Posts from the ‘Time’ Category

Design an agenda for an effective meeting

Meetings are one of most time consuming and demotivating events in daily corporate life.

Either for simple communication or complex decision making, the only two justified reasons to organize a meeting, a structured preparation and execution can deliver quite efficient results.

In this article from HBR, a framework to plan efficient meetings is presented, based on the following tips:

• Seek input from team members
• Select topics that affect the entire team
• List agenda topics as questions the team needs to answer
• Note whether the purpose of the topic is to share information, seek input for a decision, or make a decision
• Estimate a realistic amount of time for each topic
• Propose a process for addressing each agenda item
• Specify how members should prepare for the meeting
• Identify who is responsible for leading each topic
• Make the first topic “review and modify agenda as needed”
• End the meeting with a plus/delta

All items should be integrated into a comprehensive agenda and distributed in advance to participants.

Source: How to Design an Agenda for an Effective Meeting.

Handy rules for better meetings

It’s such a universal truth it’s like a bad joke: most meetings suck!
When they’re bad, they are the epitome of bad corporate culture, inefficiency and mediocrity.

Read more

The importance of stress management

The ability to manage your emotions and remain calm under pressure has a direct link to your performance. TalentSmart has conducted research with more than a million people, and we’ve found that 90% of top performers are skilled at managing their emotions in times of stress in order to remain calm and in control.

The tricky thing about stress and the anxiety that comes with it is that it’s an absolutely necessary emotion. Our brains are wired such that it’s difficult to take action until we feel at least some level of this emotional state. In fact, performance peaks under the heightened activation that comes with moderate levels of stress. As long as the stress isn’t prolonged, it’s harmless.

Read more

Decluttering the company

Peter Drucker once observed that, “Much of what we call management consists of making it difficult for people to work.” Nine years after the management guru’s death, his remark is truer than ever: employees often have to negotiate a mass of clutter—from bulging inboxes to endless meetings and long lists of objectives to box-tick—before they can focus on their real work. For the past 50 years manufacturers have battled successfully to streamline their factory floors and make them “lean”. Today, businesses of all types need to do the same in their offices.

Read more