Viewing entries tagged
Meetings
In this months McGraw-Hill Business blog I examined the 9 Best Practices that will make your virtual meetings “Sweet!”.
Here is a link to a PDF version to share.
And here are the links to the POST at the the McGraw-Hill site:
https://twitter.com/MHBusiness/status/1253761010005131264
https://www.facebook.com/mcgrawhillprofessional.business/
How do you control difficult behaviors at meetings? It's actually pretty easy. Check out my blog post on the McGraw-Hill business blog. ;-)
https://mcgrawhillprofessionalbusinessblog.com/2019/08/15/whiners-snipers-and-know-it-alls-oh-my-how-to-control-difficult-people-at-meetings/
Dr. Rick Brinkman reveals helpful tips to maximize time and work productivity.
C-suite executives spend 40% of their workweek in meetings, according to The Wall Street Journal. Harvard Business Review found that 15 percent of an organization’s total collective time is spent in meetings. Just how much of that time is effective depends largely on how the meeting is run — but top managers and CEOs don’t get there by wasting their company’s time. They use strategies that maximize productivity, minimize frustration, and end with people motivated and happy. And that approach can increase people’s productive work time by a full 20 percent.
In this article we examine how to prevent meetings from hijacking, straying off course or simply be unfocused. Featured on the McGraw-Hill Business Blog.
If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.
—Henry Ford
As we have explored in a previous post on how to Prevent Polarization at Meetings, we want the group to get to Holographic Thinking, which means they see all the important factors from everyone’s point of view. Accomplishing that requires three things. First; everyone must be focused on the same topic and use the same process at the same time. Second, we must hear from everyone and therefore have a speaking order which can be either voluntary or circular. And third we must do flight recording, which simply means summarizing what people say in bullet points visually on a flip chart or projected PowerPoint slide to allow us to see all the factors at once.
In this blog post we will examine how to analyze potentially contentious issues without falling into a polarization trap. READ THE REST AT MCGRAW-HILL BUSINESS BLOG
With all the conflict and political polarization in the world it’s easy to feel helpless. Our politicians and one-sided media keep a drumbeat for their own gain to keep us polarized. Ironically when James Madison designed the constitution it was to create a structure where people could disagree but have an intelligent discussion and remain friends. In the election to the first congress Madison’s close friend James Monroe ran against him but even then Madison maintained his friendship in public and private with Monroe.
The good news is you’re not helpless because peace begins with us and especially our relationships with the people and meetings we can’t stand. This article will show you how discuss touchy subjects, avoid conflict and integrate points of view in the meeting context as outlined in my book; Dealing with Meetings You Can’t Stand, Meet Less and Do More.
As the co-author of the McGraw-Hill book, "Dealing with People You Can't Stand" and the author of the new McGraw-Hill book, "Dealing with Meetings You Can't Stand, Meet Less and Do More", I am constantly being asked, "What behavior types does Trump fall into?" Those would be a combination of two. One is the "Think-They-Know-it-All" which is very ego driven. Out of this behavior there is constant one-upsmanship. If you were sick, they were sicker, if you had a big inauguration, they had a bigger one. The other behavior is the Tank (bully). To make matters more difficult, he has significant positional power.
In this article I will explore how you deal with this trinity in a boss and how the Meeting Jet process can control it.
I'm pleased to say my McGraw-Hill book: Dealing with Meetings You Can't Stand, Meet Less and Do More has been released in Japanese. And because my process is called the "Meeting Jet Process", they gave the guy on the cover a jet pack. haha. :-)
Listen to the Interview here
Broadcasted to:
- Tampa AM 1630, FM 92.1
- Las Vegas AM 1520, FM 107.1
- Macon AM 810, FM 87.9
- Lancaster AM 1640, FM 102.1
- Boulder FM 100.7
- Milwaukee FM 104.1
- Pittsburgh FM 107.3
- Long Beach FM 101.5
- The Villages, FL FM 97.7
- NEW Colorado Springs FM 87.9
- NEW Jacksonville FM 90.3
Rick Brinkman, author of "Dealing with Meetings You Can't Stand: Meet Less and Do More," quotes author and columnist Dave Barry:
"If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be 'meetings.' "
A 2015 Harris Poll survey found that the No. 1 obstacle to getting work done is having to attend meetings. A study by the Wharton Center for Applied Research showed senior and middle managers felt 44% of their meetings were unproductive.
