Page 215 - Make Work Great

Leading Your Crystal

EXERCISES

1. Make a list of the meetings you have attended over the past
month and those you expect to attend over the next month.
Which are primarily geared toward information transfer? Which
are primarily geared toward problem solving? Which involve
both purposes?

2. Choose the most useful or effective meeting you attended
recently and score it using Table 8.1. Then choose the least use-
ful or effective meeting in recent memory and score that one.
What are the key differences between the productive meetings
and time-wasters in your workplace?

3. Consider the meetings you plan to attend in the near future, and
choose one over which you have some infl uence. How would
you expect that meeting to score using Table 8.1? What can you
do between now and the meeting—or during the meeting—to
improve its effectiveness without inspiring resistance from other
members by attempting to change too much?

4. Privately write a full meeting specifi cation for a gathering you
plan to attend, using Figure 8.3 as a guide, even though it may
not be part of your role. Compare your results to the agenda
or plan that will probably be used. How can you infl uence the
existing agenda to align more closely with your meeting specifi -
cation, yet not overstep your role?

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