productivity – Amazemeet

Mayalytics – measure and visualise your meeting culture

Ask almost anyone in almost any organisation what they think of meetings and they’ll pretty much all say the same thing – “We hate meetings”.

Whilst there is a lot of feeling that meetings are bad, there is often very little or no solid data to back it up in the organisation.

Until now.

Mayalytics is our brand new service to help any organisation measure and visualise their meeting culture and provides high quality quantitative and qualitative metrics to drive improvements.

mayalytics_by_amazemeet

Built to Visualise Meeting Culture

As we built Amazemeet we found we had lots of users but not many customers.

We also found that one of the key reasons for this was that decision makers in our users’ organisations needed data to see if they had a problem with meetings in their company.

Mayalytics was born with the belief that we could help leaders and decision makers improve their organisation by giving them useful metrics about their meeting culture.

8 Key Metrics Right out of the Box – for free

Using the data we get from your meeting invitation and feedback from specially devised micro surveys, we add a dash of Artificial Intelligence to make sense of the data and provide 8 key metrics about an organisation’s meeting culture:

Meetings per Month: the number of meetings per month across your organisation
Total Meeting Time per month (in hours): how much time meetings are taking.
Employees Meeting Time per month (in hours): how much employees’ time is spent in meetings.
Employees Meeting Wasted Time per month (in hours): how much employees’ time is wasted in meetings.
Meeting Costs per month (in US Dollars): how much meetings are costing the organisation per month
Meeting Wasted Cost per Month (in US Dollars): how much of the cost of meetings is wasted.
Employee Sentiment before meetings (in %)
Employee Sentiment after meetings (in %)

Incredibly Easy to Use

One of the best things about Mayalytics is how easy it is to use.
To get your Meeting Culture data flowing, all you do is what you’ve always done for meetings that you organise- simply invite an additional email address and we take care of everything else.

Get started!

Getting started is super simple and quick.
Our “Getting Started” video explains everything you need to know to get it started.

Start using it right now and building up the data you need to get these useful metrics.

[otw_shortcode_button href=”https://mayalytics.io/?utm_source=amazemeet&utm_medium=blog&utm_campaign=maya-launch” size=”large” icon_type=”general foundicon-checkmark” icon_position=”left” shape=”radius” color_class=”otw-green” target=”_blank”]Try Mayalytics Now![/otw_shortcode_button]

Meeting Scheduling: 4 Tips To Do It Right

Often time, the way a meeting is scheduled determines how successful it is. [su_tweet tweet=”Often time, the way a meeting is scheduled determines how successful it is.” url=”http://bit.ly/1VD4Hhi” via=”amazemeet “]Tweet this[/su_tweet]

This month’s productivity tips focus on how to transform your usual meetings into productive, short, and well-spent time – by reflecting on the old old ways of how they are usually conducted, trying to understand the design flaws no one questioned before.

Our featured leadership and time management influencers offer some tips to blow a fresh air into your stuffy, lengthy, and ineffective meetings.

Let’s dive in.

Parkinson’s Law in Meetings

time

A meeting is as long as it’s designed to be – start with the agenda, not time, and collaborate on making duration estimation.

Parkinson’s Law is stated as “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”.

In the context of meetings, the duration of the meeting is as long as it’s designed to be. If one sets out to have a 1-hour long meeting, it is usually the time it takes regardless of the significance of the agenda discussed.

For example : a manager wants to hold a 30-minute meeting to reach a decision, even though the decision can be reached in 5 minutes, chances are that the discussion will expand to fill the full 30 minutes.

To stop wasting time on this type of meeting, start with the agenda, not the duration.

Make it clear what the things are that you want to talk about – start with Purpose and Agenda, estimate beforehand, and together with other participants how long each item takes, then come up with the meeting duration.

Try this on Amazemeet’s canvas.

Start short meetings X minutes before the hour

Efficient meetings are short ones. The easiest way to have a short meeting is to start it X minutes before the hour.

For example, a meeting at 8:40 that is scheduled to go to 9 rarely goes past 9.

