When you say "a waste of time", most office workers imagine meetings. Every company tries to fight with the threat of useless meetings in its own way. Let's take a look at how the LinkedIn company deals with this. In his article entitled A Simple Rule to Eliminate Useless Meetings,LinkedIn's CEO Jeff Weiner described his experience.
We learn that LinkedIn has canceled traditional presentations during meetings. Instead, employees send their materials to be covered at meetings at least one day in advance so the participants can become familiar with them. At the beginning of the meetings, they have another 10 minutes of silence in order to go through the materials again. Then a discussion begins and great emphasis is placed on the fact that presentations are unwelcome. Participants already know the topic and they can concentrate on their opinions.
Weiner summarized the following rules of effective meetings:
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Clearly specify the purpose of a meeting. Make sure that everybody understands it right at the beginning.
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Appoint one person to lead the meeting and facilitate the discussion.
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Clarify terminology. It is essential that everybody understands the key concepts in the same way.
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Appoint a record-keeper who will not slavishly write down everything. He or she must be familiar with the context of the discussion so as to record only the important points.
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Do not end meetings without summarizing key points and the next steps you have agreed on.
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Ask what you can improve. Leaders of meetings should ask for feedback as to which procedures for running meetings should continue and which may be dispensed with.
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