Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

Here are some great tips from authors Michael Mankins and Eric Garton about how to run meetings that work : Be sure a meeting is appropriate . Meetings are great for gathering input and coming to a group decision. They aren't so good for drafting a strategy document, for example. Ensure a meeting is the best way to get the job done. Set a clear -- and selective -- agenda . A clear agenda communicates priorities. It also tells people what they can safely postpone or ignore. Insist on advance preparation .  Practice good meeting hygiene . Start on time. Clarify the purpose of every meeting. Spell out people's roles in decisions. Create a decision log that captures every decision made in a meeting.  End early, particularly if the meeting is going nowhere . Mankins and Garton are the authors of the book, Time, Talent, Energy .

The average company loses more than 25 percent of its productive power to organization drag , reports the authors of the new book, Time, Talent, Energy: Overcome Organizational Drag and Unleash Your Team's Productive Power . Organizational drag is all the practices, procedures, and structures that waste time and limit output. Michael Mankins Authors Michael Mankins and Eric Garton demonstrate in the book through in-depth examples how the best companies manage their people's time, talent, and energy with as much discipline as they do their financial capital to breakthrough organizational drag. Eric Garton Unfortunately, organizational drag and complexity are the normal consequences of growth. Mankins and Garton explain that, "As organizations expand, they add new products, serve new customer segments, and enter new geographic markets. With each of these changes, the company becomes more complicated. Left unchecked, organizational drag slows decision-ma...