Tags |
|
|
Links |
|
|
Digg it UP - Meetings! Where Minutes are Kept and Hours are Wasted
The latest report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (Michigan School of Business) reports the following:Customer dissatisfaction with the quality goods and services offered in the marketplace is more than a nuisance. The US economy is heavily dependent on increases in consumer spending. Such increases are hard to come by when consumers become less satisfied. The ACSI fell dramatically in the fourth quarter of 2004. The Index now stands at 73.6 – dropping nearly 1% compared with the third quarter. One would have to go back almost seven years to find an equivalent decline.While high levels of customer sat
5. Meetings should only be 50 minutes (rather than one hour) or end ten minutes before the top of the hour, so attendees can make the next meeting that begins at the top of the hour.
6. Meetings will start and stop on time, unless all in attendance agree to extend the time. Try to finish early if possible; don’t stretch the meeting. Attendees may get up and leave at the stated end time. You can ask the pr
It has been often noted than small businesses are the driving force behind the large number of innovations that contribute to growth of a national economy through employment creation, investments and export. But the fact that they don’t have the money or the bandwidth to carry out strong marketing programmes has always kept them in the dark corner of an economic society. Comprising nearly two thirds of the enterprises in India, small businesses have never been given the opportunity to come into the limelight. As India becomes the playground for the world, these small businesses across various industries now seem to be igno
Yes! Let’s dream a little. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pass that says, “Get Out of a Meeting Free”? Here are some ideas for making your meetings more productive:
Consider the timing. If you’re someone with the ability to call a meeting during a certain time, seriously consider the best time to hold it. Corporate America has trained most people to be “morning people.” Our natural energy cycles cause us to be “up” or have “prime” time first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, many people insist on holding meetings at that time. Some kinds of meetings are good during prime time, like those involving brainstorming, problem solving, or strategic thinking. Routine staff meetings, project updates, or information-only meetings should be held during lulls in productivity. Similarly, a brainstorming session on Friday afternoon at three o’clock will probably not yield the best results.
Establish a code of conduct for your department or organization. Without a set of “rules” or “protocols” for holding meetings, people do their own thing, creating unpredictability between different meetings. I just facilitated a training session with a corporate division with 75 people. Together, we created the following Code of Conduct, which will govern their future meetings:
1. Meetings are only allowed 9-4 Monday through Thursday and 9-1 on Friday.
2. An agenda, along with any pre-work, is required 72 hours in advance of the meeting, clearly outlining the objective of the meeting. If a purpose can’t be defined, cancel the meeting. Outline the time requirement for each item on the agenda and the responsible person.
3. If meeting is not within these guidelines, each attendee has ability to question the meeting.
4. Be sensitive to time constraints and deadlines of other departments. Match the importance and complexity of the issue to the length of the meeting.
5. Meetings should only be 50 minutes (rather than one hour) or end ten minutes before the top of the hour, so attendees can make the next meeting that begins at the top of the hour.
6. Meetings will start and stop on time, unless all in attendance agree to extend the time. Try to finish early if possible; don’t stretch the meeting. Attendees may get up and leave at the stated end time. You can ask the pre
We get asked all the time..."What is it that you do?" Most people really do not understand what we do. They conjure up things like: "Oh, you are the dog catcher" or "Oh, you study wildlife and live in the forest." NO! Not exactly :-)A typical day in the life of a Nuisance Wildlife Manager usually involves much the same as any working person. We wake up, check our schedule and have a fun-filled day working to resolve many facets of wildlife conflicts. (Well, not exactly like a normal-working person!)We could be removing a skunk from a window well. Removing a colony of bats from an attic or pulling a very poisonous s
Establish a code of conduct for your department or organization. Without a set of “rules” or “protocols” for holding meetings, people do their own thing, creating unpredictability between different meetings. I just facilitated a training session with a corporate division with 75 people. Together, we created the following Code of Conduct, which will govern their future meetings:
1. Meetings are only allowed 9-4 Monday through Thursday and 9-1 on Friday.
2. An agenda, along with any pre-work, is required 72 hours in advance of the meeting, clearly outlining the objective of the meeting. If a purpose can’t be defined, cancel the meeting. Outline the time requirement for each item on the agenda and the responsible person.
3. If meeting is not within these guidelines, each attendee has ability to question the meeting.
4. Be sensitive to time constraints and deadlines of other departments. Match the importance and complexity of the issue to the length of the meeting.
5. Meetings should only be 50 minutes (rather than one hour) or end ten minutes before the top of the hour, so attendees can make the next meeting that begins at the top of the hour.
6. Meetings will start and stop on time, unless all in attendance agree to extend the time. Try to finish early if possible; don’t stretch the meeting. Attendees may get up and leave at the stated end time. You can ask the pr
Printing needs of companies need quality, catalogue printing is another major form of advertising for your company, and this is basically a form of publicity for businesses.Four color printing is one of the most efficient ways to let your business or group stand out. Modern day print houses have the latest machinery to output vivid and quality printouts. When having to order catalogues, you can always get the details you want along with quality paper without making a hole to your pocket.With making better end results of catalogue prints, there are likely limitless ways to make them better. One is making sure you
Establish a code of conduct for your department or organization. Without a set of “rules” or “protocols” for holding meetings, people do their own thing, creating unpredictability between different meetings. I just facilitated a training session with a corporate division with 75 people. Together, we created the following Code of Conduct, which will govern their future meetings:
1. Meetings are only allowed 9-4 Monday through Thursday and 9-1 on Friday.
2. An agenda, along with any pre-work, is required 72 hours in advance of the meeting, clearly outlining the objective of the meeting. If a purpose can’t be defined, cancel the meeting. Outline the time requirement for each item on the agenda and the responsible person.
