Are Your Meetings MINM or JAM?

Written by Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE


When people come to your meetings, do they say "this is a meeting I never miss" ( MINM) or do they say "this is just another meeting." (JAM)

Unproductive meetings gobble up an estimated 20% of corporate payrolls, throwing away $420 billion a year. American business people engage in an estimated 11 million meetings every workday. The average American executive spends 17 hours a week in meetings and more than 6 hours preparing. At an average salary of $45,000, more than $18,000 per executive is spent in meetings. Before you call another meeting, ask yourself:

·what'srepparttar outcome I want from this meeting? The more people know what "deliverables" should come fromrepparttar 106484 meeting,repparttar 106485 more focus you can bring torepparttar 106486 conversations.

·is there a more effective way of gettingrepparttar 106487 results without a meeting?

·who REALLY needs to be involved?

·when isrepparttar 106488 optimum time to have it and what time limit shall I set?

Sounds silly, but agendas make a huge difference. And forget 'old business". Who ever got excited about starting a meeting with "old business"! If it has relevancy to current situations, it is not "old"-it is pressing business.

The skills of running an effective meeting can easily be learned. These skills involve gatekeeping (i.e. making sure that one person does not monopolizerepparttar 106489 meeting), summarizingrepparttar 106490 points, calling for a decisions, establishing protocols, and keeping discussion on track.

Ideas For Employee Retention

Written by Eileen McDargh, CSP, CPAE


A recent survey of 350 human resource managers shows that employee turnover is becoming one ofrepparttar most critical workplace issues. Sixty percent say that skilled-person power is “scarce”. Forty six percent say that worker retention is a “very serious” issue and another 28 percent believe it to be “serious”.

Companies that takerepparttar 106483 problem seriously and implement programs to ensure employee satisfaction haverepparttar 106484 highest retention rates. “Show merepparttar 106485 money” is notrepparttar 106486 singular solution. While bonuses, stock-options, and flextime are appreciated, what employees really want is some assurance of continued employability. Here arerepparttar 106487 most popular worker retention strategies:

78% conferences and seminars 67% tuition reimbursement 67% managerial training 58% pay for performance 57% flextime 57% interpersonal skills training 55% technical training

Five ofrepparttar 106488 top seven areas are all related to learning. Today’s workforce recognizesrepparttar 106489 value of continual personal improvement as a way to assure steady employability. Yet many companies still find it easier to throw pay increases atrepparttar 106490 problem rather than take a long term view.

A recent study of 4000 professional and clerical workers found that job satisfaction keeps more workers than pay levels alone. The survey found that only 6% of people who were satisfied with their jobs but unhappy with their pay plan to quit. The percentage jumps to 27% when they were dissatisfied with their jobs but happy with their pay! If they were unhappy with both their pay and job situation,repparttar 106491 percentage of those ready to bail jumped to 41%!

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