Photo by plantoo47 (Flickr), Licensed under CC BY 2.0

We've all been there: We've walked out of business meetings knowing we're never going to get that time back, wondering why we were invited and what it was that we accomplished. Often, this lack of productivity in a meeting is not the result of what happened during the meeting but rather what didn't happen beforehand: meeting preparation. Planning an effective meeting is as important as conducting one. Here are seven more reasons to create meeting agendas.

Summer is upon us. The sun is shining and we are daydreaming about being on the beach, on a boat or anywhere else but our desk. With all the excitement and distractions of summer, there’s a good chance that our productivity will drop. Here are a few tips how you can keep up your productivity at work during summer.

Communication is a central part in every aspect of our lives and the ability to communicate effectively helps foster positive relationships – especially in a professional environment. Here are some tips to help you become a better communicator.

Deadlines and budget limits are overrun, your project team is overloaded with work and the positive spirit that was prevalent at the beginning vanished into thin air. All this signals: Your project is en route to failure. Not necessarily – you can still change tack and here’s how.

Leadership is on everyone’s lips, the great majority of job listings ask candidates to have “strong leadership skills” and academic institutions continuously create new leadership courses and workshops. But what exactly is this famous leadership? And how is it different from management?

Drafting the Manhattan skyline of the future. Source: Manahattan West NYC

What was once known as Hell’s Kitchen and lately one of the grittiest parts of Manhattan is in the process of becoming an area packed with flashy skyscrapers. At the head of this mega project stands a construction project manager. 

Multitasking in project teams is not desirable, because it is not efficient. That was the core statement of the last post. Switching from task to task means that there are always switch costs which can amount up to 40 percent of the daily work time on an average work day. That means that almost half of the work time might be used to get back to the original task after being interrupted.

That’s why reducing multitasking to a minimum and creating spaces for uninterrupted, concentrated work should be in everyone’s interest.

There are starting points on all levels – in the organization itself, the management team and in the self-organization of each team member.