5 Tips to Make Shorter Meetings Equal Better Results
Meetings and more meetings -- the shortest way to get back to work
5 Tips to Make Shorter Meetings Equal Better Results By Eve Abbott excerpted from her new book, How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain TM
I had a client who was scheduled for 30 hours of department meetings a week. His first question was "When are we supposed to do our work?" Organize your meetings with these tips and everyone will get more out of every meeting.
Accountability Matrix If you walk away from any meeting without deciding and documenting the who, what and when of all action items the odds of them getting done in a timely way are greatly reduced.
Use an Accountability Matrix for every meeting. If there is someone who takes follow-up notes, ask them to add the Matrix to the distribution. If not, use it yourself, to track your action items and/or the action items for which you are a 'Check-In'. A client who uses the Matrix in meetings has already spread it to five departments in his company.
Now everyone on the team knows who is responsible for what and when it is due. That is the first step in accountability. Don't worry about getting others to do their job -- unless you're the team leader of course!
Here's an example: (see the Accountability Matrix form in the book) WHO: Eve DUE DATE: month day year ACTION: Submit tweaked proposal via e-mail (Any questions and resources required) Info: (phone/e-mail) CHECK-IN as needed Steve(describe with detail) DATE: month day year Info: (phone/e-mail) got it
ACCOUNTABILITY MATRIX
MEETING: DATE: TEAM MEMBERS:
WHO DUE DATE ACTION:
Info:
CHECK-IN DATE:
Satellite Meetings In my workshops, people tell me horror stories about how much time they spend in meetings that have nothing to do with them or their job. Typically, a manager or team leader calls everyone in for one meeting at the same time and three out of four people sit there while a discussion limited to another team member and their function rolls on.
On average, a three-hour meeting (one manager and four team leaders) can be reduced to 1 hour of team meeting and four 30-minute meetings. Everyone benefits from 'creating' more hours of working time for projects.
Wasn't that the point of all those meetings in the first place?
About the Author
Copyright, Eve Abbott All Rights Reserved. Eve Abbott's newest book "How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain TM" is available online at http://www.organize.com Remember to sign up for more of the Organizer Extraordinaire's time-saving tips. Enjoy free brain quizzes to help you work at your personal best!
"How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain TM" is an entertaining, interactive guide. The first book to offer easy, online assessments to help you make your own personal organizing solutions match your individual work style. For more articles, workshops, author programs, or consultations please contact Eve at: 510-528-4950 or EveAbbott@Organize .com. You’ll also find cost-effectve productivity resources at www.organize.com
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