Beyond Folders : communications

Meet with Success

Community Manager — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:15:00 GMT

Time in meetings isn't always time well spent. Studies show that up to 50 percent of meeting time is wasted: listening to ineffective presentations, daydreaming and even dozing. Yes, people do sleep during meetings. Want to make sure no one gets caught napping in your meetings? We've assembled some useful tips for running productive, engaging meetings.

Meeting Guidelines

To begin, let's deal the myth that office workers universally abhor meetings. In Why We Secretly Love Meetings Harvard Business Review blogger and management consultant Ron Ashkenas asserts that most managers actually like meetings. Ashkenas says meetings happen again and again for three reasons:

Meetings encourage social interaction. Most people don't enjoy working alone; they want contact and relationships with other people and meetings make them feel part of a community.

Meetings keep everyone in the loop. As companies become more matrixed and interdependent, meetings serve as a hub that connects an organization's various spokes, enabling people to know what's going on in other parts of the organization.

Meetings represent status. Meetings offer people a seat at the decision-making table and membership on different committees signals that one is part of the leadership team. Being asked to present or answer questions at a meeting can provide visibility and is status-enhancing.

Okay, so people may like meetings more often they admit but most folks would also agree they do not like having their time wasted. So take time to create and run productive meetings.

Effective meetings boil down to three criteria:

Effective meetings achieve a defined objective. Productivity expert David Allen recommends starting every meeting with a "statement of wild success." This clear definition of the best possible outcome for the meeting puts everyone on the same page, working towards the same desired outcome.

Effective meetings take up a minimum amount of time. Set an agenda and stick to it. Set a start and end time and allocate a specific time for each agenda item. Don't allow any one person to dominate the group.

Effective meetings leave participants feeling that a sensible process has been followed. Before the meeting ends, summarize what was achieved and assign participants action items. At the meetings close, debrief participants separately for feedback. What went well? What didn't work? What could be improved upon? This will help you run meetings more effectively in the future.

Finally, for more ideas, read Inc.com's comprehensive How to Run an Effective Meeting.

Do you think meetings are an effective use of your time? What tips do you have for running productive, results-oriented meetings? Share your thoughts here and at the Beyond Folders Facebook page.

by Candie Harris

Creating a Virtual Water Cooler

Community Manager — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:43:00 GMT

The office water cooler enjoys an iconic reputation in the American workplace. It's the hub of office chit chat about must-see TV and weekend plans while simultaneously being the front-line of critical office information.

Given the value of water cooler communications, remote employees and nomadic workers need to fill the void created by their alternative work environments. What's needed is a virtual water cooler.

Fortunately, the rise of social networking makes sipping from the virtual water cooler a real possibility. Social media allows users to build professional networks and exchange business ideas virtually. Social networking can also provide inspiration, boost morale and mitigate feelings of isolation.

Many different networks exist, under two broad categories:

Horizontal networks: Broad networks where anyone can belong. Examples include: Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Twitter
Vertical networks: niche networks, often organized by profession (military.com, policelink, linkedin) or by area of interest (babycenter, dogster, ravelry, [a knitting network]).

Spend time thinking about what type of network best serves your needs. Perhaps it's a broad network such as Facebook used in combination with a niche community focused on your profession.

Looking to "tweet" and "friend" a virtual water cooler network? We've assembled a collection of articles on how social media can help.

Twitter as the Virtual Water cooler
Monitoring the Virtual Water Cooler: Facebook and Beyond
Four Tips for Businesses on Becoming a Savvy Social Networker

Commit yourself to building and managing a social network just as you would face-to-face office relationships. The Wall Street Journal recently declared that Facebook and Twitter have dethroned e-mail as the king of communication.

It's time to stop by that virtual water cooler and check in.

Do you make use of a virtual water cooler? Share your thoughts here and on the Beyond Folders Community's Facebook and Twitter pages.

by Bradley Eggers

Meeting Etiquette

Community Manager — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:13:00 GMT

Across the pond, the new English Prime Minister has set tongues wagging with his decision to ban cabinet members from using mobile phones and BlackBerries in meetings. This tempest is in an English teapot but it does bear thinking about at home. I would be lying if I didn't say that at times, I would love to ban phones, blackberries, and laptops from meetings. Technology has clearly changed the way we work and live. But has it changed the rules of what is polite and acceptable in business meetings?

