If you attend lots of meetings each week, ask yourself: Are these meetings useful, pushing projects forward appreciably? If so, great. If not…
Casey’s eTip: Find Ways to Edit Your Meetings
It might be time for a meetings inventory. Ask yourself questions like these for each meeting you “must” attend:
*Is this meeting necessary?
*Do I have to be the one to attend (lead) it? Could I send a deputy to report back?
*Must I/they attend the entire meeting?
*How could this meeting be revised so it takes 30 minutes instead of 60?
*How could the agenda be created or modified so it moves the project forward clearly?
*How can we ensure that everyone knows their action items afterwards?
*What is the general tone of this meeting? How could it be improved?
*How could we make it safer for people to share minority (or less vocal) views and ideas?
You get the idea. If a meeting is not working for you, it’s probably not working for others. Even if you don’t run the meeting, there might be ways to make it better. If you speak up.
This eTip brought to you by the Communication/Relationships link in your Productivity Chain.”