One reason for this is most other events and meetings start on the even hour. So there is often an urgency to finish the short meeting.

And “odd” meeting start times are easy to remember.

I encourage everyone to set their device alarms a couple of minute before each meeting so they are not late.

From Jim Estill – a Leadership blogger and influencer at CEO Blog – Time Leadership

image: clock

Scheduling Meetings like Warren Buffett

Schedule meetings one day in advance so you get to determine how you spend the next foreseeable 24 hours as you feel like it.

Badly timed meetings are bad.

Warren Buffett has been said to usually not schedule his meetings more than one day in advance.

Someone who wants to meet him will be told to call in on Thursday if they want to meet him on Friday.

By doing this, he can determine how he wants to spend his time in the next 24 hours instead of weeks or months in the future. His schedule is therefore relevant, not prescient.

Try doing this for your next meetings, the ones when someone just asks for your time and attention – not dependent on other factors.

This won’t make you as successful as Buffett, but it gives you the power to decide how to spend your next foreseeable hours, and puts you into a more pro-active position in how to conduct your meetings.

Originally written by Jason Fried

image credit

The magical 30-minute meeting

pinapple-halved

Halve the time of your normal 1-hour meeting to experience more focus and success. ([su_tweet tweet=”Halve the time of your normal 1-hour meeting to experience more focus and success. ” url=”http://bit.ly/1VD4Hhi” via=”amazemeet @peterbregman”]Tweet this[/su_tweet])

Often we allocate 1 hour for most meetings, phone calls or appointments. Why should that be our standard allotment for so many things?

When we halve that slot – compressing time – people are more likely to: focus on critical points instead of stretching to reach the 1 hour by doing unnecessary tasks and having going-no-where conversations (think Parkinson’s Law).

Moreover, everyone will tend to be on time and come prepared (now that you only have 30 minutes!). Every minute makes a difference.

Most importantly, compressing time spent on meetings and other tactical work gives you more unstructured time to spend on activities and people you love.

Originally written by Peter Bregman

image credit

Why should we work together?

How is your company applying collaboration, or teamwork, or collective creative process to the daily operation?

We normally have meetings for this: brainstorming, co-working, all sort of ad hoc or weekly, monthly, yearly etc. It’s permeate from board-level decision making close-door meeting to the open-space employee office, where they do their day-to-day, regardless of whatever job they have.

Collaboration can be both a cure and a curse to obtaining organizational effectiveness, specifically solving demanding problems.

As research showed, working together can be good for finding out unique information, for example: everybody tries and think of ways to generate revenues for the newly introduced product. You’ll get a bunch of different ideas from individuals, or “the clustered network”, as they would not try to copy each other, as the goal is to come up with various ways.

However, when it comes to the part of interpreting the conclusions from information, interesting things happen: social proof. If someone comes up with the solution, and more people agree to it, I might as well adopt that – everyone think it’s true, it must be true.

From brainstorming to decision making, collaboration helps along the way, but not all the time.

Normally, the way we come to make a decision requires a bit of time, reflection, evaluation of different criteria and scenarios; gathering evidence, data we don’t currently have at hands – and obviously this process needs full attention and focus in order to be effective. Shortcut like social proof, pressures, or just in the context of meetings just won’t make the cut.

In fact, in the working world right now, with all the technology and constant connectivity, we are only able to focus for 3 minutes at a time. And I don’t think this is enough to produce anything meaningful (probably just enough to scan and tweet out an article)

Meetings are good for finding out unique information and finalizing or making decisions after all the works are done. Lots of issues require more than one individual capability to be solved.

We should work together of course. But just like one doesn’t wear heels to run long distance, collaborate selectively. [su_tweet tweet=”Just like one doesn’t wear heels to run long distance, collaborate selectively” url=”http://bit.ly/1skEc4Q” via=”amazemeet”](Tweet this)[/su_tweet]

Synthesis Work, Manager Daily 5 Minutes and Personal Goals in Meetings

Outcomes Over Outputs

Outputs are the “what”and outcomes “why”; always ask “Did your outputs make the difference that you expected in your outcomes?”

