“Sometimes, when I sit in meetings, especially ones in which people don’t seem engaged, I calculate the cost in staff time. I’ve estimated that one standard weekly meeting in my bureau — 50 people sitting in a cookie-cutter conference room, looking both bored and anxious — costs around $177,000 annually, and surely this scenario occurs throughout the [organization] hundreds of times a day. It drains us, and it breeds cynicism. So many meetings are lost opportunities.”
Summary.
Nine out of ten people admit to daydreaming in meetings. Seventy-three percent do other work. That’s because most meetings are poorly designed. How do you improve the situation? By applying design thinking principles. Start with empathy, by asking what attendees should get out of the gathering? Next, set a frame, or purpose and desired outcome, for the meeting. Then think creatively about how best to achieve those goals. And, finally, test-drive your plan with attendees and tweak it based on their feedback.
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HBR Learning
Meeting Management Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Meeting Management. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
How to make your meetings matter.
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New!
HBR Learning
Meeting Management Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Meeting Management. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
How to make your meetings matter.