Читать книгу Effective Meetings in 7 simple steps - Barry Tomalin - Страница 8

Attend four two-hour meetings back to back and you’ll know why you need to limit the number of meetings. Your whole working day has gone – and you haven’t done any desk work yet. So you’re already behind. In addition, by the end of the fourth meeting, what you discussed in the first meeting is a distant memory.

If you’re lucky enough to be able to choose which meetings to attend, consider these criteria. Prioritise meetings which:

 directly concern you

 have information you need to know about

 cover responsibilities you have to report on

 contain people you need to meet or talk to

 deal with things which interest you or you can learn from.

For all the rest, take a view.

 Get a copy of the meeting invitation and the agenda. Does it meet one of your criteria above? If yes, try and go. If not, ask your line manager if you need to attend.

 Learn to discriminate. Decide which meetings will be important or helpful to you. For the others, explain your workload to your line manager and ask if you can be absent. Ask yourself constantly: ‘What is my purpose for being here? Could I use this time better, doing something else?’

 Most meetings can be summarised over the coffee machine. If you miss a meeting, ask a colleague: ‘Did I miss anything important?’

 If you did miss something important, get a copy of the minutes. If necessary and appropriate, follow up with your own views.