Maintaining Meeting Etiquette

According to Christine Pearson, a management professor at Thunderbird School of Global Management, Thunderbird School of Global Management technology and its omnipresence in the workplace is eroding civility. Pearson interviewed 9,000 U.S. workers and managers for her book The Cost of Bad Behavior and concluded that texting and emailing during meetings is a serious lapse of etiquette.

"No one likes to be snubbed, of course, but the offense can take on a new edge when the winner is a machine," observed Pearson in a recent New York Times article Sending a Message that You Don't Care.

Managers work hard to plan and execute successful meetings. Don't let a meeting be derailed by texting and cell phone interruptions. Establish a protocol for managing meeting technology etiquette.

Steps could include:

Remind everyone that face-to-face meeting time is valuable.
Impose a moratorium on devices during some meetings, but allow breaks for checking e-mail, texts and networking accounts.
Work with your staff to set guidelines about what is and isn't reasonable in your particular workplace.
Hold everyone accountable to the guidelines - including yourself.

One of the first rules for life we are taught as young children is 'mind your manners.' Keep this old truism firmly in mind when next tempted to check your e-mail or send a text during a meeting. Remember, that the message you could be sending is that what is on your e-mail or cell phone is more important than interacting with the person you are with.

Do you think meeting etiquette is being executed well in your workplace? Could your office stand to improve its meeting etiquette policies? Share your thoughts here and on the Beyond Folders Community's Facebook and Twitter pages.

by Candie Harris

Home/Work: Blurring Personal and Professional Identities

Community Manager — Thu, 27 May 2010 12:21:00 GMT

Clear demarcations between work and personal life have gone the way of the three-martini lunch. Using work computers to shop online or make vacation reservations is as common as BlackBerries buzzing at school recitals or a co-worker friending you on Facebook.

Technology increasingly enables people to live a 24/7 existence, eroding the line between home and office. Today, professionals can even work while on vacation. Rather than bemoan the change (a Luddite-like finger in the dike) today's employee should embrace technology for the positive attributes it brings to creating healthy work/life synergy.

Managed appropriately, technology enhances flexibility, productivity and business and personal brand value. Social media is a case in point.

Consider that Twitter and Facebook can be set up for personal use, professional use or a hybrid model. Experiment with what works for you and your company.

For many knowledge workers, a hybrid professional/personal online presence is desirable. Social media is not only fun, it is an extremely powerful marketing tool. Used effectively, you can build a meaningful personal brand by engaging the social media channels that are right for you.

When you venture into social media be sure to manage potential pitfalls by arming yourself with tools to protect your online reputation. Equal care should be taken not to run afoul of your company's personal use standards for technology. Avid texters should take note: the Supreme Court will soon decide if a California police department violated an employee's privacy when it inspected personal text messages he sent using a work-issued pager.

Familiarize yourself with what is permissible at your job.

In the end, judgment matters. The best way to avoid violating your company's technology use standards, or with revealing too much personal information to professional contacts is to use good judgment.

The old adage applies: If you wouldn't want to see it on the front page of the New York Times, do not say it, or do it...or Tweet it!

by Candie Harris

Wasting Away at Work

Community Manager — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 12:27:00 GMT

We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves.

- Alice Bloch

We have all heard that time is a precious resource that we should not squander. But, in Salary.com's latest Wasting Time at Work Survey, 64% of the full-time workers responding reported wasting one hour or less each day; 22% said they wasted approximately two hours daily; and 14% admitted to wasting three hours or more each workday. The main time-wasters reported were:

Internet use (48%)
Socializing with co-workers (33%)
Conducting personal business (30%)
Personal phone calls (19%)
Long lunches and breaks (15%)

And the primary reasons cited for all this wastefulness were:

Being dissatisfied with a job (48%)
Feeling underpaid (34%)
Waiting for a co-worker to finish something (42%)
Attending work-related meetings or activities (42%)
Doing administrative work (32%)

Acknowledging these stark statistics, the Cyclope-Series Team Blog suggests that employers can curb waste by providing "opportunities for employees to grow personally and professionally." Likewise, employers would do well to recognize the motivating force of "regular praise, respect in the office place, a sense of having a real voice in the business and some level of job security."

