First of all:  Should you actually call a meeting?  If the sole purpose of everyone leaving their office and gathering around a table is to read reports to each other.  Do Not Meet.  Send an email with the information you are planning to read to everyone (as if they can’t read for themselves).  Concerned they won’t bother reading the email you send them?  Place a requirement on the email that they send you comments, action steps based on your information or other appropriate response within a set period of time.  But don’t call a meeting about it.

A meeting should only be called if you want a particular group of people to gather to (1) Problem solve, (2) Develop a plan of action or (3) Decide something related to a SMART goal.

Meet to decide something

So assuming a meeting should be held…these are a few tips on how to make it productive.

1. Send out an agenda a few days in advance.  The agenda should include:
- Who should attend ( no seat warmers invited)
- What they should be prepared to bring, say, do
- The purpose of the meeting (what will the end product be?)
- What will be covered (and the amount of time allotted to each item)
- Date, start time, end time

2. Ensure you have a timekeeper, minutes taker and gatekeeper (to keep the meeting on track) in addition to a facilitator to lead the meeting

3. Begin the meeting on time (do not review missed information for anyone who arrives later)

4. Restate the purpose of the meeting (get everyone focused).

5. Cover the big issues (problems to be solved) first and miscellaneous items last.

6. Follow the basic rule of brainstorming (no bad ideas)

7. Make sure everyone present stays “present” and contributes.  Nobody should hog the floor or just warm a seat.  If they were invited to the meeting, it is because they have a role in what is being decided.

8.  Summarize decisions about 10-15 minute before meeting is scheduled to end.  Include:
- Decisions made
- Who is responsible for all actions steps
- Deadlines for action steps

8.5 Follow up on your action steps in order to be seen as credible, responsible and effective.

Stay on task & take good minutes

These 8.5 tips should keep your future meetings focused and productive.  If you are responsible for the meetings you attend, in the next post, we will talk about how to communicate assertively in order to get what you want/need.

Who are you destined to become?  What is your passion?  Are you following it?  Are you proud of it?

The great architect Frank Lloyd Wright said, “I once had the choice between hypocritical humility and honest arrogance, chose the latter, and have never regretted it.”  I’m not a proponent of arrogance, but I am a fan of confidence.  Figure out your strengths and build them even bigger.  Be authentically proud of what makes you uniquely…you.

Barbara just said: “Tell them if you don’t think you’re THAT good, no one else will either.” And, of course, she’s right.  She’s my mother.

Control What you Can Control.

1. Your Health

Eat right, take a walk, avoid the bad stuff like smoking over-drinking, fried everything, take your vitamins*. It’s a tough world for so many of us.  You need to have “a margin” of energy to deal with what comes at you.

2. Your Home

Fix what needs fixing, clean it from top to bottom, purge unnecessary stuff.  Your home should be your sanctuary.  Make it a restful and pleasant place to be each day.  And on a pragmatic note, if you find yourself needing to move and perhaps sell your house, is it ready to show and sell?

3. Your Appearance

Choose flattering clothes only, never “shlumpy”, total grooming head to toe.  It’s a networking world. Always put your best foot forward when you leave the house…even to the grocery store.  I couldn’t believe the discussion on Facebook when someone asked, “Isn’t it alright to wear PJs to the grocery store? It’s just the grocery store.” No!  Your future boss, boyfriend, client is in line with you.  Poof!  You’ve just made your First Impression.

4. Organize

Your office, your garage, your wallet/purse/briefcase, your database.  Suze Orman says you must have a neat wallet where you know exactly what is in it. If you don’t, there will never be room for more money to come into it.

You are with yourself 24/7 and nobody can take better care of you, than You.  Create and control your immediate environment so that it serves and supports you.

* I can truly recommend Andrew Lessman’s ProCaps. (www.ProCapsLabs.com) They will give you energy and ward off toxins that seem unavoidable.

We say “Never Forget” on 9/11, but I would like to suggest that we come together without regard to political affiliation, religion, gender or any other categorizing factor….every day.

