Have someone facilitate your meetings. Create an agenda and stick to it, for crying out loud. Going into a meeting with the nuts and bolts of what the group wants to discuss, agree on and accomplish increases the chances that participants will make actionable decisions within a set timeframe. Great ideas and beneficial tangents will occur with an agenda and artful facilitation. Watch the clock.
Meetings are too long and cost a bundle.
The Center for Continuous Quality Improvement at the Milwaukee Area Technical College surveyed its 130-person management council to find out how much time its members spent in meetings. A good facilitator will chart out periods of time for each discussion, and will help the group decide how best to use the remaining time allotted if an agenda item requires more discussion. He or she will also give participants pulse checks on time, and keep the meeting on track. Calculate the per-hour salary of each participant and add up the fees. You'll be trimming unnecessary meeting time in seconds.