In Chapter 1, Meeting Roles, Responsibilities, and Activities, I shared with you SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, responsible, and time-bound) as a way to document and monitor progress toward goals. Using SMART is a great method to stay in touch with people outside of meetings to make sure goals are being worked on. Each person knows what is taking place, who is responsible, and when it is scheduled for completion.

Meeting leaders can use the SMART plan to check in with individuals and see if they need any resources or support. If someone has a question about priorities, they can contact the meeting leader for clarification.

If you are a meeting leader, it's important to know if someone is falling behind schedule or unsure of what to do. If you're a team member, it's important to tell the team leader what's going on so you can get support. This should be done outside of the meeting. No one wants to say they're behind schedule or that they made...