A Lean Journey 
Many
organizations suffer from meeting-itis: poorly-run and inefficient meetings
that go on too long, happen too often and include more attendees than need to
be there. No one likes long meetings or too many meetings for that matter. Not
every meeting needs to be a meeting.
organizations suffer from meeting-itis: poorly-run and inefficient meetings
that go on too long, happen too often and include more attendees than need to
be there. No one likes long meetings or too many meetings for that matter. Not
every meeting needs to be a meeting.
Business blog
Harvard Business Review knows a thing or two about unnecessary meetings. While
meetings feel productive because everyone’s in the same room talking about the
project, they inherently get in the way of actually doing anything. So, HBR
suggests, before you call for a meeting, ask these questions:
Harvard Business Review knows a thing or two about unnecessary meetings. While
meetings feel productive because everyone’s in the same room talking about the
project, they inherently get in the way of actually doing anything. So, HBR
suggests, before you call for a meeting, ask these questions:
Have I thought
through this situation?
through this situation?
Do I need
outside input to make progress
outside input to make progress
Does moving
forward require a real-time conversation?
forward require a real-time conversation?
Does this
necessitate a face-to-face meeting?
necessitate a face-to-face meeting?
If you answer
“No” to any of these questions, then a different course of action could be
taken first. An online chat can help you answer questions quickly, or for more
in-depth conversations, scheduling a phone call or video conference can work
well.
“No” to any of these questions, then a different course of action could be
taken first. An online chat can help you answer questions quickly, or for more
in-depth conversations, scheduling a phone call or video conference can work
well.
Every day, we
allow our coworkers, who are otherwise very, very nice people, to steal from
us. I’m talking about time. Your time. Your time and that of your organization
is valuable. Some say time is more valuable than money. Time can’t be saved. It
can only be spent! We spend it at the exact rate of one minute per minute. We
can’t spend more or less no matter how hard we try. We can’t spend more than 5
minutes in five minutes, and we can’t spend less than 5 minutes in five
minutes. Our rate of spending is fixed. All we can control is where we choose
to invest our time.
allow our coworkers, who are otherwise very, very nice people, to steal from
us. I’m talking about time. Your time. Your time and that of your organization
is valuable. Some say time is more valuable than money. Time can’t be saved. It
can only be spent! We spend it at the exact rate of one minute per minute. We
can’t spend more or less no matter how hard we try. We can’t spend more than 5
minutes in five minutes, and we can’t spend less than 5 minutes in five
minutes. Our rate of spending is fixed. All we can control is where we choose
to invest our time.
Meetings are a
useful tool when they’re actually necessary, but if you’re just going to waste
an hour talking about things you could easily answer on your own or with an
instant message, your productivity comes out at a net loss.
useful tool when they’re actually necessary, but if you’re just going to waste
an hour talking about things you could easily answer on your own or with an
instant message, your productivity comes out at a net loss.
One of the biggest challenges to meeting
effectiveness is we are essentially creatures of habit. We do things this way
because we have always done things this way – status quo. In a Lean environment we
need to learn to “see” the wastes in our business including how we conduct
business like meetings and find better ways to do these activities.
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