Feb 9th 10
Posted by admin in Management
Here are ten things that you can do to make your meetings more effective.
1) Avoid meetings. Test the importance of a meeting by asking, “What happens without it?” If your answer is, “Nothing,” then don’t call the meeting.
2) Prepare goals. These are the results you want to obtain by the end of the meeting. Write out your goals before the meetings. They should be so clear, complete, and specific that someone else could use them to lead your meeting. Also, make sure they can be achieved with available people, resources, and time. Specific goals help everyone make efficient progress toward relevant results.
3) Challenge each goal. Ask, “Is there another way to achieve this?” For example, if you want to distribute information, you may find it more efficient to phone, FAX, mail, E-mail, or visit. Realize that a meeting is a team activity. Save tasks that require a team effort for your meetings.
4) Prepare an agenda. Everyone knows an agenda leads to an effective meeting. Yet, many people “save time” by neglecting to prepare an agenda. A meeting without an agenda is like a journey without a map. It is guaranteed to take longer and produce fewer results. Note, without an agenda, you risk becoming someone else’s helper (see tip #6 below).
5) Inform others. Send the agenda at least a day before the meeting. That helps others prepare to work with you in the meeting. Unprepared participants waste your time by preparing for the meeting during the meeting.
6) Assume control. If you find yourself in a meeting without an agenda walk out. If you must stay, prepare an agenda in the meeting. Collect a list of issues, identify the most important, and work on that. When you finish, if time remains, select the next most important issue. Note: you can use a meeting without an agenda to recruit help for your projects.
7) Focus on the issue. Avoid stories, jokes, and unrelated issues. Although entertaining, these waste time, distract focus, and mislead others. Save the fun for social occasions where it will be appreciated.
Be selective. Invite only those who can contribute to achieving your goals for the meeting. Crowds of observers and supporters bog down progress in a meeting.
9) Budget time. No one would spend $1,000 on a ten-cent pencil, but they often spend 40 employee hours on trivia. Budget time in proportion to the value of the issue. For example, you could say, “I want a decision on this in 10 minutes. That means we’ll evaluate it for the next 9 minutes, followed by a vote.”
10) Use structured activities in your meetings. These process tools keep you in control while you ensure equitable participation and systematic progress toward results.
Originally posted 2009-04-27 15:33:44. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Feb 9th 10
Posted by admin in Management
No doubt you’ve collected memorable quotes from your job or business. Here are some of the amazing things people have said to me since I started my business in 1992. And, yes, all of the quotes are true.
“Paying these royalties is a real hassle.”
> Comment: You can’t judge a book publisher by the cover.
“I know that you’re a much better speaker, and that your content is better, your materials are better, and even your fee is lower, but I decided to use a seminar company from out of state because my boss will approve it without asking any questions.”
> Comment: That explains why sometimes you find yourself in a really terrible seminar.
“I save all the invoices in a drawer and every four months or so I go through the stack and approve them.”
> Comment: I bet she would go ballistic if her paycheck were ten minutes late.
“Okay, in your case we’ll make an exception and pay you on time.”
> Comment: Here’s another person who fails to understand how business works.
“Instead of hiring a speaker we decided to spend our money on an ice sculpture.”
> Comment: I suppose it’s more important to watch ice melt than learn something.
“I want you to send me a proposal with complete descriptions of all of your workshops, a resume, your client list for the past five years, a dozen testimonial letters, and a fee schedule. I’ve got 21 proposals so far and I want to collect 25.”
> Comment: If I were this man’s boss, I’d fire him for being a public nuisance. (And I did not submit a proposal.)
“If she had wanted to act on your proposal, she would have returned your calls. Duh!”
> Comment: Every vendor is also a customer, and in this case I responded to their rudeness by transferring my phone service to another company. Cost to them: over $1,200 per year.
“What do you charge to speak for 54 minutes?”
> Comment: The same that I charge for 55 minutes. And 53 minutes.
“Now that we have your workbook, we’ll use one of our staff to conduct the workshop.”
> Comment: Let me know when you start so I can call my attorney.
“You asked too many questions. You’re not supposed to figure out that this is illegal.”
> Comment: We never ask too many questions. (And I only work with ethical companies.)
Originally posted 2009-02-06 15:51:40. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Oct 31st 09
Posted by Aldohas in Management
Here’s how to begin on time.
1) Make it part of the agenda.
Put the arrival time on the agenda. For example, for a meeting scheduled to start at 9:00 AM, you could put “8:50 AM – - – Arrive at the Meeting” at the top of the agenda.
An arrival time is useful because it allows everyone time to socialize, obtain coffee, or organize materials before the meeting. It also ensures everyone is present at the scheduled starting time.
2) Offer a treat.
Provide coffee, juice, or a vegetable platter before the meeting. This can be especially welcome for all-day meetings attended by people from other locations. It provides a time for socializing between visitors and it may also provide a meal for those who came from out of town.
But here’s the catch: offer the treat only during the arrival time. Then put it away once the meeting starts.
