The Surprising Science of Meetings

• Preface


• SECTION I: Setting the Meeting Stage


• Chapter 01: So Many Meetings and So Much Frustration


• Chapter 02: Get Rid of Meetings? No, Solve Meetings Through Science


• SECTION II: Evidence-Based Strategies for Leaders


• Chapter 03: The Image in the Mirror is Likely Wrong


• Chapter 04: Meet for 48 Minutes


• Chapter 05: Agendas Are a Hollow Crutch


• Chapter 06: The Bigger, The Badder


• Chapter 07: Don't Get Too Comfortable in That Chair


• Chapter 08: Deflate Negative Energy From the Start


• Chapter 09: No More Talking!


• Chapter 10: The Folly of the Remote Call-in Meeting


• Chapter 11: Putting it All Together


• Epilogue: Trying to Get Ahead of the Science--Using Science


• Tool: Meeting Quality Self-Assessment


• Tool: Sample Engagement Survey and 360 Feedback Questions on Meetings


• Tool: Good Meeting Facilitation Checklist


• Tool: Huddle Implementation Checklist


• Tool: Agenda Template


• Tool: Guide to Taking Good Meeting Minutes/Notes


• Tool: Expectations Assessment


• Acknowledgments


• References


• Index

Steven G. Rogelberg holds the title of Chancellor's Professor at University of North Carolina, Charlotte, for distinguished national, international, and interdisciplinary contributions, and he is currently the elected Secretary General of the Alliance of Organizational Psychology. He has over 100 publications addressing issues such as meetings at work, team effectiveness, leadership, employee engagement, and organizational research methods; his research has been profiled in the Los Angeles Times, CBS News, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, NPR, Guardian, National Geographic, and Scientific American Mind, among others. In addition to his research and teaching, he consults for small and large organizations, including IBM, TIAA, Procter & Gamble, VF Corporation, Family Dollar, Siemens, and others. He has been

a visiting scholar and guest speaker at universities around the world and is the editor of the Journal of Business and Psychology and the Talent Management Essentials book series. Dr. Rogelberg founded and currently directs large outreach initiatives focusing on nonprofit organization health and effectiveness with over 250 nonprofits served. He has been awarded the Humanitarian Award and Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Psi Chi Professor of the Year Award, the Master Teacher Award from Bowling Green State University, and the Humboldt Award.

Some of the suggestions in the book are easy to implement. Playing music or offering snacks can be a simple fix to lift mood before the meeting begins. Some, on the other hand, require some more effortful reflection, like reviewing attendee feedback on meeting quality. Fortunately, Rogelberg spares readers from the grunt work by providing templates with survey questions and response scales. What the reader needs to do is dedicate time to using those tools... In short, this is a book written for anyone who needs to run a meeting. The benefits you extract from it will depend on the amount of effort you put into applying the recommendations and the amount of buy-in you get from your meeting attendees. Even if you're not surprised by the science presented, it reminds you to re-examine the habitual aspects of meetings that normally go unquestioned. Vanessa C. T. Nguyen and S. Bartholomew Craig, Department of Psychology, NC State University, Raleigh