10.4 Document for Analysis: Poor Persuasive Memo Flowing Upward–
Miserable Meetings
To: Charlotte Cohen <ccohen@mitenterprise>
From: Clint Johnson <cjohnson@mitenterprise>
Subject: Improving Productivity and Morale With Better Meetings
Cc:
Attached:
Good morning, Ms. Cohen,
This past week I attended five in-house meetings and participated in three conference call
meetings. Some were well-run and necessary; others were poorly run and wasted my time. Some
meetings were actually socializing classified as work, and others merely rehashed decisions that
were already made. One meeting was called to announce information that could have been sent
in an e-mail. I noticed that many participants were as frustrated as I was.
Although most of our managers have business training, some are unaware of how expensive
meetings are in terms of our time and lost productivity. Many simply don’t know how to run
meetings efficiently.
I suggest that our division develop a meeting policy that outlines effective meeting procedures.
Here are a few examples:
• Meetings should be called only if decisions need to be made, and only key people should
be invited.
These are just a few ideas for improving our division meetings. Clearly, our division could
improve productivity by eliminating or reducing drawn-out meetings. With your approval,
I would be happy to work with a committee to develop a meeting policy with tips for running
meetings efficiently.
