Lesson Summary
Using a diary system has many different purposes and can bring many benefits to the business. Within most companies, there are many different offices and it can sometimes be hard to communicate with each other and know exactly what each person is doing on what day. They can be paper-based in the form of a traditional bound diary or can be in electronic format.
The recorder of a meeting’s minutes has a professional responsibility to be meticulous and careful that the right actions and accountabilities are recorded.
The following tips will help you take the minutes with accuracy and ease.
– Preparation
– Distribution
– Know the Purpose
– Get the Agenda
Common recording methods for minutes include:
notebook, template and clipboard, laptop, tape recorder, shorthand
It is important that companies improve value from money spent on travel and a travel policy is the cornerstone on which good procurement can achieve that objective. It has been said that a well-documented, well-implemented, well-monitored policy can reduce travel costs by at least 10% and by up to 30%.
With a policy there are strict guidelines to follow. Examples can be:
Cap on the price per night for a hotel room.
Second class train travel rather than first class.
Economy class flights, rather than business or first class.
Business mileage expenses.
Hire cars capped to economy level to mid-size level.
Subsistence costs– cap on an evening meal or breakfast costs in on an overnight stay.
Business travel can be booked through a specialist agency, which will use their business model to deliver hotels or travel within a price range
Foreign exchange service providers can tackle the first and simplest aspect of overseas payment – better exchange rates than those offered by the banks, and substantially reduced fees.
Some countries require a business invitation letter to be allowed into the country. An Invitation Letter is a document submitted to the Embassy from the inviting company, or organization, in the country you are planning to visit.
Generally, meetings move group actions forward. We call this a task focus. To do this, participants do two things in meetings:
They present information to others.
They collaborate – review, evaluate, discuss, problem-solve, decide – with each other.
This is appropriate and positive behavior to display.
People also meet for social reasons:
The need to belong and to network
The need to achieve and make an impact.
A desire to communicate, build and share a common reality.
Be clear about the meeting’s objective. Why is this important? If participants can’t articulate the clear purpose of a meeting, they will make up their own. If this happens, your meeting will wander in as many directions as there are participants.
There are two important tips about the agenda:
Prioritize agenda items in terms of importance to most participants.
Assign realistic amounts of time to each agenda item.
Capturing and reporting key outcomes of the meeting are critical for follow-up activities. All meeting documents including the agenda, minutes and supporting documents should be kept together and archived.