WEBVTT - Schedule time for follow up 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.680 Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio. 0:00:09.280 --> 0:00:15.440 Good Morning. This is Laura, Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:21.040 Today's tip is that following up after a meeting is 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:25.480 a distinct task from attending the meeting. You need to 0:00:25.560 --> 0:00:29.400 schedule time for following up if it's going to get done. 0:00:31.520 --> 0:00:34.680 From studying time logs, I know that so many knowledge 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:38.559 workers spend the bulk of their days in meetings. It 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.400 is easy to wind up going from meeting to meeting, 0:00:41.760 --> 0:00:46.000 like middle schoolers changing classes. You go to your two o'clock, 0:00:46.520 --> 0:00:50.640 your three o'clock, you're four o'clock without thinking through the 0:00:50.680 --> 0:00:55.440 implications and next steps from any of it. This is 0:00:55.520 --> 0:01:00.440 problematic because for a meeting to be worthwhile, it needs 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.240 to have an impact on the world outside the meeting. 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:07.440 That means that most participants will need to do something 0:01:07.480 --> 0:01:10.800 afterwards to make sure the meeting has achieved its purpose. 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:15.240 The only way to make sure this happens is to 0:01:15.319 --> 0:01:19.480 schedule time for it. Otherwise you won't follow up in 0:01:19.480 --> 0:01:24.760 a timely fashion, or you might forget until the next meeting. 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.960 There are two general ways to do this following up. 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:33.120 One option is to schedule fifteen minutes or so after 0:01:33.240 --> 0:01:37.680 each meeting as a follow up block. Increase or decrease 0:01:37.760 --> 0:01:40.560 the length of the follow up block, depending on what 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:45.280 seems necessary for different types of meetings. If you get 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:48.480 to the end of your allocated time but haven't finished 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:52.160 all of your follow up tasks, add the specific tasks 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:54.720 you haven't done yet to your to do list for 0:01:54.760 --> 0:01:59.880 the day or the week. I personally like this idea 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:05.240 because following up immediately afterwards means you've got momentum. You 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:09.480 also won't forget what you agreed to do, your to 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:14.440 do list won't keep growing during the day. Plus, this 0:02:14.560 --> 0:02:17.160 rule has the side effect of meaning you can't fill 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.760 a whole day with meetings, so you will have to 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:25.720 be more judicious about which meetings happen. That sounds like 0:02:25.760 --> 0:02:29.840 a pretty good idea to me. However, I know that 0:02:29.919 --> 0:02:32.160 a lot of people view a meeting as an hour 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:35.520 and the next hour is fair game for something else. 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:40.760 If there is no convincing you otherwise, or there's no 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.880 way to avoid it, then you need to do something 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:47.960 else to make sure you don't forget or lose urgency. 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:51.400 Probably the best way to solve this problem is to 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:54.320 add things to your task list during the meeting itself. 0:02:55.480 --> 0:02:58.440 You still need to schedule another time later for follow up, 0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:01.040 but at least you won't be a danger of forgetting 0:03:01.040 --> 0:03:04.640 anything as you race off to your next meeting. But 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:08.040 and I am serious here, the meeting follow up time 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:12.640 still needs to happen. If you have more than one 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:18.480 meeting every work day, then meeting follow up should probably 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:23.960 be a recurring task on each day's to do list schedule. 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:27.280 Sometime maybe an hour that you have opened later in 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.399 the day, or forty five minutes after the last meeting 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:35.040 has ended. To go back through your meeting notes, either 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.680 do the tasks you have written down or schedule a 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:43.040 future time for any major tasks. You can review the 0:03:43.080 --> 0:03:46.400 notes as a whole and think through any additional follow 0:03:46.480 --> 0:03:51.640 up activities that might be valuable. Whichever approach you take, 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:54.240 the point is that you need to treat following up 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:57.800 from a meeting as a distinct task from going to 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:03.320 the meeting, because it is is Simply having attended the 0:04:03.360 --> 0:04:07.000 meeting probably doesn't mean you are done with that meeting, 0:04:08.200 --> 0:04:10.160 So have a plan for what you need to do 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:14.120 and when you will get it done. And now a 0:04:14.200 --> 0:04:18.560 related tip, if you are leading a meeting, you can 0:04:18.600 --> 0:04:22.080 help ensure the team follows up by walking through the 0:04:22.160 --> 0:04:26.479 expected next steps. You can invite people to reflect back 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.760 what needs to happen between now and our next meeting 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:34.720 or something like that. Then, as attendees reflect on what 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.039 they need to do, you can make sure their lists 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:42.440 tie in with yours. Calling attention to the fact that 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.160 there are follow ups might nudge your attendees to make 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:50.400 time to deal with these matters, or at least one 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:54.839 can hope. In any case, during the week ahead, make 0:04:54.880 --> 0:04:58.760 a plan for handling meeting follow up tasks. When we 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:02.239 follow up on meetings, we ensure that all the plans 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:05.560 and ideas generated during the meetings do what they are 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:10.560 supposed to do. Otherwise we are just wasting time and 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:14.440 we will never get that time back. In the meantime, 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:19.760 this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:29.680 the moose of our time. Hey everybody, I'd love to 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.680 hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions, 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:36.520 or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:41.440 and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod that's b E the 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:45.760 number four then Breakfast p o D. You can also 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.159 shoot me an email at Before Breakfast Podcast at I 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.280 heeart media dot Com that before Breakfast is spelled out 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:54.760 with all the letters, thanks so much, should I look 0:05:54.760 --> 0:06:03.120 forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production 0:06:03.160 --> 0:06:06.599 of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.599 visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:12.960 you listen to your favorite shows. Yea.