And another point: serve snacks that make people more productive (such as fruit) instead of stuff that fills them up and deadens their brains (such as donuts).
3) Set an example.
Arrive at your meetings before they are scheduled to start. You can use the time to make sure that the room is set up properly. And you can greet the attendees as they arrive. This helps you appear in control of the meeting process from the beginning.
And of course, arrive at everyone else’s meetings on time.
4) Make it easy.
Schedule your meetings to begin at odd times, such as 9:10 AM. This allows everyone who was in a one-hour meeting that began at 8:00 AM to travel to your meeting. Similarly, end your meetings at least ten minutes before the next hour so that the attendees have time to travel to their next meeting.
5) Sell promptness.
Send a memo or E-mail stressing the importance of arriving on time. Call key attendees to remind them about the starting time for the meeting. Give people a reason to be on time, such as ask a top executive to make an opening remark.
Bonus idea: let the executive leave after making the opening remark. These people are very busy.
6) Expect promptness.
If it is your company (or department, etc.), you can tell people that they are expected to be on time. Then enforce this by making it a performance dimension. Similarly, arrive on time to demonstrate your commitment. And when necessary, hold a private coaching session with those who need help understanding your expectations.
7) Be realistic.
Realize that some people are beyond coaching because of their attitude or relationship with you. Also, recognize that it is impossible to guarantee that everyone will always arrive on time at every meeting. There will always be emergencies, surprises, and those few who refuse to cooperate.
Bonus point: Ask that people tell you if they expect to be late. If necessary, reschedule the meeting to accommodate them.
Learn more about Effective Meetings at: http://www.squidoo.com/OneGreatMeeting/
Apr 29th 09
Posted by admin in Management
1) Ask everyone to arrive five to ten minutes early. This gives everyone time to socialize, obtain coffee, or organize materials before the meeting. It also ensures that everyone is present at the scheduled starting time. Make this part of the agenda.
2) Discuss sensitive issues with the key participants before the meeting. Use this as an opportunity to listen and gather information on the issues. From this you will understand the different views, needs, and histories. This information can help you prepare the agenda and conduct the meeting. In addition, you may be able to facilitate solutions or strategies for solutions before the meeting. In either case, the result will be a more efficient meeting.
3) Plan small meetings that focus on a single issue. People work more effectively over short periods of time (such as 45 minutes). This also allows you to match experts with issues for more productive meetings.
4) Only invite those who can contribute to at least 50% of the items on the agenda. For meetings lasting more than 30 minutes, invite special participants only to the part of the meeting that deals with their contribution.
5) Send copies of the minutes to everyone who could have been invited for informational purposes. They can read the minutes in a small fraction of the time that they would have been spent in the meeting.
6) When invited to a meeting with a vague (or missing) agenda, ask: what role will I have? Why do you need me? If your impact is minor, refuse to attend and use the time for other work. Meeting planners often attempt to add importance to a meeting by inviting prominent members of the organization.
7) If the chairperson seems to have allowed the meeting’s intent to drift, ask: “What do you want to achieve?” or “How can we help you?” or “How will we know when we are done working on this?” These questions can help focus the meeting on a goal.
If a meeting seems out of control, suggest adjourning and reconvening at a later time. This will allow you to clarify goals, prepare strategies, and better understand the issues.
9) Reflect the content of key points. This ensures that everyone has the same understanding of the key point. Although this is one of the chairperson’s responsibilities, it can be filled by anyone else in the meeting.
10) Prepare a list of questions, ideas, suggestions before the meeting. Then you can focus your attention on the discussion in the meeting.
11) Watch the listeners instead of the speaker. Their faces and body language will tell you whether they agree or disagree, which can help guide you participation in the discussion.
12) Work with a sense of appropriate urgency. Life is finite, and the discussions in meetings should be the same. Plan a time budget and then use it to guide your meeting. Spend extra time only when an issue warrants it.
Apr 22nd 09
Posted by admin in Management
Here are ten fundamental concepts that characterize an effective meeting.
1) Definition: A meeting is a business activity where select people gather to perform work that requires a team effort.
2) A meeting, like any business event, succeeds when it is preceded by planning, characterized by focus, governed by structure, and controlled by a budget.
3) Short meetings free people to work on the essential activities that represent the core of their jobs. In contrast, long meetings prevent people from working on critical tasks such as planning, communicating, and learning.
4) Three things guarantee an unproductive meeting: poor planning, lack of appropriate process, and hostile culture. Effective leaders attend to all of these to create an effective meeting.
5) Effective meetings require sharing control and making commitments.
6) The ultimate goals of every meeting are agreements, decisions, or solutions. Meetings held for other reasons seldom produce anything of value.
7) Unprepared participants will spend their time in the meeting preparing for the meeting.
It is better to spend a little time preparing for solutions than to spend a lot of time fixing problems.
9) Meetings are an investment of resources and time that should earn a profit.
10) A meeting can be led from any chair in the room. And if it’s your meeting, you want it to be your chair.
