Measure The Value of Meetings With Action!
We all have a love-hate relationship with meetings. While some of the greatest ideas and solutions come up in brainstorm meetings, we also lose most of our time in discussion without action. Ideally, meetings lead to realizations that result as action steps assigned to individuals with deadlines. Realistically, most meetings are fruitless.
As we measure the value of meetings, we must realize just how costly it is to interrupt the workflow of each team member, literally stop all progress, and consume all brainpower with one topic. Clearly, meetings must be planned sparingly. But most teams plan meetings as liberally as they buy coffee.
Behance has come across a few habits of especially productive creative teams (from across industries) that we should all consider in our day-to-day work.
(1) Beware of “Posting Meetings.” A meeting to “share updates” should actually be a voice-mail or an e-mail. Rule of thumb: if you leave a meeting without action steps, then questions to value of the meeting (especially if it is recurring).
(2) Abolish Monday Meetings. Gathering people for no other reason than “it’s Monday!” makes little-to-know sense, especially when trying to filter through the bloated post-weekend inbox. Automatic meetings end up becoming “posting” meetings.
(3) End With A Review of Actions Captured. At the end of a meeting, go around and review the action steps each person has captured. The exercise takes less than 30 seconds per person, and it almost always reveals a few action steps that were missed. The exercise also breeds a sense of accountability. If you state YOUR action steps in front of YOUR colleagues, then YOU are likely to follow through.And when meetings end without any action steps, it is your responsibility to speak up and question the value of the meetings. Just don’t plan a meeting to discuss it.
Behance articles and tips are adapted from the writing and research of Scott Belsky and the Behance team. Behance runs the Behance Creative Network , the Creative Jobs List, and develops knowledge, products, and services that help creative professionals make ideas happen.
All Information (c) Scott Belsky, Behance LLC
Source: Scott Belsky of Behance
admin on May 2nd 2008 in 196