You can hear the groans across the organization when a meeting pops up on your calendar. It is the one in which you cannot get out of, and you must physically attend. It is earlier than your normal start time so you need to arrange a baby sitter or figure out how to get the kids to day care early. And you know the meeting will not start on time, it never has; not this one. The meeting leader is always late. There is no set agenda and no group interaction. This meeting is basically a blend of homily and opinion and all boringly one-sided. So you begrudgingly go and you make sure your smart phone has plenty of battery.
This scenario, although fictitious, happens all the time in New Jersey and the eastern seaboard; good people are busy. They are often maxed in both duty and responsibility. It is tough to attend meetings and then recover those two hours back just to attain normalcy. What can you do?
The sober message is that meetings are not going away. There is the need in 2012 to be on the same page, to develop ideas and share them in a group, and to know who you work with beyond the phone and e-mail. If you must have a meeting, please consider the following:
- Only meet with a purpose in mind and with goals and objectives.
- Distribute an agenda to all prior to the meeting date and time.
- Start the meeting on time and end it on time.
- Invite the right people. Everyone does not need to attend.
- Have new business and action items prepared for discussion.
- Have everyone in the room turn off their phones and place them on the table.
- Make sure a recorder and a time manager are present and documenting activity.
Within 24 hours, a word doc abstract or summary should be sent to all in attendance and assignments for the next meeting should be attached.
Make your meeting as productive as possible. Success is always a team sport. Good meetings are morale positive sessions and great learning tools.
Here is a meeting worth going to scheduled for Friday, February 17, 2012 in Bordentown. Leadership Training for Managers is a great way to find focus in the first quarter. Click below.
http://centralnj.dalecarnegie.com/events/leadership_training_for_managers/?F_c=1
This post is shared with you by the good folks at Dale Carnegie Training of Central & Southern New Jersey. We would love to connect with you on Facebook.