The Surprising Science of Meetings

Preview

Many workers find meetings to be a waste of time, but facilitators and managers can take control and make meetings into grounds for creativity and productivity. Start by evaluating yourself as a facilitator and looking for feedback from attendees. Streamline your agenda and meeting participants to make the most of every minute. Add a time constraint and shorten meetings as much as possible so there’s no incentive to waste time. Keep the meeting energy positive by encouraging play and generously giving to your attendees. Take moments of silence to allow for independent thinking and problem-solving. Try shaking up meetings with standing or walking meetings. Finally, embrace the teleconference and use formal constraints to keep people focused.

About the Author

Steven Rogelberg is an author, editor, and professor. He is the editor of Journal of Business and Psychology and the Chancellor’s Professor at UNC Charlotte. He is a professor of Organizational Science, Management, and Psychology and the Director of Organizational Science at UNC Charlotte. He has published books and has run three consulting centers working with Fortune 100 companies. He currently runs an outreach initiative focused on nonprofit organization effectiveness.