used wisely and efficiently in a productive meeting, with agendas and timelines followed.
- Active engagement: Participants actively engage in the discussion, contributing their knowledge and expertise.
Examples:
- A team meeting where the objective is to brainstorm ideas for a new marketing campaign, with each participant actively contributing and a clear plan of action established.
- A project review meeting where team members discuss progress, address any challenges, and develop strategies to overcome them.
The characteristics of an unproductive meeting:
- Lack of preparation: Participants come unprepared without reviewing necessary materials or familiarizing themselves with the agenda.
- Poor time management: The meeting goes off track, running over the scheduled time or spending too much time on irrelevant topics.
- Lack of engagement: Participants are disengaged, not actively participating or contributing to the discussion.
- No clear outcomes: The meeting ends without clear next steps or actionable items identified.
- Ineffective communication: Communication is unclear, dominated by one or a few individuals, or distracted by side conversations.
Examples:
- A meeting where participants arrive late, unprepared, and spend the majority of the time discussing unrelated personal topics.
- A meeting where the agenda is not followed, and there is no clear objective or outcome, resulting in confusion and lack of progress.