Personal Efficiency and Managing Meetings Training Course

Understanding Ourselves and Others

• Recognizing that inviting others to a meeting imposes our priorities upon them.
• Exploring what drives our behavior.
• Assessing how our behavior impacts others: Do they respond as we wish or as expected? If not, why?

The Process for Managing Meetings

• Evaluating whether a meeting is truly necessary and considering alternatives that might be more effective.
• Executing the process for calling, managing, and preparing for meetings:
  • Developing a meaningful agenda that outlines objectives, topics, and suggested timings.
  • Inviting only the essential participants—no one else.
  • Facilitating the meeting: allowing only relevant contributions (distinguishing between relevant and irrelevant), staying on agenda, and keeping within time limits.
  • Producing outputs: while detailed minutes may not always be necessary, action points are essential.
  • Scheduling follow-up meetings as needed.

Attending Meetings

• Determining whether attendance at all invited meetings is necessary.
• Deciding which meetings to attend.
• Identifying valid justifications for declining attendance.
• Understanding what productive activities are permissible during a meeting, considering attendees, subject matter, and timing.

Other Personal Efficiency and Time Management Issues

• Setting and adhering to personal and professional objectives.
• Prioritizing work:
  • Determining what tasks need to be done.
  • Establishing priority among these activities.
• Managing employee-imposed time: Are my staff and colleagues working for me, or am I working for them?
• Identifying time bandits and addressing them:
  • Emails.
  • Telephone calls.
  • Unplanned interruptions.
  • Displacement activities, such as procrastination.
  • Other distractions.
• Delegating effectively.
• Practicing assertiveness: seeking compromises and learning to say "no" effectively.