Always Remember that each of us comes to life and makes the best of it what we can.  To help each other accomplish our individual and collective dreams is a aluable way to invest each day.  I pledge to do that for you.

1. Show up and choose to be present.
2. Pay attention to what has heart and meaning.
3. Tell the truth without blame or judgment
4. Be open to outcome, not attached to outcome.

Take your time reading these. There are as many layers of meaning in there as there are of us.  Here is my interpretation.

Show up and choose to be present.

When being “present”, we avoid mental multi-tasking. That enables us to get the “juice’ from the conversation or event we are experiencing now.  Being truly in the moment and hearing what the person in front of you is really saying. Have you ever attended a meeting and your bottom was in the chair, but the rest of you (your brain, your thoughts, your energies) were somewhere else? Maybe you were worrying about what was happening at the front desk. Thinking about what you have to do to prepare for a big group arrival later that week. Or replaying a conversation you had earlier in the day. If you are busy doing all that, how is your ability to listen to what is happening right around you right now? Are you getting the best from the moment you are in? Are you asking the right questions to get the best answers to the topic on the table? Are you even enjoying yourself as much as you could be? Hmm.  It has been said that if you choose to be present; you get a present out of the moment.

Pay attention to what has heart and meaning.

Another way we have all heard this lesson is “Don’t sweat the small stuff”.  Spend  your energies on what is important. Stephen Covey talks about this when he has you work through the four quadrants of his time management process.  Invest your time in what is important and you find you need to spend less time on emergencies. Isn’t this one of the basic concepts of Preventive Maintenance?

Tell the truth without blame or judgment.

Wow, this is a good one. How much finger pointing goes within your team? The food was late to the table because of the kitchen. The rooms weren’t ready because the desk didn’t tell housekeeping they needed them by 2:30pm. Are these issues that need to be fixed? Sure. How do you talk to each other about them? Moan and groan or calmly put the issue on the table and come together to find a solution? Two-way, respectful conversation.  Same goal, same team. How you approach each other and how open to listening to each other is a big determining factor in whether you get to the solutions. Then there’s the whole conversation about how well we should be taking care of the Internal Customer.

Be open to outcome rather than attached to an outcome.

Have you ever gotten lost on your way somewhere and come across that great restaurant everyone was talking about but you never knew where it was? How cool! Instead of griping about being lost, you used the experience to your advantage. The same can happen at meetings. You may arrive with a mental game-plan, but with the diverse perspectives of others’ on the topic, you find yourself on a completely new, unexpected and interesting track. There are usually many right answers/solutions to a situation. Being open to them allows all sorts of possibilities. New ideas, innovations, competitive advantages.  We need them all.

I have posted The Four Fold Way in my office as a reminder to follow these proven teachings and share them whenever I get the chance. I invite you to do the same.

And if you are interested in the book, The Four Fold Way, here is a link to it on Amazon.com:  http://tinyurl.com/3jm28pm

Do the Happy Dance...No Matter What

I own a 612-page book called “14,000 things to be happy about.” by Barbara Ann Kipfer. On any given day, I can go to this book and be reminded how little things can bring a smile to your face. There is no one day that doesn’t have a five-minute opportunity to relax, appreciate, grin. These moments or pauses allow you to breathe in what could be a stressful day of deadlines, angry co-workers or customers, Murphy’s Law or generally tough day.

When you allow yourself to see, hear, feel, smell those opportunities as they arrive, you can become a better person. A better manager (who doesn’t fly off the handle), a better spouse
(who doesn’t bring home the hard day at the office), a better co-worker (who listens to a decent idea), a better customer (ever yell at a check-out person because their line was too long?) You might also live longer. Chronic stress damages tissues in the body through the continual exposure to harmful stress hormones, it also makes you no fun to be around and even interferes with your sleep.

So find your own Happy dance moment. Smile more. Smiling is a great way to change your attitude, connect with people and give benefit to your body. By forcing ourselves to smile, we “trick” our body into believing that everything is good, thereby reducing stress. Like a switch, smiling can actually change your mood. So put a smile on, even if you don’t feel like it, and pretty soon you’ll be smiling for real.