READ THIS: Make meetings better by...
Make your faculty, lab, and student committee meetings better by reading this article from Fast Company magazine.
The Seven Sins of Deadly Meetings (TLDR Version)
- Sin #1: People don’t take meetings seriously. They arrive late, leave early, and spend most of their time doodling. Salvation: Adopt Intel’s mind-set that meetings are real work.
- Sin #2: Meetings are too long. They should accomplish twice as much in half the time. Salvation: Time is money. Track the cost of your meetings and use computer- enabled simultaneity to make them more productive.
- Sin #3: People wander off the topic. Participants spend more time digressing than discussing. Salvation: Get serious about agendas and store distractions in a “parking lot.” It’s the starting point for all advice on productive meetings: stick to the agenda.
- Sin #4: Nothing happens once the meeting ends. People don’t convert decisions into action. Salvation: Convert from “meeting” to “doing” and focus on common documents.
- Sin #5: People don’t tell the truth. There’s plenty of conversation, but not much candor. Salvation: Embrace anonymity.
- Sin #6: Meetings are always missing important information, so they postpone critical decisions. Salvation: Get data, not just furniture, into meeting rooms.
- Sin #7: Meetings never get better. People make the same mistakes. Salvation: Practice makes perfect. Monitor what works and what doesn’t and hold people accountable.