The 101: Outputs are what you produce e.g pizza, outcomes are what happen as a result of producing and consuming them e.g satisfy my hunger and impact are the effect they have, usually on the longer term e.g got fat.

Outputs are the ‘what’ and outcomes are the ‘why’.

So ask yourself ‘WHY am I doing WHAT I’m about to do’ and if you can’t answer that clearly consider not doing it.

If it is unclear/fuzzy ,take a little time to make it clearer.

In designing your meetings – consider the ‘Purpose’ as your ‘Outcome’ and the agenda and the actions as the ‘outputs’.

At the end of your meeting – did your outputs make the difference that you expected in your outcome? [su_tweet tweet=”At the end of your meeting – did your outputs make the difference that you expected in your outcome?” url=”http://bit.ly/1VUJXCF” via=”amazemeet”]Tweet this[/su_tweet]

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Read more about Managing Outcomes vs Outputs by Deborah Mills-Scofield on Harvard Business Review

Stop Using Meetings For Synthesis Work

Use meetings to chart the course and finalise, not synthesising on the spot. [su_tweet tweet=”Use meetings to chart the course and finalise, not synthesising on the spot. ” url=”http://bit.ly/1VUJXCF” via=”amazemeet @helpscout”]Tweet this[/su_tweet]

Collaboration is not useful in every situation. When coming together as a group, people are better at planning and deciding on projects than creating separate pieces, and fixing them together.

To create and produce require deep work and alone time.

If you do this kind of work in the meeting, it not only makes the meeting unnecessarily longer, but also unproductive.

So next time, hold back from synthesising individual works during the meeting, do that in everyone’s own time, and only come together to decide and finalise.

Originally from the blog: https://www.helpscout.net/blog/bad-meetings/

The Daily 5 Minutes For Every Manager

Everyday managers would speak to at least one of their employees for 5 minutes without an agenda to nurture relationships.

“Managers keep a checklist of names so they don’t miss anyone and make this 5-minute talk a daily habit ” – said Rosa Say – acclaimed Leadership and Workplace Culture Coach.

Both sides will start treating each other like people as employees will share their family stories, their struggles and even ideas for improvement.

Managers will know their subordinates better as individuals, therefore gain a more accurate basis of judgment.

In the workplace, acts to facilitate employee-manager relationship are quite underused.

Making an effort to understand one another improves clarity of responsibilities and working expectations.

Originally from the blog of Rosa Say

Never Attend Any Meeting Without a Personal Goal

Have a clear personal goal attending any meeting. [su_tweet tweet=”Have a clear personal goal attending any meeting.” url=”http://bit.ly/1VUJXCF” via=”amazemeet @simpletonbill”]Tweet this[/su_tweet]

Ask yourself: as a result of this meeting, what can you know, how do you want to feel, what do you do after.

Bill Jensen suggests asking yourself these KNOW- FEEL- DO questions before attending any meeting:

KNOW: What is the one thing you must KNOW that you couldn’t get without attending the meeting? What information, action, advice?

FEEL: How you want to FEEL during the meeting? Included, active, to experience moments of new insights.

DO: As an outcome or result of this meeting, what is the one thing you expect to DO?

Don’t have the answers? Either don’t attend, or make yourself a clear purpose to address these questions during the meeting.

Originally published on medium by Bill Jensen

Image fun-fact: Speaking of setting personal goals, on May 25th 2001, Erik Weihenmayer reached the summit of Mount Everest – and still remains the only blind person to have ever done that.

What Is 37 Billion Worth To You

37 billion dollars is a lot of money, even by the standards of the ridiculously rich.

37 billion could purchase a major sports franchise. It could buy a major film studio and television production company .

To get even more specific, 37 billion dollars could purchase The Cowboys stadium 37 times over, roughly 30 percent of Apple’s entire stock, wipe out the debts of Panama, El Salvador and Costa Rica combined, 37 “Streets Of Monaco” Yachts, and contribute 9 times the budget of the United States toward The World Health Organization. Finally, 37 billion dollars could buy a one week holiday in Cancun for 10 million people who are reading this while fighting sleep in another terrible meeting.

