Three features that every control freak will appreciate

_DSF2350
Written by
Markus Westerström
Reading time
2 min

Even though the term control freak doesn’t have the most pleasant connotations, this way of being stems from a very admirable need: to be structured, productive and effective.

Qualities that correlate with the main principles of effective meetings. While our productivity app for Meetings was not solely created with control freaks in mind, it surely could have been. As every fan of impeccable order knows, all planning begins with a structured framework. 

Following our structure for this activity cycle will help you move your entire team towards more structured and efficient meetings. All while letting you swap the “office control freak” badge to one that says “best meeting organizer ever.”


1. Plan - Get everybody aligned

What better way to plan a meeting than getting all its participants aligned before it has even started? With an app like app Meetings, it's super easy to prepare a meeting agenda and share with everyone.

Share the agenda points and give the participants a chance to adjust the plan before the meeting. As a welcome departure from the meandering chatter and head scratching, being prepared and ready to kick off discussions will soon be seen as everyone’s preferred way to begin every meeting.

2. Do - What should be done, will be done

Order-craving individuals also tend to want to know how the future will pan out. If something needs to be done, we will have a lot of questions to make sure things turn out the way they should.

  • Why?

  • How?

  • By whom?

  • By when?

We know that doing this advance work will save us time in the long run. But all these questions while essential can be seen as a little nosey and uptight. In Meetings this function is built into the system itself. Each meeting agenda allows you to document decisions and add action items assigned to specific participants, with due dates! Bliss.

This means that you don’t have to fear coming on too strong in your facilitation or stepping on toes as you hold people accountable to their commitments as all the tasks and decisions are saved, for everyone to see, in one place.

3. Review - Follow up on decisions and actions

Much like grandmas at the dinner table, control freaks love to know how much other people have on their plates. Again come the questions. What’s the status? Are you nearly finished? Do you need help with that?

Stratsys meeting tool makes it clear who has what on their to-do list. If you go to “All meetings in this series” you can review all of the actions that have been assigned in the history of the meeting series. Use the filters to view the actions assigned to you (“Mine”) or all the actions that have been taken on by others (“Delegated”).

You can also keep track of what’s done and what’s not without having to bug your team members. Filter the actions by status to see what has been finished, what still needs work, and what has been delayed. With such comprehensive oversight, you don’t have to worry about anything falling through the cracks again.

To become an even more sophisticated meeting organizer we suggest enabling notifications in the iOS app, which shows when an action item is followed up on by a team member. Don’t forget to acknowledge those reporting finished action items! Rigorous documentation may feel like a walk in the park for you, but for others it takes real and concerted effort. Your appreciation of your collegues efforts will go a long way. 

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Control freaks get a bad rap from time to time, but an underrated fact is that these “problematic” characteristics can easily be channeled into effective actions for the common good. An incredible amount can be achieved when time and energy is spent on properly planning and maintaining order. If you’re not lucky enough to have a control freak on your team, the tool can go a long way in providing the structure and accountability needed in every organisation.

Download the agenda template