Eric Jacobson On Management And Leadership

While recently reading C. Elliott Haverlack's book,  Unbundle It , I found his  11 ground rules for meeting behaviors  to be particularly helpful: Arrive on time. Be respectful of other attendees. No phones or computers if at all possible. No leaving the meeting or getting up to walk around until scheduled breaks. No eating unless during working meal meetings (consuming beverages as appropriate is acceptable). No side conversations. Good posture. Listen intently (even if you don't want to). Ask questions at the appropriate time. No filibustering. Take notes.

You call a meeting. Chances are one or more people will show up late. Perhaps 10 minutes late. If there are six people waiting on the latecomers, that's 10 minutes times six. Sixty minutes. One hour of collective wasted time. If you hold a lot of meetings that each start late, the wasted time will really add up. So, start your meetings on time. It won't take long before the habitual latecomers will start coming on time, particularly if you start your meetings with a piece of really important news that your employees would much prefer to hear first-hand.

A great idea from the book,  The Little Book of Leadership Development , is to ask each team member to lead a meeting to gain experience leading your team. Authors  Scott J. Allen  and  Mitchell Kusy  suggest that you allow the team member to be responsible for: Developing the agenda Leading the meeting Disseminating the meeting minutes After a full rotation of your staff, your team will better understand how difficult it is to set an agenda and guide a group of people with many opinions and competing commitments. Most important, your team members will better understand how to lead a meeting and will actually become more effective team members. And, here are a few tips for your team members: Always distribute the agenda ahead of time. State how much time is being allotted to each agenda item and state whether it is an actionable item or merely a topic for discussion.

You call a meeting. Chances are one or more people will show up late. Perhaps 10 minutes late. If there are six people waiting on the latecomers, that's 10 minutes times 6. Sixty minutes. One hour of collective wasted time. If you hold a lot of meetings that each start late, the wasted time will really add up. So, start your meetings on time. It won't take long before the habitual latecomers will start coming on time, particularly if you start your meetings with a piece of really important news that your employees would much prefer to hear first-hand.

Research shows that unfortunately, many workplace meetings are not nearly as productive as they could be. To help ensure the meetings you host are productive, lead them by: Observing nonverbal feedback and  encouraging  everyone to participate. Summarizing group consensus after each point. Reminding the group who is responsible for taking care of each follow-up action. Encouraging team-building, networking and problem-solving among your meeting participants.

While recently reading C. Elliott Haverlack's new book,  Unbundle It , I found his  11 ground rules for meeting behaviors  to be particularly helpful: Arrive on time. Be respectful of other attendees. No phones or computers if at all possible. No leaving the meeting or getting up to walk around until scheduled breaks. No eating unless during working meal meetings (consuming beverages as appropriate is acceptable). No side conversations. Good posture. Listen intently (even if you don't want to). Ask questions at the appropriate time. No filibustering. Take notes.

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 .

While recently reading C. Elliott Haverlack's new book,  Unbundle It , I found his  11 ground rules for meeting behaviors  to be particularly helpful: Arrive on time. Be respectful of other attendees. No phones or computers if at all possible. No leaving the meeting or getting up to walk around until scheduled breaks. No eating unless during working meal meetings (consuming beverages as appropriate is acceptable). No side conversations. Good posture. Listen intently (even if you don't want to). Ask questions at the appropriate time. No filibustering. Take notes.

While recently reading C. Elliott Haverlack's new book,  Unbundle It , I found his  11 ground rules for meeting behaviors  to be particularly helpful: Arrive on time. Be respectful of other attendees. No phones or computers if at all possible. No leaving the meeting or getting up to walk around until scheduled breaks. No eating unless during working meal meetings (consuming beverages as appropriate is acceptable). No side conversations. Good posture. Listen intently (even if you don't want to). Ask questions at the appropriate time. No filibustering. Take notes.