3. If meeting is not within these guidelines, each attendee has ability to question the meeting.
4. Be sensitive to time constraints and deadlines of other departments. Match the importance and complexity of the issue to the length of the meeting.
5. Meetings should only be 50 minutes (rather than one hour) or end ten minutes before the top of the hour, so attendees can make the next meeting that begins at the top of the hour.
6. Meetings will start and stop on time, unless all in attendance agree to extend the time. Try to finish early if possible; don’t stretch the meeting. Attendees may get up and leave at the stated end time. You can ask the pr
Have you ever called a company and been greeted with the phrase “Hold, please”? How do they know you can hold? They don’t even know who you are. Maybe you can’t hold; maybe you have 10 seconds of juice left on your cell phone and your hair is on fire. Then you finally get someone on the phone, only to be told, “I can’t actually help you; I’m just paid to apologize, and I’m really sorry about that.”Being frustrated by a lack of customer service is nothing new. It just seems that in the last few years, companies have become more innovative when it comes to not helping you solve your problems. I recently asked a hotel employ
1. Meetings are only allowed 9-4 Monday through Thursday and 9-1 on Friday.
2. An agenda, along with any pre-work, is required 72 hours in advance of the meeting, clearly outlining the objective of the meeting. If a purpose can’t be defined, cancel the meeting. Outline the time requirement for each item on the agenda and the responsible person.
3. If meeting is not within these guidelines, each attendee has ability to question the meeting.
4. Be sensitive to time constraints and deadlines of other departments. Match the importance and complexity of the issue to the length of the meeting.
5. Meetings should only be 50 minutes (rather than one hour) or end ten minutes before the top of the hour, so attendees can make the next meeting that begins at the top of the hour.
6. Meetings will start and stop on time, unless all in attendance agree to extend the time. Try to finish early if possible; don’t stretch the meeting. Attendees may get up and leave at the stated end time. You can ask the pr
(Or Any Other Print Ad)If you think that advertising in the Yellow Pages is not right for you, you may be right. But before you write off the Yellow Pages, you should do a bit of research into how many responses your heading receives every year. You might be surprised. You might find a great opportunity that a lot of your competitors are missing out on.If you DO advertise in the Yellow Pages, there are a few things you need to know. First of all, you should understand the nature of the beast, which may come as a surprise.The Yellow Pages directories are a “marketing orphan”. They are unloved, unglamorous, un
5. Meetings should only be 50 minutes (rather than one hour) or end ten minutes before the top of the hour, so attendees can make the next meeting that begins at the top of the hour.
6. Meetings will start and stop on time, unless all in attendance agree to extend the time. Try to finish early if possible; don’t stretch the meeting. Attendees may get up and leave at the stated end time. You can ask the previous group to leave if you have the conference room reserved.
7. Use the meeting for items requiring dialogue, decisions, or team building only, not informational items.
8. If the meeting is canceled or the room has changed, the leader is responsible for calling all attendees to notify them of the change. If you can’t attend, you must notify the leader.
9. Put people in later time zones at the beginning of the agenda. Or if an attendee’s presence is only required for small portion of the meeting, let that person speak first, and then leave.
10. Ensure that all invitees really need to be there.
11. You may send a delegate in your place, if the person is capable of making decisions and can sign off or take away an action item. Let the leader know you’re sending someone.
12. Come prepared and read advance materials. Bring your own copies of any documents. If you will not be adequately prepared, notify the leader.
13. If the leader or key decision maker no-shows, attendees may leave after 10 minutes.
14. Use a timekeeper (appointed by the leader) to keep the meeting on target and follow the agenda. Don’t limit meaningful conversation.
15. Eliminate any discussion that involves only two people.
16. Appoint a scribe for the meeting. When something comes up that’s not on the agenda, the scribe records it on an easel pad labeled “parking lot.” The scribe also creates “one minute” minutes during the meeting (a list of who is responsible for/what/by when).
17. Don’t stop meetings to bring latecomers up to date, except in the case of emergency.
18. During the meeting, respond to emergency “911” pages only. If you must take a call, step out of the meeting room.
Get your group together and facilitate (or have someone else facilitate) a discussion and create a similar code of conduct. Reportedly, these rules have greatly reduced miscommunications and improved meeting productivity!
Lastly, try to reduce the time you spend in unimportant meetings. Can you send an alternate? Can you call
HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.diggitup.net/article/22586/diggitup-Meetings-Where-Minutes-are-Kept-and-Hours-are-Wasted.html">Meetings! Where Minutes are Kept and Hours are Wasted</a>
BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.diggitup.net/article/22586/diggitup-Meetings-Where-Minutes-are-Kept-and-Hours-are-Wasted.html]Meetings! Where Minutes are Kept and Hours are Wasted[/url]
Related Articles:
The Advantages Of Student-Run Entrepreneurship Clubs
Think Before You Sign The Franchise Agreement
Tips For Getting Your Business Project Underway
Bookmark it:
|