Bhikkhu Bodhi. Arahants, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas, by Ven. Bhikkhu Bodhi(2010; 24pp./73KB) For centuries, Theravada's arahant ideal and Mahayana's bodhisattva ideal have served as lightning rods of contention between these two schools of Buddhism. In fact, the author argues, a healthy and integrated Buddhist practice requires respect of both ideals. The Buddha and His Dhamma, by Bhikkhu Bodhi(2006; 14pp./41KB) In these two lectures, delivered to an audience with almost no prior knowledge of Buddhism, Ven. A Buddhist Response to Contemporary Dilemmas of Human Existence, by Ven. In this essay, presented at an interfaith conference in Sri Lanka, the author describes the "radical secularization" of human life that lies at the root of the manifold social problems in the modern world. A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma: The Abhidhammattha Sangaha of Acariya Anuruddha, general editor Bhikkhu Bodhi, pali text originally edited and translated by Mahathera Narada(1995; 20pp./60KB) Ven.
Dhamma Without Rebirth? 9 Science-Backed Methods for a Happier, More Productive Meeting. If you have ever wanted to pop an escape hatch or teleport to distant worlds just to get out of a meeting, take heart. There are ways to hold a better meeting. Forward-thinking companies have found creative ways to get their teams together, and their lessons and structure can be easily duplicated in meetings anywhere. These creative methods aren’t just clever for cleverness’s sake: Most of them are science-backed and all of them are grounded in successful experience.
With just a handful of hacks, meetings can be speedier, more productive, and more enjoyable for everyone involved. Here are 9 outside-the-box ideas—and the science and success behind them—that you can discuss … at your next meeting, I guess. 5 research-backed ways to hold a more productive meeting 1. What’s your record for longest meeting? Can anyone beat my four-hour marathon? When it comes to meeting pain points, length often tops the list. Work expands to the time you schedule for it. 2. Set a 30 minute timer. 3. 4. 5. 1. 2. 5 Things to Do Before the Meeting Begins. We have all shown up to that meeting. The one with no purpose. The one with no advance notice or details. And the one where no one could even find where the meeting was being held. It ends up being a waste of everyone’s time. To ensure your meeting is a success, you need to prepare in advance. Be Ready Before Your Meeting What you and your team get out of a meeting depends on what you put into the meeting in preparation.
“It’s not a meeting if you don’t prepare in advance.” To prevent a wasted meeting, you need to be ready for your meeting before it begins. Here are 5 Things To Do Before the Meeting Begins: Send Invites in Advance – Meetings should not be last-minute affairs. It’s Not a Meeting If You Don’t Prepare in Advance Most meetings are a failure before they even begin.
In many companies, meetings are so dysfunctional that they represent the single biggest time-waster in the workplace. Prepare for your meetings in advance, and they will be a more effective use of everyone’s time. How to Design an Agenda for an Effective Meeting. Executive Summary To prevent holding a meeting in which participants are unprepared, veer off-track, or waste the team’s time, you should create an effective meeting agenda that sets clear expectations for what needs to occur before and during the meeting. Seek input from your team members to ensure the agenda reflects their needs and keeps them engaged. If your entire team is meeting, then the issues discussed should affect everyone present and require the whole team’s effort to solve. Addressing topics that don’t impact everyone at the meeting wastes individuals’ valuable time. We’ve all been in meetings where participants are unprepared, people veer off-track, and the topics discussed are a waste of the team’s time.
Here are some tips for designing an effective agenda for your next meeting, with a sample agenda and template below. Seek input from team members. Select topics that affect the entire team. List agenda topics as questions the team needs to answer. Do You Need That Meeting? I’m sitting in Kevin Hoffman‘s session at UI18 on Running Better Meetings. He makes good arguments about facilitation and visual thinking and how they impact the quality of what happens during meetings. But after my experience at WordPress.com, where meetings were rare, I now struggle to comprehend how many meetings most workplaces have. What evidence is there that we need these things? Many people complain about how much time they spend in meetings, yet the meetings go on. Even back at Microsoft I had this rule about recurring meetings: at meeting birth, it should be planned that they will die. They will stop being useful at some point.
But many of us suffer through zombie meetings, that live on in an undead state forever. The frequency and nature of meetings is an artifact of culture. Creative meetings with 10 or 15 people in the room expresses a lack of trust of creatives. All leaders bring with them a culture of practice around meetings. Also See: The 22 minute meeting. Do You Really Need to Hold That Meeting? Solution Saturday: 10 Ways to Shorten Long Meetings.
