Surviving boring meetings: think about football, food or underwear
Stumble It!The UK guardian, reports that business meetings in the UK have become so boring that most participants totally mentally check out.
However apparently this has an "up-side" as it stimulates the participants creative thinking – a bit like being in the shower or out on a long walk!
Apparently doodling has been overtaken by a range of ingenious games, including:
- Office Bingo - a form of bingo based on predictable phrases in presentations
- Thinking about Football (mostly men)
- Pondering the dress sense of colleagues
The advice offered includes banning participants from using blackberries and texting and making them change seats regularly.
Apparently actually trying to make the meetings interesting, useful and well run is considered too stupid to even suggest!
However if you have not given up on meetings altogether you could check out my Fifteen great techniques for teams for a few pointers.
Meeting checklists and support tools are great but don't forget no matter how well a meeting is run it won't be a good one if the participants did not want to be there in the first place.
Tags: meetings
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Self managed teams 101
Grass Roots Management shows you how to grow initiative and responsibility in all your people. It might not appeal to purists, but using the narrative of a business based on a garden open to the public the author gives a very simple, accessible and readable account of 'self-managed teams'.
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