2 Quick Tips on Meetings
Everybody loves a good meeting. If you think I’m being sarcastic, then you’ve never been in a good meeting.
A good meeting is energizing, productive, focused. But of course most of the meetings that organizations hold are frustrating, unproductive, and wasteful. Here are two quick tips.
First, consider if you even need the meeting to begin with, or question how much value is being provided. At the end of the meeting, do the “value added” math. If there are 8 people in the room and you have that meeting every day for an hour, that’s the equivalent of 1 full time employee. Ask the group “was that worth 1 full time employee?” If not, then it must be changed or cancelled. Try the latter first.
Second, schedule meetings for odd times. People will think about time a little more precisely and thoughtfully. Thanks to Microsoft and Outlook, every meeting is an hour unless you consciously change it. Consider making meetings for 15 minutes, 25, 50, 80 – anything that doesn’t fit into the normal flow. First, you’ll allow people transition time from one place to another. Second, people will think carefully about how 25 minutes will be spend instead of just consuming time.
For more on meetings, please visit Cameron Herold’s blog for this post.
I’m a big believer in “the therapeutic hour.” Just like an hour-long appointment with a psychiatrist is only 45-50 minutes, the 60 minute office meeting should also be 50 minutes. It’ll keep people focused, and give them time to get to the next meeting, or go to the bathroom, get some water, etc. A 30 minute meeting should be 25 minutes, etc.
I’m a big believer in “the therapeutic hour.” Just like an hour-long appointment with a psychiatrist is only 45-50 minutes, the 60 minute office meeting should also be 50 minutes. It’ll keep people focused, and give them time to get to the next meeting, or go to the bathroom, get some water, etc. A 30 minute meeting should be 25 minutes, etc.
I’m a big believer in “the therapeutic hour.” Just like an hour-long appointment with a psychiatrist is only 45-50 minutes, the 60 minute office meeting should also be 50 minutes. It’ll keep people focused, and give them time to get to the next meeting, or go to the bathroom, get some water, etc. A 30 minute meeting should be 25 minutes, etc.
Jamie, I wrote about meeting effectiveness a little while ago. I wrote it terms of searching for lost time. You will find several useful tips for making your meetings more productive.
http://leanjourneytruenorth.blogspot.com/2009/07/in-search-of-lost-time.html
Tim
A Lean Journey Blog
Jamie, I wrote about meeting effectiveness a little while ago. I wrote it terms of searching for lost time. You will find several useful tips for making your meetings more productive.
http://leanjourneytruenorth.blogspot.com/2009/07/in-search-of-lost-time.html
Tim
A Lean Journey Blog
Jamie, I wrote about meeting effectiveness a little while ago. I wrote it terms of searching for lost time. You will find several useful tips for making your meetings more productive.
http://leanjourneytruenorth.blogspot.com/2009/07/in-search-of-lost-time.html
Tim
A Lean Journey Blog
Yes! Good meetings are a great way to spend time. But life is too short to spend it in bad meetings. Here are my 7 simple ways to improve meetings: http://www.netspeedfasttracks.com/knol/?o=0&l=7-simple-ways-to-improve. I also have meeting tools, some free, on my website, http://www.leancommunications.com, under tools to help people improve their meeting mojo.
Yes! Good meetings are a great way to spend time. But life is too short to spend it in bad meetings. Here are my 7 simple ways to improve meetings: http://www.netspeedfasttracks.com/knol/?o=0&l=7-simple-ways-to-improve. I also have meeting tools, some free, on my website, http://www.leancommunications.com, under tools to help people improve their meeting mojo.
Yes! Good meetings are a great way to spend time. But life is too short to spend it in bad meetings. Here are my 7 simple ways to improve meetings: http://www.netspeedfasttracks.com/knol/?o=0&l=7-simple-ways-to-improve. I also have meeting tools, some free, on my website, http://www.leancommunications.com, under tools to help people improve their meeting mojo.