Blog
We welcome comments from anyone on any blog post; we want to generate active, meaningful dialogue about the challenges and opportunities surrounding group meetings, which are clearly the most frequent – and the most frustrating – of all organizational activities. However, we will not approve blatantly commercial comments, and we reserve the right to edit submitted comments to maintain mutual respect and learning, and to remove commercial promotions.
Back to Basics: Making Your Meetings More Effective
I’ve been studying and writing about organizational meetings for years. And I’ve offered lots of tips, techniques, and “rules” for making your meetings matter – to the organization, to your staff, and to yourself.
But I haven’t spent enough time discussing why making meetings matter is so important. In other words, what is the business case for changing the way you design and lead meetings? [continue reading…]
Eight Ways to Make Your Meetings Matter
If it was a meeting that mattered – an experience you want to have again – then it included a meaningful conversation. As the meeting wound up you were incredibly energized and ready to do something important, and/or you were disappointed it was over.
A meaningful conversation changes you in important ways. You see the world differently, or you have new insights into a problem you’ve been struggling with, or you know someone in a far more personal way. [continue reading…]
Making Meetings Matter: Leading from Anywhere
Recently I’ve been offering tips and techniques for making meetings more productive – and more popular.
A few weeks ago I listed 10 tips for meeting leaders (“10 Tips for Leading Meetings That Matter”), and then on May 30 I shared a reaction to that first article that was largely inspired by Bob Leek of Multnomah County, Oregon (“Making Meetings Matter: Distributed Leadership”). [continue reading…]
Making Meetings Matter: Distributed Leadership
Last week I offered ten tips for making a meeting flow smoothly (“10 Tips for Leading Meetings That Matter”). They were clearly directed at meeting leaders who have responsibilities for designing, convening, and directing meetings.
Bob Leek, Deputy Chief Information Officer for Multnomah County, Oregon, responded to that article by observing that, while meeting leaders are nominally “in charge” of their meetings, individual participants also contribute directly to the quality of the meeting conversations. [continue reading…]
10 Tips for Leading Meetings That Matter
Do you want your meetings to matter? Of course you do. But wanting and doing are two very separate things. And as I have often stated, I’m convinced that being an effective meeting leader is as much about your mindset as it is about your skillset.
Based on my experience and my research, if you approach your meetings (as either a formal leader or an active participant) with the following ten “Big Ideas” in mind, your meetings – and all your conversations at work (and elsewhere) – will be more productive, more engaging, and more meaningful. [continue reading…]
Is This Meeting Necessary?
There is no question that the future of work is centered around meetings. Meetings are the way people share ideas, learn from each, collaborate to produce new knowledge, solve problems, and make decisions.
Meetings are central to the future of work, yet most people I talk to complain that their meetings are horribly mismanaged most of the time, and are all too often a painful waste of their time. [continue reading…]