Solution Saturday: 10 Ways to Shorten Long Meetings Great meetings create efficiency. It’s Solution Saturday. The problem I’d like us to solve is spending too much time in long meetings. One CEO said she has to take her work home at night because her days are spent in meetings. “… one either meets or one works. One can not do both at the same time.” 10 ways to shorten long meetings: Ban electronic devices. Bonus tip: Shorten the length of all meetings by 25%. How might leaders solve the problem of long meetings? Like this: Like Loading... Cut Your Meeting Time by 90% Meetings Are Toxic. Do you really need a meeting? Meetings usually arise when a concept isn't clear enough. Instead of resorting to a meeting, try to simplify the concept so you can discuss it quickly via email or im or Campfire.
The goal is to avoid meetings. Every minute you avoid spending in a meeting is a minute you can get real work done instead. There's nothing more toxic to productivity than a meeting. Here's a few reasons why: For those times when you absolutely must have a meeting (this should be a rare event), stick to these simple rules: Set a 30 minute timer. Have fewer meetings There are too many meetings. —Lisa Haneberg, author (from Don't Let Meetings Rule!) Break it Down As projects grow, adding people has a diminishing return. The solution is clear: break teams into smaller, autonomous and independent units to reduce these communications links. Similarly, cut programs into smaller units. —The Ganssle Group (from Keep It Small) Have More Meetings (But Keep Them Short) Meetings are often the bane of many a creative’s existence, especially those working for a big outfit.
“Death by meeting” is a common complaint, the lament usually being one of frequency, length, or lack of productivity. Despite the many books written on the subject, meetings remain a sore spot for many. There may be a practical solution. One of the most interesting things I observed over the eight years I spent as a creative advisor to Toyota was how a team of designers or engineers working on the same project might hold several short meetings over the course of the day—sometimes as many a five different times. The interesting aspects were three-fold: The meetings were not necessarily scheduled. Born in the factories of Toyota, “lean” was the term coined the 1996 book Lean Thinking and recently re-popularized by the 2011 book The Lean Startup. The 3 M’s The words muri, mura, and muda in Japanese hold a special place in the heart of a well-trained lean practitioner. 1. 2. 3.
9 Science-Backed Methods for a Happier, More Productive Meeting. Productivity Hacks: I Want My Employees to Stand Around. A Checklist for Planning Your Next Big Meeting. In theory, everyone understands that preparation can make or break an important meeting. The more work you do before you walk into the room, the more productive and efficient you’ll be. But who has the time to properly prepare? Our checklist makes meeting prep quick and easy—be sure to print it out or save it for later. Each step is described in more detail below. Using the checklist and the principles behind it will ensure that you’ve covered all your bases—and that you won’t be wasting anyone’s time (including your own). Identify the purpose of the meeting Do you need to make a decision, solve a problem, rally the troops, or inform your team about a new initiative? Make sure you really need a meeting Don’t pile on another meeting without thinking about other ways to accomplish your goal first.
Develop a preliminary agenda Lay out a sequence for the meeting. Select the right participants Consider who can help you accomplish your goal and who will be affected by the meeting’s outcome. Meetin.gs - Scheduling & Calendaring Meetings. Meeting Planning, How To Create an Agenda, Step-by-Step. GroupMap - Collaborative brainstorming. What are facilitation and moderation. A quick addendum about facilitation and moderation on online spaces before a longer post about strategy. Pete Ferne and Dan Dixon grouping a mindmap at The Media Sandbox community launch event. Are they facilitating, moderating, re-purposing, or nothing at all? Facilitation: Is largely around helping people connect, share, and learn together; disrupting the walls that keep them apart, understanding the purpose behind their interactions and assisting them achieve this in the longer term.
Knowing who they are and how they interact, and not dragging them into communal contexts they would naturally shy away from or drive others wild with rage. Understanding where the knowledge lies in the network and how to approach it. Knowing the people: when to bring in an extrovert, or when to refer to an introvert (yes I know that is a wide generalisation).
Moderation: Is the coalface end end of the model. When issues arise, ‘moderation’ is the set of communications and processes thing that deals with them. How To Stop Groupthink And Make Meetings More Productive. Everyone has had bad experiences in meetings at work. Meeting picture from Shutterstock Perhaps you’ve been subjected to weekly or even daily “feed-forward” briefings in which someone one pay-grade higher insists on reviewing information that everyone could much more efficiently receive in another form. Or there is the “clueless session,” in which someone who is supposed to solve a problem on his or her own, but hasn’t, calls a meeting instead. The aim is usually to get someone else to think up an easy solution or, absent a good solution, to dodge the responsibility for not solving the problem in the first place by attributing it to “the group.”
