Personal Efficiency and Managing Meetings Training Course

Understanding Self and Others

• Recognizing that inviting others to a meeting is imposing your own priorities on them
• Examining the factors that drive our behavior
• Becoming aware of how our actions impact others: do they consistently respond as we expect or as is appropriate? If not, why?

The Meeting Management Process

• Evaluating the necessity of a meeting, considering alternatives, and determining if any are preferable
• Mastering the process for convening, managing, and preparing for meetings:
  • Developing a meaningful agenda that outlines objectives, topics, and suggested timings
  • Inviting only the relevant participants
  • Managing the session by ensuring contributions are relevant, staying on agenda, and adhering to time limits
  • Generating clear outcomes, such as action points rather than just detailed minutes
  • Scheduling follow-up meetings as needed

Attending Meetings

• Determining if attendance at all invited meetings is necessary
• Learning how to decide whether or not to attend
• Identifying valid reasons for declining invitations
• Understanding your rights regarding attendees, subject matter, and timing during meetings

Personal Efficiency and Time Management

• Setting and maintaining personal and professional objectives
• Prioritizing work
  • Determining what tasks need to be completed
  • Establishing the priority order for these activities
• Managing Employee-Imposed Time: assessing whether staff and colleagues are working for you or vice versa
• Addressing Time Bandits: identifying and mitigating factors that steal your time
  • Emails
  • Telephone calls
  • Unplanned interruptions
  • Displacement activities, such as procrastination
  • Other distractions
• Practicing effective delegation
• Developing assertiveness: seeking compromise and learning to say “no” effectively