By Mandy Green
2 minute read
Think back to your last few recruiting meetings with your staff. Did any of the following happen – either by you or one of your colleagues?
- Someone arrived late, forcing the team to start over just to bring them up to speed.
- The meeting started with, “So, what should we talk about today?” because there was no agenda.
- No time limit was set, so the meeting dragged on and bled into other tasks.
- The meeting started with admissions topics but quickly veered off onto unrelated tangents, meaning no real progress was made.
- Someone took a phone call while still in the room.
- Someone got distracted and checked their email.
- Side conversations disrupted focus.
- No one took notes.
- Every point was belabored by too much discussion.
- People interrupted each other with “better ideas.”
- There was a room full of “yes” people who just agreed with everything—so no real debate or progress happened.
- Some attendees weren’t prepared to contribute.
- Every comment was met with a quip instead of meaningful discussion.
- Some people didn’t speak up at all.
- And, most importantly, there were no clear expectations for what was to be done next or who was responsible.
Did I hit any of your buttons with this list? If you or your admissions team are guilty of any of these common meeting mistakes, now might be the perfect time to step back and rethink how your meetings are run. It’s time to set better standards that actually lead to results.
If your meetings sound like what I described above, you’re wasting valuable time. And time spent on unproductive meetings isn’t going to help you bring in the right students.
In his book Meetings Suck, Cameron Herold explains that meetings should align your team, provide direction, generate energy, focus, and creativity, and inspire your people to take action – all of which can elevate your admissions efforts… if meetings are run correctly.
There are a lot of ways to run more productive meetings but I’ll share one key tip with you today:
If you’re going to have an admissions recruiting meeting, the #1 goal should be to determine the exact actions needed that week to move prospective students forward in the admissions process.
Before the meeting ends, decide what steps can be taken to move a prospective student closer to application, further engagement, or a decision.
End the meeting and get to work. Hope that helps.