For additional guidance, this Wall Street Journal post on Ways to Stop Wasting Time Online compares four online services designed to help distracted computer users stay focused. You can find similar tips in this review of 15 Free Online Time Management Tools. Offering less concrete, but equally valuable, insight is a recent New York Times article - titled Talk Deeply, Be Happy? - that explores the importance of engaging in meaningful conversations.

by Bradley Eggers

How to Run a Successful Business Meeting

Community Manager — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:36:00 GMT

Conducted face-to-face or in a virtual space, as a two-person exchange or at an annual gathering of two thousand, meetings are essential to business life.

Running a successful business meeting is part art and part science. Even if you are a natural leader, you might find this a tough mix to master. Here are some resources to help you.

At Forbes.com, Dr. Nadine Katz shares the results of a study she conducted on making meetings more efficient. Her top finding? There is no substitute for preparation, which includes:

Sending participants a detailed meeting agenda in advance
Touching base with participants to highlight important talk points
Surveying the meeting space to assess factors like lighting and temperature
Establishing clear rules for dealing with lateness, rudeness or similar disruptions

A BusinessWeek article on How to Run a Meeting Like Google echoes Dr. Katz's insights and adds that assigning an official note taker and sticking to the clock helps curb meeting, and post-meeting, chaos. Rounding out the advice, a piece from WomenEntrepreneur encourages meeting leaders to:

Have an emotional goal going in
Live the tone you want to set
Facilitate, don't dominate
Read the room

If you are running your meeting via the Web, Mashable has 5 important tips for your success. Last, but not least, proving that even the biggest business meetings benefit from a healthy dose of lightness and humor, here is a Wall Street Journal post featuring a video clip from Southwest Airlines' 2009 annual meeting.

by Bradley Eggers

Watch the Body Language

Community Manager — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:59:00 GMT

By Candie Harris

Lie to Me is a fascinating TV series inspired by the real-life work of Dr. Paul Eckman, a psychologist who uses clues embedded in the human face, body and voice to assist in criminal investigations. As a psychology major, I have always been fascinated with using body language to try and read people.

Most of us likely accept that we can learn a lot about others and ourselves by attuning to body language. Yet, few of us are naturally fluent in this kind of non-verbal communication. It is a skill we must acquire and nurture.

Fortunately, the Web is here to support us. With a quick trip to the search box, you can find practical tips and insights on:

· Body language basics

· Communicating without words

· Translating common gestures into business vernacular

· Generation-Y's inability to read non-verbal cues

But, before declaring ourselves (self-taught) body language experts, we should heed what communication theorist and coach Nick Morgan writes in an article titled The Truth Behind the Smile and Other Myths - When Body Language Lies. While Morgan recognizes the business value of decoding non-verbal cues, he argues that, "in the end, body language conveys important but unreliable clues about the intent of the communicator."

Maybe the best course of action in our business, and personal, interactions is to couple our powers of observation with some genuine dialogue that sheds light what the other person is feeling and experiencing.

Welcome to the Beyond Folders™ Blog

Community Manager — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:05:00 GMT

Beyond Folders™ is a new Community steeped in history. Twenty five years ago, Pendaflex launched the I Hate Filing Club™, delivering information and techniques for organization in the workspace and home. While still providing great ideas and inspiration, Beyond Folders™ goes a step further.

In late 2009 we surveyed our Community members and other professional organizations to ask where they spent time gathering information and inspiration to help make their work and personal organization tasks more productive. We then observed and questioned our members, small business owners and knowledge workers and found several common areas of interest, needs and concerns.

Our communications will be built around these subjects, offering sound advice, ideas and methods to achieve success in these areas. Beyond Folders™ blog contributors are subject matter experts in workplace organization, productivity, communications, time management and more.

Carly Fadako is one of our workplace organizational experts, working daily with our customers to find value added solutions to their organization challenges.

Bradley Eggers is trained and certified to deliver "Lean" processes, studying under Shingijitsu of Japan, Moffit Associates and TBM. He is an expert at implementing Lean and Kaizen as tools that create "TIME" and competitive advantage for companies.

Candie Harris is our marketing and communications guru. She has given over 1000 presentations to audiences of varying size and composition and as VP of Marketing, has been responsible for all aspects of our company communication.

We hope you find our posts interesting, useful and inspirational!
Check them out, and let us know what you think.

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