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When Chris Flint landed his first management job, as a head of development of the Securities America branch, he immediately set up a weekly staff meeting. And why not? Flint had his eye on the corner desk and keeping tabs on his team's productivity was essential to get there. "Unfortunately, it was not the way to do it," Rit Silx, who ends up coming to the same conclusion as the humorist Dave Barry - that meetings resemble funerals: "you have a rally of people who wear Uncomfortable clothes and prefer to be elsewhere. The main difference is that most funerals have a specific purpose. "

To be sure, Microsoft interviewed 38,000 leaders in the world and found consensus. More than two-thirds felt that meetings were unproductive and ineffective. Flint sets its problem by breaking its time of weekly update in short sessions with individual employees. Here's how to maximize your own staff assemblies. And if you find yourself on the other end, as a participant and not a boss, here's14 ways to conquer your next meeting-And perhaps finish in the boss chair yourself.

Apply the same principle to meetings you do to pack suitcases: The more you try to integrate, the more they become heavy. As a general rule, include participants (decision-makers and key implementation), non-observer (non-essential staff), saysDeath by meeting: a fable of management ... on the resolution of the most painful problem in business Author Patrick Lencioni.

Disorganization is the greater reproduction of workers participating in business meetings, according to an investigation of the United States Opinion. In addition to listing topics to cover, give each element a time limit. "This will keep the dialogue from moving forward," says Lencioni, who also advises letting your staff set the agenda. "If they know that the meeting will be relevant to them, they will look forward."

Good meetings, like good movies, hang their audiences in the first minutes. Whether you explain the consequences of excess departmental expenses or how competition increases its game, "it is essential that people know what is at stake," says Lencioni. And use your body language to transmit the point - it's one of theFour ways to instantly be a better boss.

Ideally, your agenda will act as a GPS browser, preventing anyone from leaving the course. If this is not the case, encourage people to speak in titles, first offering conclusions, then save them with facts or details. In addition, create a list of topics not on the agenda of out-of-the-line topics at the meeting.

When decisions are made, set deadlines immediately to be made. "One reason why people find disturbing meetings are that they do not see the results," says Lencioni. "Your job is to show them that meetings are how things are done."

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