the best management ideas ever

Meetings can be contentious things. Done poorly, they take time away from working hours and make participants feel as though their time isn't valued. Worryingly, some 67% of meetings a considered a failure - with these collectively costing the economy $37b a year. 

However, managed well, meetings can be a high-value endeavor. They can be a great way to share ideas, make progress on projects, oversee decision making, and bring the team together. With middle management spending some 35% of their time in meetings and upper management a huge 50%, leading effective meetings is a must for productivity and profitability.

Here's how. 

Do you know?

You might have numbers running through your mind about how much you're spending on a social media campaign, or how much it costs to maintain an active blog on your website - but this is a different question altogether.

Let's say you got up this morning to see a new sale from a brand new customer. A lead turned into a customer - huzzah! Now, how much did it cost you to convert that lead into a customer? And then convert them into a loyal customer? 

When it's qualified.

Your sales funnel is working the way it should, and leads are coming through. But not all leads are created equally. We all know that you're going to have to kiss a lot of frogs. For every person who'll ultimately buy your product or service, there are the tire kickers, the preliminary shoppers and those who can't or won't buy what you're selling. In fact, only about 25% of leads end up converting into actual sales. Every business needs to create marketing (three touchpoints is a good standard) touchpoints that lead people through their funnel.

As a high-level executive, your days are bound to be extremely busy. But no matter how hectic your schedule is, it's critical to take time to build up the individuals who will become the future leaders of your company. Grooming someone to excel in a leadership role takes time, effort and resources - and it's best done by someone with on-the-ground insights into your company's culture, goals, and aspirations.

Ever asked a colleague about an email or task, only to get sidetracked talking about something else entirely? At StellaPop we call these moments "squirrel time," after Doug the notoriously distractible dog in the film Up.

Not all squirrel time is bad. We all need a break every now and then, and sometimes squirrel time can result in valuable discussions or insights about a client, a task or a process. But how do you control squirrel time so that you don't go nuts?

Here's how we ensure that we stay on task and meet our deadlines - while still allowing for occasional office chit chat and discussion.