Comments on: Don’t waste my time

By: markj52

markj52 — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:42:03 +0000

The 30 minute meeting that should have been scheduled for an hour would be an exception, and you have to know if it is worth continuing the meeting, rescheduling, or even addressing the issues just with the people involved and not the whole group. Most of the time the staff will know that time in a meeting is important and if there is something that needs to be addressed your people will know to let you know ahead of time. It’s all about time discipline really, and being flexible enough to allow for exceptions, but firm enough to know what is superfluous and what is not. However, if you never become clear about the importance of time, and never enforce or follow the discipline of cutting off the meeting when the time alloted has passed, your people will never get the message and you are back to the same problem of time discipline or lack thereof.

By: BobJ

BobJ — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:23:32 +0000

You must have some of those ideas in your genes. Isn’t it Parkinson’s Law that says that in a meeting the agenda expands to fill the time alloted to it?
As you point out the problems usually arise with the leader’s being a poor presider.
How do you recommend handling a 30-minute meeting that should have been scheduled for an hour?
I’d point out that men in particular want to know what will be covered, and especially what time the meeting (or almost any activity) will be over. Even if it’s bad, most guys can stick it out if they know when it is supposed to end. Otherwise, they go nuts.
Well put and thought-provoking. It is unfortunate that the people who most need to put in practice what you wrote about will be the last ones to want to learn about it.

By: ryan

ryan — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:10:54 +0000

Well said. You’re on a roll!