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Posts Tagged ‘company culture’
Is “Effective Meetings” an OxyMoron?
It doesn’t have to be, although that seems to be status quo in larger companies these days, and sometimes even in smaller ones. Here are some things to consider to make meetings at your organization more effective.
As yourself if it’s appropriate to have a meeting, or if there are other means available to solve the problem. A good question is “what’s the GOAL of the meeting?” Fill in this blank: At the end of the meeting we will have ___________.” It’s true that although people try every day, email is NOT the place for a group discussion. This just leads to bunches of emails for everyone involved to wade through, much of which is a waste of time. There are many web applications that are useful for gathering input from a team. If you’re trying to find a convenient time to do something, consider a site like TimeWizard or WhenIsGood. If you are trying to collect input, take a look at Google Forms, which will drop the results into a spreadsheet in Google Docs for you, or Survey Monkey, which has a free option and a paid subscription.
As the meeting planner, after answering the question about the goal of the meeting, the next rule of an effective meeting is to have an agenda. Consider putting time limits, or at least guidelines, on each topic, and assigning a timekeeper and minute-taker at the meeting. Also, the minutes should be published, preferably in the body of an email, not as an attachment (it increases the likelihood that they will get read, or at least skimmed). This gives an opportunity to take a discussion off-line if necessary, keeps everyone on-track, and collects all the ideas and comments that come out of the meeting.
If you are a leader in your organization, consider whether the company culture allows people to “opt-out” of a meeting, or if it’s just expected that everyone will attend who is invited. Allowing for an option gives employees control over their workday, which is an essential factor in job satisfaction. As an attendee, make sure you understand what part you will be expected to play in the meeting, and whether or not it is useful to your current objectives. Invitations to meetings that have no agenda and haven’t addressed the goal should be considered carefully. These have the potential to be a huge time sink.
The effectiveness of every meeting depends, lastly, on three critical questions posed at the end, and recorded in the minutes:
1. WHAT’S the next action?
2. WHO is responsible?
3. WHEN is the due date?
Having these questions and answers recorded in the minutes creates accountability through publicity. It’s much easier to miss a deadline when no one knows you have it. When it’s a public deadline, people are much more likely to meet it.
If you have anything to add about effective meetings, I hope you’ll post them in the comments. Thanks for reading!
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Productivity and Company Culture
Earlier in my career, and now again, I find myself working with either small companies (less than 50 employees) or divisions within larger companies, which often operate as small companies within a larger framework. And I’ve discovered that individual productivity (workload management) has a significant impact on the culture in the company or department.
It goes without saying that in your company or department, most employees probably have a very full workload. Have you ever considered how your staff or co-workers handle this workload? The answers are probably varied. There may be those who produce competent work and meet deadlines. Are those employees happy? Do they seem constantly stressed? Do they work long hours to get their work done?
Do you have employees who seem to be busy, but you can’t quite identify exactly what they produce? And what about those who tend to be the bottleneck in the organization? Is this causing animosity? Individual rivalries? Territorialism? Many interpersonal issues within your organization may be a result of the self-management styles of the employees.
Some people are naturally better at managing full and hectic workloads. Others aren’t, but this doesn’t mean they can’t learn. Most people are ill-equipped to handle the demands on their attention caused by the Information Age. Your employees could be losing hours in their day simply because they don’t manage information well, and usually people don’t manage information well because they have never been taught. Consider these points from Coopers & Lybrand:
- Of all the pages that get handled each day in the average office, 90% of them are merely shuffled.
- Professionals spend 5-15% of their time reading information, but up to 50% of their time looking for it.
A survey conducted by America Online found that, on average, people check their email five times a day. A study in Scotland, using optical monitors fitted to workers eyes, found workers glancing at or otherwise checking email as much as 40 times per hour!
When workers feel tied to their email, as if they MUST be immediate with their response, this reflects a culture problem in the organization. It means no one can focus on any one thing for more than a few minutes or seconds, and this must be addressed at the levels of both personal workload management, and company communication culture. (For more on this, read this post and this post.)
In addition to communication, accountability has a big affect on culture. When there are employees who don’t produce, or who consistently miss deadlines, but there are no consequences, this brings down the productivity of the whole organization. But often people aren’t held accountable because of the workload-management skills of the individuals delegating the work.
If your staff has interpersonal challenges, stress issues, works more hours than you think they should, or any combination of these issues, personal productivity skills could be lacking. Giving your staff the techniques and processes they need to keep up with the demands of the Information Age could have a huge impact on your bottom line, in employee satisfaction, teamwork, and productivity.