Friday, August 3, 2018

Successful meetings and how to have them

Meetings are an essential part of PhD life. Here are some thoughts on how to have successful meetings:

Reasons to hold a meeting:
  • Share information
  • Ask and answers questions
  • Discuss issues and reach decisions as a group, including what actions (and by whom) are needed
  • Promote sense of community

Keys to successful meetings:
  • Who is in charge of meeting
  • What is the purpose / objective
  • Make an agenda
  • Keep to < 1hr, use alarms if necessary

Some lessons from sitting in meetings in various contexts:
  • Frame things in a positive light (e.g., use the word "challenge" instead of "issue")
  • Avoid sounding like you are telling someone how to do their job
  • Have an agenda, and go through it
  • Anonymous voting may help ease tensions


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