See what else 37 billion can buy: 11 Things The Cost Of Wasted Meetings Could Pay For

At this very moment 37 billion collective sighs have gathered in unison in consideration of all the things that cannot be purchased. This might be considered an embellishment due to the fact that there are only 7 billion people on the planet, though who’s to say that there aren’t extra terrestrials out there sitting in awful meetings?

The point to consider here is that no matter how you look at it, 37 billion dollars is a lot of money, especially when it is discussed in consideration of wasted money; money wasted on company meetings.

So, how is this figure determined?

There’s the high percentage of employee and manager time that is spent in a meeting, thwarting productivity. And then there are those who admit falling asleep or bringing outside work into a meeting.

If these findings weren’t glaring enough, consider that most employees have reported feeling more exhausted with higher stress levels at the perception of a higher workload while watching the seconds tick off the clock in a board room.

Obviously, wasted money is never a sign of high productivity and company efficiency though [su_tweet tweet=”Wasted money is never a sign of high productivity and company efficiency.” url=”http://bit.ly/1oO7CG4″ via=”amazemeet”]Tweet this[/su_tweet] , what’s more important to understand is how this much money can better be utilized. If the average cost of a meeting is $338, not including CEOs and other high paid business leaders, then wouldn’t logic follow that less meetings would be a good start?

Many of the so-called “brightest minds in business” haven’t even made this correlation, so congratulations; you’re well ahead of the curve!

Alternatives

To play devil’s advocate, less meetings could have an adverse effect on business if the required company information isn’t presented and communicated through the appropriate channels.

However, identifying a problem without a viable solution is no different than simply ignoring the problem, so let’s explore some alternatives to meetings.

There are wikis, email lists and groups, teleconferencing, and instant messaging. Collaboration apps and software are one of the more cutting edge forms of communication which allow the meeting to become a relic of the past.

The ability to share files, exchange information, and assign tasks are a convenience of modern technology which serve the same purpose as a meeting, though much more efficiently.

There’s no excuse in this day and age to waste so much time and money in meetings. [su_tweet tweet=”There’s no excuse in this day and age to waste so much time and money in meetings. ” url=”http://bit.ly/1oO7CG4″ via=”amazemeet”]Tweet this[/su_tweet]

The statistics are glaring and if a business is to sustain and grow, it must evolve. Employees don’t want them, managers can’t afford them, and business has long since passed them by.

[su_tweet tweet=”Be a company that keeps up with the day, stays relevant, and builds with what is being saved. ” url=”http://bit.ly/1oO7CG4″ via=”amazemeet”]Be a company that keeps up with the day, stays relevant, and builds with what is being saved. [/su_tweet]

What are you going to do with your 37 billion?

Making Brainstorming Work; CEO of Medium on How To End Meetings

Making Brainstorming Work

Image: jeanbaptisteparis

To make brainstorming work, have two meetings to determine “what to do” and then “how to do it”.

Brainstorming if not properly conducted can waste time and creative juice.

To make it work, leadership influencer Dan Rockwell has a tip: Successful brainstorming calls for two meetings.

The first meeting is a “What might we do” meeting.

The second is a “How might we do it” meeting.

Divide the efforts and focus maximises creativity and follow through. [su_tweet tweet=”Divide the efforts and focus maximises creativity and follow through.” url=”http://goo.gl/kvHAa8″ via=”amazemeet @leadershipfreak”]Tweet this[/su_tweet]

Originally from the blog of Dan Rockwell

Tell Me What You Heard

Image credit: Paul Townsend

Explaining something to someone and not sure they got it – simply ask them to tell you what they understood you said.

In some cultures, the concept of “saving face” is very important.

Sometimes in meetings, when a person explains something and others don’t quite understand, they wouldn’t ask because they don’t want to be thought of as slow, lack of knowledge, or being distracted.

In other cases, it’s simply misunderstanding.

The consequences: misalignment, unclear expectations, may lead to recurring meetings in the future.

