Writing effective meeting minutes – the argument for collaboration

Face-to-face meetings, hybrid meetings, or virtual ones – no matter what you prefer, taking notes is a must to create usable minutes. Many office workers are struggling with unproductive and inefficient meetings. Swedish studies show that 40% of meeting attendees don’t know what has actually been decided.

However, with a written record you will be able to go back and consume highlights from the session, such as agenda, attendees, action plans, and more. This will make it easier for you to pinpoint mistakes as well as successes, and ensure that every meeting is constructive and effective. 

Why assigning note-takers belongs in the past

To make it easier for the person taking notes, companies often use meeting minute templates – a great start to making meetings more effective. However, is it really the most efficient solution to give one person the task of capturing the session?

First of all, all people attending a meeting will make different meanings of it, depending on their individual point of view. If one single person is assigned the role of taking notes we risk missing important perspectives from other attendees, for some reason overlooked by the note-taker. Excluding a person's ideas often rub them the wrong way, and prohibits innovation. If the attendees are given the opportunity to collaborate on taking meeting notes, you will end up with a meeting record that is richer in perspectives and much more useful for the organization. 

Second, being a single note-taker is exhausting. It is often a task that nobody really wants, which is assigned to a random attendee if there is not a secretary or assistant present. The one who is in charge of the notes is often busy writing, resulting in a lower participation level. By creating meeting minutes collaboratively, everyone has the same opportunity to participate, and nobody is dragged down with the task of capturing the entire session.

Third, the person who is assigned the role of note-taking tends to be held accountable for the outcome of the meeting. If the notes are deemed ‘bad’, it will affect the entire project. But is it really fair to put all of that responsibility on one single person, who might not even want to do the job in the first place?

Write effective meeting minutes

How do you get started to write meeting minutes collaboratively? Here are some tips on how to write efficient and collaborative meeting notes.

1. Use specialized meeting platforms

Using templates for your meetings not only makes them more effective and engaging, but also makes them way easier to plan, conduct and evaluate. However, for different types of meetings you might need to take different types of notes. Svava provides your team with automatic, collaborative meeting minutes whether from a brainstorm session, a project kick-off, a regular weekly meeting or a simple status update. 

2. Use a collaborative platform

By having a common platform, every team member is able to engage by taking notes and highlighting the best ideas from their individual perspective. All people attending the meeting will be held accountable for the outcome, and you will also discover that collaborative meeting minutes are much richer on information and ideas. Svava has created a collaborative and transparent platform where your team can make sure you are all on the same page. 

3. Clarify expectations

Make sure that you and your team are aware of what the expectations are in terms of note-taking in the meeting, as well as the type of detail expected in the minutes. When the expectations are clear, your team will be able to capture the right information.

4. Include sufficient detail

Try to always be objective when writing your meeting notes. Avoid using names or personal observations – the minutes should be fact-based, not cluttered with personal thoughts and feelings. This is a general rule of thumb, which of course varies depending on the nature of your organization and meeting. 

5. Follow up

Make sure that everyone has access to the minutes, and is able to evaluate the meeting. Collaboration builds on mutual trust and transparency. On the Svava platform, you and your team can easily access old meeting records to double check that decisions and actions are being followed up on.

Get help with meeting minutes

Do you have any questions about collaborative meeting minutes, or need help from an expert? Don’t hesitate to contact us for further information.

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