Personal Efficiency and Managing Meetings Training Course

Self-Awareness and Understanding Others

• Recognizing that inviting others to a meeting imposes our specific priorities on them
• Exploring the factors that influence our behavior
• Assessing how our conduct impacts others: Do they respond as expected and appropriately? If not, what are the underlying reasons?

Meeting Management Process

• Evaluating the necessity of a meeting, considering alternatives, and determining if any are more suitable
• The step-by-step process for scheduling, conducting, and preparing for meetings:
  • Developing a meaningful agenda that outlines objectives, topics, and estimated timings
  • Inviting only essential participants
  • Conducting the meeting: Focusing on relevant contributions while distinguishing them from irrelevant ones, staying on agenda, and adhering to time limits
  • Generating clear outputs: Ensuring action points are established, even if detailed minutes are not required
  • Scheduling any necessary follow-up sessions

Participating in Meetings

• Questioning the necessity of attending every meeting to which you are invited
• Developing criteria for deciding whether to accept or decline meeting invitations
• Identifying valid reasons for declining attendance
• Understanding permissible actions during meetings regarding attendees, discussion topics, and scheduling

Additional Personal Efficiency and Time Management Topics

• Setting and adhering to personal and professional objectives
• Work Prioritization
  • Determining what tasks require immediate attention
  • Establishing a hierarchy for these activities
• Time Imposed by Employees: Assessing whether staff and colleagues are working for you or vice versa
• Time Thieves: Identifying other factors that erode productivity and strategies to address them
  • Email communications
  • Telephone calls
  • Unplanned interruptions
  • Displacement activities such as procrastination
  • Other distractions
• Effective Delegation
• Assertiveness: Finding compromises and learning to say “no” effectively