As you explain something to someone, make sure they got it by asking them to say what they have understood from you.

How To End A Meeting

Image: Robert McGoldrick

At the end of the meeting, have a “closing round” to give each participant a chance to comment on the meeting and know where the group is at. [su_tweet tweet=”At the end of meetings, have a closing round to give each person a chance to comment on the meeting .” via=”amazemeet @ev”]Tweet this[/su_tweet]

Ev Williams, CEO of Medium has a wonderful idea: The facilitator/host goes around the room asking everyone to make comments, say how they feel about what were discussed.

This allows people to get things off their chest and receive feedback about how the meeting can be improved. They might come up with ideas/ issues that are worth noted but otherwise ignored.

At Amazemeet, we have a section called “Off topics” so these points can be recorded – have you tried that?

Closing rounds can also get the ones who didn’t have a chance contribute to voice their thoughts. And most of all, these rounds can be fun and positive.

So try that out and let us know how it went!

Originally published by Ev Williams, CEO of Medium

Mind Your HiPPO

When JC Penny stock shot to nearly one billion dollars after hiring who was referred to as “The Second Coming of Steve Jobs,” the parade was all but booked on the corner of Money Street and Prosperity Avenue.

18 months later, after the failure of renowned business executive Ron Johnson, those same streets were barren, littered only with the discount coupons they couldn’t even pay former patrons to use.

According to Business Insider, the “Highest Paid Person’s Opinion,” or HiPPO is a plague that has affected many top corporations and moguls from Sears to former Clinton White House Aide, Jason Goldberg respectively. This phenomenon is costing stockholders their investments and reserving a space in the unemployment line for an unsuspecting and once faithful and career driven employee pool.

HiPPO Beware

It is often suggested that the most successful entrepreneurs are those who surround themselves with more intelligent people. Using this information, many major and upstart corporations looking for a boost in profit will seek out and highly compensate one of these individuals. With stacks of hundred dollar bills blocking their ear canals, the suggestions of others become unable to reach the HiPPO’s brain superiority.

No one is listening, thereby allowing only one set of opinions are being heard.

Whilst surrounding oneself with more intelligent or knowledgeable people is a good start, being able to let their opinions flow and being willing to be challenged is vital for the best plan or decisions to emerge.

This humble leadership doesn’t just apply to the traditional role of the ‘leader’, it helps everyone whose perceived authority can unduly influence critical conversations.

Surround oneself with intelligent people is a good start, let their opinions flow is vital for the best decisions to emerge. [su_tweet via=”amazemeet” tweet=”Surround oneself with intelligent people is a good start, let their opinions flow is vital for the best decisions to emerge.”]Tweet this[/su_tweet]

Highly Intelligent Individuals DO Make Mistakes

The catalyst of failure for Johnson with JC Penny was determined to be something so simple and avoidable, it’s hard to fathom that it was even allowed to occur.

Forbes Online suggests that Johnson chose to follow his “gut” instead of proven focused group data in determining consumer preference. To state it simply, a multimillionaire believed that he better understood what a middle class patron wanted to purchase. In this case, the data was available, though it was ignored by a feeling. Since JC Penny threw all of it’s “cents” into the pockets of Johnson, is it any wonder why when Johnson asked his subordinates if the plan was working, no one had the gumption to speak up?

Large Ripples The Of HiPPO Effect

The HiPPO effect creates ripples of intimidation as members in the board room learn to keep their mouths shut, eventually lose their voice, and become accustomed to the role of subservient rat to the Pied Piper.

Employees are disempowered, moral is destroyed, and accountability becomes a tale of folklore and mythology.

The goal of a company is reduced to the vision of one, and no matter how well that one is able to see, it could never compete with the strength in vision of a cohesive unit. Why have a board room or, better yet, a board, if the voices and opinions of those in and on it are irrelevant?

Hungry, Hungry, Not The HiPPO

Once a problem has been recognized, it must be confronted if it is to change.

