We are 43 days into the New Year. How are you tracking toward your personal goals? Have you gained momentum on your fitness, finance, and family aspirations? How about your professional goals? Have you focused on developing those team and leadership skills? Are you building that power network? Have you made strides toward acquiring that new technical skill? 

Do you want to make your meetings more effective? Here's a simple tool to help you out. 

I call it the "half-time adjustment." Conduct the following process about 1/3 or 1/2 of the way into your meeting: 

The challenge in many organizations is not just that there are too many meetings, but that there are too many poorly run meetings. As a result people waste time and energy instead of getting "real work" done. Here is a checklist I use in my strategic team building and team development programs as I observe and provide real time coaching. Check it out and see how your team is doing. Structure

I often hear leaders say "I want my people to contribute more in our team meetings."

What most leaders don't realize is that limited conversation is often the result of their individual behaviors. For example, I recently attended a client's team meeting and noticed that he would ramble on for several minutes at a time and then ask "any questions?" and without hesitation begin talking again.

And, he didn't even know he was doing it.

Want to generate more conversation in your meetings?

Try these three ideas.

Are you tired of showing up at meetings and not knowing why you are there to begin with?

That seems to be the norm in most organizations.

The problem is that when there isn't a clear purpose and agenda for a meeting, people waste time and  energy endlessly talking around each other - never closing on decisions and moving actions forward.

Do you know what the Number 1 excuse is for not having an agenda?

"We don't have enough time."

People are too busy, overwhelmed, and overloaded.

This is the fourth post in a 4-Part series. To get the scoop in why recognition is important, see Part 1. To understand some of the myths about recognition, see Part 2. To learn about the 4-level framework for a recognition program, see Part 3.

In Part 1 of this series we talked about the "case" for recognition. In Part 2, we have debunked some of the myths around recognition, the next steps are to put a framework in place for an effective recognition program.

In The Carrot Principle, the authors outline a four-level approach to recognition that is straight forward and easy to implement.

In Part 1 of this series, we discussed some of the challenges of working on remote teams and ideas for getting your remote team aligned. But, to truly be effective, your remote team has to find a way to build cohesion. After all, only when people are working together on the right things can we gain efficiencies.

Here are a few ideas:

I just got back from an amazing trip to Cape Cod visiting my parents, brothers, nephews, and nieces. What a great reunion with all of the fun, chaos, and laughs that you would expect from a big family. Frankly, I reluctantly came home, feeling a strong sense of sadness living so far away from my family. But, as a result of the trip, I am now committed to getting home more than two or three times a year.