Effective Meetings by Phone - Part 1, How to Plan a TeleconferenceLearn Management Articles on management-info.biz. Effective Meetings by Phone - Part 1, How to Plan a Teleconference article will help answer your questions on Management Articles.We at management-info.biz specialize in Management Articles. Management Articles at management-info.biz provides the most up to date news and articles. If you have questions please do not hesitate to contact us.
Teleconferences can be a boon or a bust. On the positive side, they allow people at different locations to attend meetings without having to travel. On the negative side, they can degenerate into frustrating struggles with uncontrolled babble. This occurs because people lack visual contact, which hinders effective communication and provides opportunities to misbehave. Here's how to set up an effective meeting by phone. 1) Plan a simple meeting. Ideally, the meeting should last less than 30 to 45 minutes. People are unable to concentrate on long phone calls. They become tired. Their attention drifts. They need to take a break. Design your meeting so that it is short and to the point. That way everyone can focus on the issues and participate effectively. 2) Write out your goal for the meeting. Then make sure that this statement truly represents the result that you want to have at the end of the meeting. Lack of a clear, well-stated goal is the second biggest cause of bad meetings. Next check if a teleconference is the best way to obtain that goal. Cancel the meeting if you can achieve the goal with any other approach, such as by sending a memo, making a single phone call, or thinking through a solution by yourself. 3) Prepare an agenda. A teleconference without an agenda is like a journey without a map -- in the dark. Without an agenda, you will lose control and waste time. Your agenda should include the goal for the meeting and detailed instructions for each part of the meeting. It should be so complete and specific that someone else could use it to run your meeting. 4) Distribute the agenda at least a day before the meeting. This allows everyone to think about your issues and prepare for their participation. If appropriate (e.g., for controversial or complex issues) call key participants to confirm that they received the agenda and to check if they have comments on how the meeting could be made more effective. Use this as an opportunity to listen their ideas, instead of to work on the issues or argue with them. 5) Distribute any materials related to the issues before the meeting. This includes outlines, blueprints, schematics, product brochures, and data. Then, the participants can use these tools to participate more effectively. For example, they can follow an outline, look at diagrams, or read data during the meeting. This helps compensate for the lack of visual contact in a teleconference. 6) Invite only those who can directly contribute to the meeting. Ideally, this should be fewer than eight people. If you invite more people, it becomes very difficult to hold an effective meeting. With a larger group, some of the attendees will become lost as silent listeners, which is a waste of their time. You can always send a copy of the minutes to the people who need to know about the work accomplished during the meeting. A teleconference is more than a phone call. It is a meeting. And a meeting is a business activity that should be driven by a well thought out goal supported by a detailed plan. With proper planning, your teleconferences will distinguish you as an effective leader. Asthma & Allergy Cure -Drug Free! - Never suffer again with this safe, proven, highly effective asthma & allergy treatment $24.86 + per sale High Conversion rate. Dove Cresswells Dog Training Online. - Watch the free sample lesson to see this postive, fun, and effective dog and puppy training program of 7 complete lessons. Guest post written by Stuart Ngai, Director of Technology Solutions, VERAX
It’s an investment that pays off Sure, everyone is very busy these days. And most IT managers have long days in addition to the constant bombardment of mobile messages. However, if you neglect to put a good effort to nurture your IT staff, it will come back to bite you in the form of low employee morale, low productivity, high turnover, and lack of innovation to name a few. Thus, preventive steps on a consistent basis is essential to keep a healthy workforce working for you. So take the time to nurture your valuable IT staff. Upper management buy-in is a must Now that you’ve been reminded of the importance of nurturing your staff, is that enough? My experience tells me that unless you also get your boss to recognize and help drive this important aspect of being a manager, it might be an uphill battle you’ll be taking all on your own shoulders. So do spend time to keep the benefits of training front and center with your boss amongst many “must do’s”. Having well trained IT staff will not only benefit both you and your boss in achieving and exceeding your deliverable objectives while creating a great work environment for all. The 10% allocation rule So you and your boss are persuaded. But how much should be set aside for investing in people without affecting your capacity to deliver? Well, many IT businesses tend to be cyclical and you should definitely take advantage of the downtime for training. But by default, use the 10% time allocation rule over the course of the year to ensure reasonable time is dedicated for your IT staff to up keep their skills. Now, that doesn’t directly translate to a 10% reduction in productivity. There are a number of ways you can afford to keep with the 10% rule without breaking your bank. So read on. Know strategic directions for your company and industry Great, your boss is on board and you’ve set a budget aside. What’s next? Well, just like you don’t get on a highway before deciding where you are going, you need to know the strategic focus of your company and trends in your industry before you start planning with your staff. As an example, I recently purchased a state of the art, air-thin laptop for my son for his university study away from home even though I know it doesn’t run all the fancy shooting games that he loves on his desktop at home. As a result, he now has a sleek laptop that’s the envy of his friends while he’s getting top marks because he doesn’t waste hours shooting at colourful pixels. Mean dad you say; may be. But he ends up ahead with his leading edge gadget while happy getting top marks in university – just have to borrow his friends’ clunky desktops for the occasional thrills. Likewise, as an IT manager, you need to know what’s good for your company and where the industry is heading before entertaining any training requests. Listen to your staff Now you are aware of the direction of your company and industry. Time to sit down with your staff to listen. Knowing everyone’s different, you definitely need to spend time listening carefully to the areas that they feel they need to beef up while you let them know the direction that’s important for your company and what you see as the important trends in your industry. Help them focus on some concrete and measureable goals so as to keep a focus on the objectives. Do encourage creativity from your staff in terms of learning style so to maximize the benefits based on your budget. To be continued next Monday. Share Your Thoughts How do you go about planning and managing training for your staff? Do you have any pointers or advice for others? Join the conversation in the AlignIT for Infrastructure and Development Managers group on LinkedIn. Stuart Ngai
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Stuart Ngai, Director of Technology Solutions at