Here is some good and practical advice for how to lead effective meetings, from the book, First-Time Leader : Context . Understand the meeting's place in the broader journey. It's not about the meeting itself, or even the meeting experience. It's about how the meeting moves its participants forward along the path and fits with everything else. Objective . Set an overall single objective for the meeting and clear expectations for learning, contributions, and decisions by agenda item and attendee in order to align with the single objective and with the meeting's place in the broader journey. Pre-work . Make sure to get appropriate pre-work and pre-reading to people far enough in advance for all to learn/contribute to their fullest potential. Delivery . Manage meeting participation and timing to optimize learning, contributions and action-oriented decisions. Follow-Through . Get meeting notes out promptly to memorialize decisions and actions, kicking off the pr...

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 .

Research shows that unfortunately, many workplace meetings are not nearly as productive as they could be. To help ensure the meetings you host are productive, lead them by: Observing nonverbal feedback and  encouraging  everyone to participate. Summarizing group consensus after each point. Reminding the group who is responsible for taking care of each follow-up action. Encouraging team-building, networking and problem-solving among your meeting participants.

Business leaders and employees are holding  virtual meetings  more than ever. Despite the cost-saving and other advantages, virtual meetings versus in-person meetings have their challenges. One of the largest is because participants cannot bond in the same way as they do when they are sitting across the table from one another. In the book,  The Collaboration Imperative , co-authors Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese, recommend you follow these  10 tips for making your virtual meeting successful , particularly when you are leading the meeting: Before the meeting, make sure attendees have all the preparation materials they will need and the time to review them. Begin with a quick warm-up. For example, start the meeting by asking remote attendees to describe what's happening in their office, town or city. During "blended" meetings, where some attendees are gathering in person and others are participating virtually, address remote attendees first and then offer the opport...

While recently reading C. Elliott Haverlack's new book, Unbundle It , I found his 11 ground rules for meeting behaviors to be particularly helpful: Arrive on time. Be respectful of other attendees. No phones or computers if at all possible. No leaving the meeting or getting up to walk around until scheduled breaks. No eating unless during working meal meetings (consuming beverages as appropriate is acceptable). No side conversations. Good posture. Listen intently (even if you don't want to). Ask questions at the appropriate time. No filibustering. Take notes.

Business leaders and employees are holding virtual meetings more than ever. Despite the cost-saving and other advantages, virtual meetings versus in-person meetings have their challenges. One of the largest is because participants cannot bond in the same way as they do when they are sitting across the table from one another. In the new book, The Collaboration Imperative , co-authors Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese, recommend you follow these 10 tips for making your virtual meeting successful , particularly when you are leading the meeting: Before the meeting, make sure attendees have all the preparation materials they will need and the time to review them. Begin with a quick warm-up. For example, start the meeting by asking remote attendees to describe what's happening in their office, town or city. During "blended" meetings, where some attendees are gathering in person and others are participating virtually, address remote attendees first and then offer the opportun...

At the next meeting you lead, don't: Hold it if the meeting will seem unnecessary to your participants. Allow attendees to use their PDAs/laptops for personal reasons . Let participants interrupt each other . Go beyond your scheduled time . Those don'ts are the biggest meeting pet peeves according to an Accountemps survey of 1,000 senior managers, as recently reported in USA Today . Instead, ensure you are doing these techniques to ensure you hold effective meetings: Limit attendance . Include only decision makers and key implementors. Use an agenda . Give each topic a time limit. Ask your staff to help set the agenda so they'll know the meeting will be relevant. Make sure attendees know at the meeting's beginning the benefit of why they are in the meeting. Create a not-on-the agenda list of topics that will be tabled for after the meeting or for another meeting. Set immediate deadlines for carrying out all decisions that are made during the meet...

A great idea from the book, The Little Book of Leadership Development , is to ask each team member to lead a meeting to gain experience leading your team. Authors Scott J. Allen and Mitchell Kusy suggest that you allow the team member to be responsible for: Developing the agenda Leading the meeting Disseminating the meeting minutes After a full rotation of your staff, your team will better understand how difficult it is to set an agenda and guide a group of people with many opinions and competing commitments. Most important, your team members will better understand how to lead a meeting and will actually become more effective team members. And, here are a few tips for your team members: Always distribute the agenda ahead of time. State how much time is being allotted to each agenda item and state whether it is an actionable item or merely a topic for discussion.