By Harlan West, Design and Marketing Professional with 25 years of experience designing materials for major healthcare organizations, municipalities and large corporations.
In the name of successful corporate communications, I strive to provide the best tips for how to effectively communicate. Holding internal office meetings is not among the strategies that I recommend. In fact, monotonous meetings are one of my pet peeves. Meetings almost always, are a waste of valuable productive time.
Years ago, I worked for an employer that held meetings followed by more meetings. Rarely was anything accomplished. Each week, one of the managers used to inconvenience his colleagues while he went on a long diatribe about how much his staff accomplished during the previous week. He used the time to toot his own horn for nearly 20 minutes while others suffered through the agony. As a result, the staff, including myself, came to dread meetings. This example demonstrates a complete failure in attempting to communicate effectively. It’s one that we can all learn from and become better communicators, as a result.
Here’s some suggestions to avoid meeting burnout:
1) Keep meetings on point. Don’t stray from the reason you called the meeting! Don’t allow a participant to hold the meeting hostage by going off on a tangent. Look to old cartoons and know when to get the cane in order to pull them off stage. Continue reading