Brinkman: "As a manager, if you free your employees from meetings they don't need to attend and make the ones they do shorter, focused and more productive, conservatively it would be the equivalent of increasing your workforce by 25% without spending a penny."
Ask why. There is only one legitimate reason for a meeting, Brickman says, and that's so people can interact on a particular subject.
"If you're holding a meeting just to present information, you're wasting your time," he adds. Better to put that in a memo.
Create meeting schedules. Each meeting agenda item should include a title, time frame, process, and two essential items, purpose and focus, Brinkman says.
"Purpose is a two-sentence statement explaining why this item is so important," he continues. "Focus is what you want from the group regarding this item."
Brinkman adds: "The meeting must start on time whether or not everyone is there and end on time whether or not the agenda has been accomplished."
Patricia interviews Dr. Rick Brinkman, best selling author and professional keynote speaker on Conscious Communication® expertise. He discusses his new book, Dealing With Meetings You Can't Stand, where he provides key insights into the human behaviors that lead to unsuccessful meetings, along with psychologically-based tactics for addressing them. Filled with helpful checklists and change-making strategies, Brinkman's book will turn the most boring conference room into a fast-moving model of efficiency, energy, and enthusiasm.
Here is a the audio recording of the 30 minute interview:
My article as published in B2C with 3 million unique visitors a month.
Business leaders always look for ways to boost engagement and productivity, but few of us would start with meetings. A 2015 Harris Poll found that going to meetings is the biggest obstacle to getting work done. Many of us see meeting as a necessary evil. For most C-suite executives, meetings devour 40% of our worktime: focusing on them even more is not exactly appealing.
But creating better meetings is a highly effective way to make your people happier, energized and more productive — without increasing their hours or salary. Here’s one simple but effective approach with an immense payoff: Don’t think of it as a meeting. Instead, think of being on an airplane flight, with the meeting participants as the passengers.
Confined in a small space together for a designated period of time, passengers are subject to possibly rough weather, unpleasant neighbors, a fatigued pilot, or worse. But we all have to fly. It’s a useful analogy since that’s what it feels like, most of the time, to be in a meeting. Imagine your people’s surprise when you can make the “flight” a whole lot more bearable in 5 practical steps:
Control the air traffic. Use a whiteboard, projector, or computer and screen to keep everyone focused. Write the subject at hand in a “topic” box, the process for discussing it in the “process box,” and don’t let people deviate.
Establish a speaking order.Either make it voluntary with a show of hands, or make it circular, going around the room. When everyone knows they’ll get their turn to speak they become better listeners. Setting a time limit will prevent tangents and rambling.
Use a flight recorder. Visually recording everything people say cuts back on their need to repeat themselves to drive their point home. The visual collection of everyone’s ideas also enables the group to achieve holographic thinking — with a greater, more detailed understanding of the subject and higher-quality ideas and solutions.
Frustration kills enagement quickly — but feeling gratified and energized by a well-planned, well-led meeting builds it just as fast. Follow these five steps and you’ll see the difference for yourself. Instead of dreading meetings, your people will look forward to them, and colleagues may likely ask how you did it. We all prefer a smooth flight, after all.
Read more at https://www.business2community.com/leadership/master-meetings-5-tips-01965924#e52eFSuLaM1YT1Rs.99
Here is an article I wrote for Businessingmag.com
Business meetings are often derailed by poor preparation, bad behavior or dismal time management. Add in the unique pitfalls associated with today’s virtual meetings, and the hazards are compounded. Meeting via conference call is even more likely to run aground with the possibilities of inattention, talking over one another and an inability to read body language.
