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The Special Meeting
September 10, 2019
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Welcome to our sixth installment of Lessons in Leadership. We continue to focus on time management and basic tactics you can use to control your time. You can't be an effective leader without good time management skills. Your time is your most valuable leadership asset. We also continue our discussion about the Eisenhower Time Management Grid and focusing our time in the Important/Not Urgent quadrant.
There are four formal methods of communication within a high-performance organization --paperwork, private one-on-one, group meetings, and the special meeting. Reserve the special meeting for the issues that come up that cannot fit into paperwork, private one-on-ones and group meetings. The special meeting exists as a tool to keep the other three methods of communication on track and effective.
In our first example, one of your team members has an issue come up during the day, and he/she needs your help. You must stay focused on your agenda for the day and schedule time to help your team member according to your plan, not theirs. You schedule a special meeting for the issue. Since your day is already blocked out for your activities, you will need to schedule the special meeting in one of your open slots, after 5p, over the lunch hour, or early the next day morning before the rest of the team arrives for work. The special meeting should have a fixed duration and start and end on time.
Use the special meeting if the private one-on-one meeting is going to run over the scheduled time. Private one-on-ones must run like clockwork so the next private one-on-one can start on time. You are responsible for keeping the schedule on track; otherwise, you affect other people and their schedule. You depreciate the value of the private one-on-one for your team members when the schedule is inconsistent. Remember, dedicate the first half of the private one-on-one to the team member's agenda, not yours. You want them to plan for their meeting and bring their Important/Not Urgent issues to the meeting for your collective best efforts.
Special meetings are the place for disciplinary or corrective action issues. These should always be private with only the appropriate people present. As a leader, when it comes to serious issues like performance or behavior, you must have a cool head. You cannot become reactionary and lose your temper or show anger. By scheduling a private meeting for such issues, you have time to collect your thoughts, involve appropriate team members, and develop your plan. People won't always agree with your decisions. But you must always act fairly. Scheduling the special meeting gives you the time to make the right decision for the circumstances.
Gaining control over your time and your agenda is the essential task of the effective leader. You must be the person who decides how to spend your time. You cannot get it back once it is gone. You want to ensure you spend your time on your most valuable activities, the long-range strategic activities that move the organization forward. People are coming at you from all sides for a piece of your time. If you don't guard your time, it will be easy for people to get you off of your agenda with their priorities and before you know it, other competing priorities will consume your day.
Talk to you soon.
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