Communication+Management

Most of us are not eager to attend the many meetings that clog our calendars, but we recognize that they are an inevitable part of office life. And once you’ve been to enough meetings, you start to recognize the different types of meeting attendees.  First, you’ve got the enthusiastic ones. They’re excited to interact with colleagues, so they arrive in the meeting room or join the video call a few minutes early to lead the pre-meeting small talk. During the meeting itself, they are active participants, always ready to offer opinions or lighten the mood with a funny story. Then you’ve got the disconnected ones. If it’s an in-person meeting, they are there in body, but not in spirit. They’re likely to be surreptitiously working on something else during the meeting. If they’re on a video call, they probably have their camera off, actively multitasking. The regular attendees are there because they must be, but they understand the need for the meeting and want to help the team achieve ...

When I started as an operations manager at my most recent workplace, I had more than 15 direct reports. That eventually rose to 25 before I shifted roles and was responsible for between five and ten people for the rest of my time there. Managing 25 people was a challenge. Writing their annual performance appraisals took two weeks! However, one of my favorite parts of managing that large group was the opportunity it gave me to have lots of one-on-one meetings. I committed to having those one-on-ones every other week, so I’d usually have 13 one week and 12 the next. They usually lasted between 15 and 30 minutes, although some ran longer. One colleague was routinely in my office for an hour or more, but we spent much of that time laughing. Those epic meetings often meant I’d have a longer day at the office, but it was worth it to have a bit of fun . One-on-one meetings between a leader and employee are vital for building connections, providing information, managing performance , and guidi...

Success as a manager is much more likely if you focus on building connections.  You must bring your team together so they feel connected to each other and the projects they’re doing. You should build ties with other managers and colleagues throughout the company so you can help them or ask for their assistance. You need to connect with your supervisor to ensure you’re on the same page with them and meeting (or, hopefully, exceeding) their expectations.  Of those connections, the links within your team may be the most important. I’m not basing this on a gut feeling. Years of poring over the results of employee engagement surveys have provided me with ample evidence that people want to feel connected to their colleagues and managers while at work. And when it comes to building those connections, they look to middle managers for help.  While there are many ways for middle managers to strengthen those ties , one that is often overlooked is the simple act of showing up, whethe...

I’m not a fan of meetings. To be fair, I don’t know many people who are. However, I recognize that they are a necessary part of most jobs. Because we’re likely to spend large chunks of our careers in meetings with our teams, our supervisors, fellow managers, or others, we should at least make sure those get-togethers are meaningful. I believe a good meeting usually results in effective decision-making, and if it’s a meeting I’m running, that’s what I’m hoping to achieve.  Here are a few steps I follow to keep people on track and moving toward a decision during a work meeting: Consider the specifics of the situation . Before the meeting begins, answer several questions. First, and perhaps most importantly, do you need to have a meeting, or could the work to be done be handled via email? (If it could, please consider that option!) Assuming you do need a meeting, have you clearly been put in charge of solving the problem or completing the project that will be discussed? Do the other p...