3 Powerful Catalysts for On-Time Meetings
Posted by Jan Wencel on Fri, Dec 02, 2011
Why is it so difficult to start a meeting on time? Following are three tools to make it easier.
Tardy Slips
Before I landed in the Chicago professional organizer world, I had an advertising agency career. My first boss, Dasher Lowe, enforced on-time meetings by invoking a "tardy slip" for latecomers. It was an all-meetings-start-late culture, so he decided to create anti-cultural social pressures. He would give out verbal and/or written tardy slips when someone showed up late for a meeting. This cut down on the overall meeting time, as we didn’t waste time waiting or repeating information. Having a "tardy token" (think gas station key ring) or tardy sound maker (think obnoxious clown horn) stationed in every conference room would make this practice official and fun.
SOTX4
A fellow corporate trainer, Michelle Waltmire, told me about this one. At the top of most meetings and/or if the meeting were derailed (be it people showing up late, the meeting running over, people looking at screens instead of each other, etc.), someone would write SOTX4 on the white board. This symbolized to everyone the ground rules they agreed to as a company:
• Start On Time
• Shut Off Technology
• Stay On Topic
• Stop On Time
:50 :10
Travel time is often considered when you have to get on a bus or in a car to get somewhere, but how often do you consider travel time when it comes to getting from one meeting to the next within your office? Instead of considering :60 the norm for meetings, why not make :50 the default--allowing for :10 of transition and travel?
What tactics have you found successful for more effective meetings?