Personal Efficiency and Managing Meetings Training Course

Self and Stakeholder Awareness

• Understanding that inviting others to a meeting implies imposing our own priorities on them
• Exploring the drivers behind our behavioral patterns
• Assessing how our actions impact others: Are they responding as we expect? If not, what are the underlying reasons?

Meeting Management Processes

• Evaluating the necessity of a meeting: What alternatives exist, and are any of them more suitable?
• Implementing a structured approach to scheduling, facilitating, and preparing for meetings, which includes:
  • Developing a clear agenda that outlines objectives, key topics, and proposed time allocations
  • Inviting only essential participants
  • Facilitating the session by encouraging relevant contributions while distinguishing between pertinent and off-topic items, adhering to the agenda, and managing time effectively
  • Producing tangible outputs, such as action items rather than necessarily detailed minutes
  • Scheduling follow-up sessions as required

Strategic Meeting Participation

• Determining whether attendance at every invited meeting is truly necessary
• Developing criteria for deciding whether to attend specific meetings
• Identifying valid reasons for declining invitations
• Understanding permissions and boundaries regarding attendees, discussion topics, and time management during meetings

Advanced Personal Efficiency and Time Management

• Setting and adhering to personal and professional goals
• Prioritizing work effectively:
  • Determining essential tasks
  • Ranking activities based on importance and urgency
• Managing time influenced by others: Evaluating whether staff and colleagues are supporting your goals or diverting your focus
• Identifying and mitigating time drains, including:
  • Email communications
  • Telephone calls
  • Unscheduled interruptions
  • Procrastination and displacement activities
  • Other minor distractions
• Practicing effective delegation
• Developing assertiveness skills, such as finding compromises and learning to say “no” confidently