Action Items and Tasks from meetings
One of the most important aspects of holding a meeting is to agree on tasks that should be carried out. During meetings tasks will be discussed and a team todo list will emerge. Sometimes, team members will volunteer themselves for tasks, while other tasks may need to be assigned to the most suitable person in the team. Tasks will be recorded in the minutes, and if you use MeetingKing as your meeting software, they will also be tracked in the automatic to-do list template.
This article has two parts:
General information on meeting task management
How MeetingKing can help with managing meeting tasks more efficiently
General information on meeting task management
What is a task?
The dictionary defines a task as, “a definite piece of work assigned to, falling to, or expected of a person; duty.” One of the primary purposes of meetings is to assign tasks related to a particular activity, record these, and then track their progress.
Failing to write down agreed tasks following a meeting, makes managing tasks very challenging. If not recorded in meeting minutes, action items will be forgotten, or not remembered correctly. This will lead to tasks not being completed on time, or not being completed correctly, or not being completed at all. It could also mean that you have to have another meeting to discuss the task again. Clearly, not managing tasks effectively is not an efficient use of time.
What to record in your meeting task list?
In your meeting minutes you should record some important information about tasks that are agreed. One is the detail of the task itself. This should include what the task is, and may perhaps also include what the outcome of the task will be (e.g. a document, a report, an email, etc). It is also essential for the minute taker to record the name of the person assigned to the task. There should be only one person responsible for the action item. Finally, a date for completion should also be recorded. This will remind the task owner that it has to be completed by a set date. It also allows you, as the meeting organizer, the possibility of following up on the person checking on their progress, relative to the completion date.
MeetingKing makes it easy to record and assign tasks
Delegating tasks
If you have to delegate tasks during a meeting, be sure to think about the person’s suitability to carry out a particular action. Think about whether the person has the knowledge, skills and experience to complete the task. If not, consider whether there is time for someone to learn while they are carrying out the task, or if in this instance it must be completed quickly by someone that already has lots of experience in this area. Delegating tasks can be an excellent way to motivate employees and give them an extra sense of responsibility, but this must be managed depending on the specific project and available time. If the person is relatively inexperienced you might want to also advise them where to go for help if they get stuck with the task.
Each task must have one main owner. A task may be completed by more than one person, but only one person can own the task. That person is responsible for making sure that the task is completed. Having one task owner makes the life of the meeting organizer simpler too, as it means there is just one person to chase up for status updates.
How MeetingKing can help
MeetingKing has a built-in action item tracking software that can help you to keep track of all team tasks. Its task manager allows your action item management process to be simplified and you can see at a glance which actions have been started or completed at any one time.
Creating a task is as simple as writing a note. You simply type the task, select the owner from the auto complete field and select a date. After this MeetingKing will perform the following administrative work for you:
- The task will be emailed to the owner
- It will be added to the meeting minutes template
- It will be added to the meeting tasks summary
- It will be displayed in the meeting organizer’s dashboard
- It will be listed in the task owner’s dashboard
- In case of a follow-up meeting, the task will be added to the agenda of the next meeting
The task owner can provide comments about the task, mark the task as complete and can even use MeetingKing as the delivery platform to attach the required report or document. Since all information in MeetingKing is active, any update will be reflected in the dashboards, the agenda of the follow-up meeting and the meeting task summary.
All tasks also include a link back to the minutes, so it is really easy to look up the broader discussion and place this task in context, by finding out exactly what was decided and what led to that decision.
This efficient meeting task manager will ensure that tasks do not get lost in your inbox or on your server, because they are all in one place for meeting attendees to refer back to.
Yes I want to manage my meeting tasks efficiently and make sure things get done. Sign up for free.
