Ten Meeting Resolutions for the Year Ahead
Every new year brings new resolutions—we set intention statements for habits to build, patterns to break, and goals to achieve throughout the year. Although some view New Year’s resolutions as a waste of time, setting positive and realistic resolutions, especially for your business or organization, can improve motivation, foster a sense of accomplishment, and increase accountability within your team.
Resolve to Meet with Intention
No more “just in case” meetings: before scheduling one, consider the purpose and objectives.
Resolve to Respect Everyone’s Time
Start and end meetings on time and keep them only as long as necessary.
Resolve to Prepare, Not Improvise
Share agendas and read-ahead materials so meetings run smoothly.
Resolve to Invite Only the Necessary Individuals
Right-size attendance so decisions get made efficiently.
Resolve to Document Decisions and Actions
Capture action items so nothing slips through the cracks.
Resolve to Encourage Every Voice
The strongest teams benefit from diverse perspectives—you must create opportunities for quieter team members to contribute, for remote participants to feel included, and allow for constructive debates. Engagement and participation rise when everyone feels heard.
Resolve to Reduce Meeting Fatigue
Back-to-back meetings can be a real drain on your team’s energy and focus. It is important to leverage asynchronous collaboration, shareable documents, and meeting summaries as much as possible to avoid excessive meetings.
Resolve to End Each Meeting With Clarity
It is best practice to wrap up each meeting with a clear recap. This allows the entire team to be on the same page, know who is accountable for what and when those items are due, and what the goals are for the next meeting.
Resolve to Regularly Review Your Meetings
As teams and priorities change, meetings should evolve, too. Reviewing recurring meetings ensures you can remove those that may not serve their intended purpose anymore. Part of reviewing a meeting also includes reviewing its frequency and desired outcomes.
Resolve to Make Meetings Work for People
Design meetings that support both productivity and your team’s wellbeing: consider leaving space in meeting agendas for flexibility and natural team interactions instead of keeping them jam-packed with structured discussions. (See our previous post on how to create effective meeting agendas.)
Need help turning these resolutions into practice?
Our meeting support services help teams plan, facilitate, and follow through—without the overload.
Contact us today for a consultation and let our meeting support experts help your meetings succeed.
Contact us for a consultationBack to Meeting Your Needs home.
Do you have questions or concerns about meetings? Share them with us!
PAI Consulting | Helping you succeed. Learn more.
Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not the opinion of PAI Consulting. In addition, this article may contain links to third-party websites. PAI Consulting does not endorse or make any representations about them, or any information, software, or other products or materials found there, or any results that may be obtained from using them.
We welcome thoughtful and respectful discussion.
To keep this space safe and productive, please follow these guidelines:
Be respectful. Personal attacks, name-calling, and abusive language will not be tolerated.
Stay on topic. Keep comments relevant to the content of the post.
No spam or self-promotion. Links and promotions that are not relevant to the discussion will be removed.
Use appropriate language. This is a professional environment—please avoid profanity or offensive language.
Protect privacy. Don’t share personal information—yours or anyone else’s.
You may reply to, like, or flag other comments.
Comments are moderated and may be edited or removed at our discretion.
By commenting, you agree to abide by this policy.