Behavioural scientists have seized on this “meeting malaise” and captured attention by bashing these office gatherings and face-to-face teamwork in general. Research I conducted with Cass Sunstein showed that leaders play a pivotal role in determining whether meetings lead to solutions or are hijacked by the tendency for “groupthink”. How to Refocus a Meeting After Someone Interrupts. You did everything you were supposed to do: Invited all the right people, sent out an agenda in advance, and got everyone’s agreement on the process. Despite your diligence, your meeting is being hijacked. How should you handle a persistent interrupter?
Will it work to just ignore the person? And how can you get the meeting back on track? What the Experts Say Whether it’s a team member who disagrees with your approach, an employee from another department who brings up irrelevant information, or a colleague who wants to use your meeting as a soapbox for his own personal agenda, dealing with interrupters during a meeting is challenging. “It’s the workplace equivalent of having someone steal the parking spot you were aiming for or jumping ahead of you in the line at the grocery store,” says Judith White, visiting associate professor at the Tuck School of Business. “When someone interrupts you, blocks you, or otherwise thwarts your intended action, it’s natural to feel upset,” she says. Do: 10 Etiquette Rules For Meetings That Every Professional Needs To Know. Mike Nudelman / Business Insider Even if you dread them, meetings put you in front of coworkers and bosses who you may not work with on a regular basis. That means how you conduct yourself in them may leave a lasting impression.
Is it acceptable to eat during a meeting, or check your phone? Should you be the person asking questions at the end? To get a better idea of how to maintain a positive, professional image while in a meeting, we reached out to Barbara Pachter, career coach and author of the book "The Essentials Of Business Etiquette," who gave us 10 rules you should know: 1. Make sure you come on time and prepare for the meeting ahead of time, says Pachter. "Leaders need to start on time so people can depend on that," she tells us. 2. If everyone doesn't know one another in the meeting room, you need to make introductions. For example, "Ms. 3. This is part of being prepared, but you should have a good, strong agenda so that you can stay on track. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Leadership Lesson: Tools for Effective Team Meetings - How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love my Team - Faculty Vitae - Group on Faculty Affairs (GFA) - Member Communities. By Yvette Pigeon, Ed.D., and Omar Khan, M.D., M.H.S. Effective meetings are not only integral to achieve team goals and successful completion of tasks, but also are reflective overall of team functioning (Heinemann & Zeiss, 2002). Whether they are conducted in real-time or asynchronously, in-person or by a remote conference, team meetings are important tools for managing team tasks and productivity. Effective team meetings allow for open conversation that draws upon each members' knowledge, skills, and perspectives to solve problems and to support one another in achieving the team's collective goals.
Take a moment to recall your last team meeting: What does it look and feel like? Are you interested in improving your team's effectiveness? Effective Meeting Practices "We must all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall hang separately. " Attention to meeting preparation, facilitation, participation, and evaluation processes is the recommended approach for ensuring productive outcomes. 1. 4. Effective Meetings Produce Results: Twelve Tips for Meeting Planning and Management - Before the Meeting. People spend so much time in meetings that turning meeting time into sustained results is a priority for successful organizations. Actions that make meetings successful require management before, during, and after the meeting. If you neglect any one of these meeting management opportunities, your meetings will not bear the fruit you desire from the time you invest in meeting.
Take these twelve meeting management actions to guide attendees to achieve expected, positive, and constructive outcomes. Before the Meeting to Ensure Effective Meetings Actions before the meeting establish the groundwork for accomplishing meeting results. You can do all of the needed follow-up, but without an effective meeting plan to start, your results will disappoint you. Plan the Meeting Effective meetings that produce results, begin with meeting planning. The goals you set will establish the framework for an effective meeting plan. Make Sure You Need a Meeting Ensure Appropriate Participation at the Meeting. Meeting Basics, Six Tips for More Effective Meetings. 5 keys to effective project meetings. Five weeeeeeeeird tips for great meetings. Empathy Is Key to a Great Meeting. Use Your Staff Meeting for Peer-to-Peer Coaching.
How to Get Your Team to Coach Each Other. Action Planning Guide. The Right Way to End a Meeting. The 7 Worst Ways To End A Meeting.