Keeping conference call meeting participants focused and on track takes a special set of ground rules. Incorporate these essential components to ensure more productive conference call meetings.
In this 3 minute 30 second interview Dr. Rick Brinkman, explains how the Meeting Jet process in his book prevents difficult behaviors like, whining, negativity, know-it-alls, passive people and more from even occurring in the first place.
Interviewed by his two cats Neelix and Leela.
Dealing with Meetings You Can't Stand, Meet Less and Do More published by McGraw-Hill 2017
Book Review: 'Dealing with Meetings You Can't Stand: Meet Less and Do More,' By Dr. Rick Brinkman
By Patricia Gale, BLOGCRITICS.ORG Published 10:00 pm, Sunday, September 10, 2017
We've all suffered through the tedious, hour-wasting, headache-inducing trap of being stuck in a meeting we can't stand. Claustrophobia of the worst kind sets in, and instead of being productive, we feel practically comatose. Every wonder why? The reasons are laid out in this engaging and smart new book by Dr. Rick Brinkman, Dealing with Meetings You Can't Stand: Meet Less and Do More (McGraw Hill, 2017).
Brinkman is a master at helping people tackle the worst sides of working - before Meetings, he authored Dealing with People You Can't Stand, which is a global bestseller, translated into 25 languages. That's no surprise, given the title: Brinkman is a no-nonsense communicator who approaches the most common ailments of the workplace with equal parts empathy and humor - in Meetings he quotes noted cartoonist Dave Barry in the beginning. As with People, this book on meetings is fascinating, entertaining, and yet makes perfect sense, offering tangible strategies for effectively changing the game.
Brinkman has divided up the four main trouble spots that can turn a well-intentioned roundtable into a train wreck: preparation, people, process, and time. Of preparation, for instance, when a meeting is called without a clear agenda or purpose - or starts with "any other business?" - or has either not enough people or too many people present, it's a recipe for disaster.
Of people, the problems are as varied as difficult personalities: people who talk over each other, people who refuse to talk in the meeting but have plenty to say afterwards, people who are unprepared, who waffle, who snicker under their breaths, who know everything. Process and time are equally illuminated: readers will no doubt have a number of laughs as well as ah-hah moments.
What the good Dr. Brinkman does that sets this book apart from the dozens of "how-to" business books out there is provide a tangible fix. His very apt, clever, workable analogy works from start to finish to helps us reframe every aspect of a meeting - and land safely and on time. Think of a meeting like a long-distance jet flight, he suggests, including having a clear flight plan, a designated Air Traffic Controller, and a place to park tangential discussions - on the tarmac, of course. The goal: an efficient, quick, enthusiastic plane ride with little turbulence that arrives exactly as planned. I'll be it works.
Another plus to this very savvy handbook are the "Great Moments in Meetings" tales - light-hearted but revealing true-life accounts of meetings that actually worked. The upshot is that successful meetings are anything but free-for-alls: a group of engineers diligently place their cell phones in a basket as they arrive; an executive locks the door when the meeting starts so latecomers can't come in.
On the other hand, when people drone on in a global conference call, it's noticed. When someone acts disruptive, that's noticed too. The point is that we all know when a meeting isn't working. Now we also know why - and how to fix it.
Brinkman brings so much to the table with this book that it feels like an incredibly consolidated encyclopedia of how to plan a meeting, have a meeting, and follow up after a meeting. It's also a book on why you really don't need to necessarily have a meeting in the first place.
It's clearly, breezily, insightfully written, tightly organized, and charmingly illustrated. And it's sure to be an asset to anyone who has to deal with meetings. Read it and follow it, and it's likely your people will thank you - and then ask you to borrow the book. I recommend telling them to buy it themselves.
For more on Dr. Rick Brinkman and Dealing with Meetings You Can't Stand, visit rickbrinkman.com.