This is often the most challenging proposition to implement and can largely determine the fate of an organization. Allow the opinions of the staff to be vocalized before those of the influencers, even if it requires a closed or silent voting session. Crowd voting has also become a popular method with the seemingly infinite resources of technology.

To diffuse the intimidation factor of the great HiPPO, these actions are imperative. Proper facilitation, idea implementation efficiency, and restoring the voices of those who matter can bring the creativity and success back in the board room to which it belongs.

Originally published on Linkedin by Mike Sutton

Monthly Productivity Tips – March 2016

Welcome to the Productivity Tips summary series.

Every Monday, a select group of subscribers get a single, actionable productivity tip to help them get their week started off right.

Once a month, we aggregate the last month’s tips into one blog post to share with the rest of the world.

If you would like to get the tips – hot off the press and into your inbox every Monday – simply subscribe using the form on the right.

In the meantime, we hope you find these tips useful and we’d love to hear how you have put them into action.

#1: The Law of Two Feet

(by Harrison Owen)

Spoiler: “Leave a meeting if you are not learning or contributing and cannot change it.”

You have feet, be prepared to use them.

At times when you’re in a meeting and feel like you aren’t learning or contributing, either change that, or use your two feet to leave.

Move somewhere else where you can make a difference, or at least not feel miserable.

Don’t blame the meeting, the conference organiser or the colleague that talks too much and not letting you voice your opinion. “Responsibility resides with the individual”.

Image credit: pexels

#2 : Keep it short, sharp and visual.

Spoiler: Have short meetings around a large whiteboard, no seating and have plenty of markers.

Long meetings eat up resources and most importantly: employee productivity. If you need to drag your employees frequently out of their flow to be in meetings (maybe even daily like in Scrum), you’re best keeping the meetings short, energised and highly collaborative.

We’ve been doing that very well with a simple meeting space with a large whiteboard, no chairs, and plenty of markers in various colours.

Why?

Large whiteboard? To help ideas to flow and develop freely.Everyone can gather round it and see the ‘whole picture’.

No chairs? So everyone can stand and stay energised and achy feet are a great natural reminder that your meeting is going on for too long!

Colourful markers? To use on the whiteboard (doh!).

Visual learners account for over 60% of the population, so chances are your meeting participants will retain more and collaborate better.

Fun fact: The author of this picture Dom Sagolla said:”This picture was taken in the middle of our reinvention and creation of Twitter.”

What are you waiting for, use this tip right away!

Image credit: Dom Sagolla

#3: Answer recorder = Question Asker = Answer Summariser

Have the question asker summarise and record the answer

Spoiler: Amplify learning and understanding by requesting the person who asked the question to summarise the answer they got and record it for others.

I know getting people to ask questions in the workplace is already hard enough, but what if you want to make the most out of every question being asked and bring collective learning onto a completely different level?

In meetings, you encounter questions being asked over and over again, especially by the same people.

This is caused by information from answers not retained, or unclear answers and incomplete follow-up questions.

By getting the person who asked the question to verbally summarise the answer and record it on the key-points you get increased clarity, better distribution of effort and questioner satisfaction all at once.

Try it and see.

P.S. In the meeting canvas, use the Key Points section to record your questions and answers. Print out the pdf and you got a nice record for the future.

Image credit: Innovation School

#4 Get Emails Out Of Your Way

Spoiler: Block certain hour per day for only emails or use InboxPause

Emails are getting in the way of you being productive? Checking emails several times a day can interfere with your focus.

One way to solve this is to separate answering emails from focused work.

If you are disciplined, you could block your calendar for a certain hour a day to check and respond to emails, no exception.

A bit short on discipline? Then you could use something like InboxPause, which pauses your inbox from receiving new emails. Emails can still be sent out but you won’t get any until you hit “Unpause”.

Whichever you try, good luck with controlling email this week. We’d love to hear what worked for you.

Image credit: Leonard J Matthews

#5: Speak only when you can improve the silence

Spoiler: Keep the agenda and purpose in mind, speak only when you can improve the silence.

We have the problem of some meeting attendees not contributing enough and the added problem of other participants talking too much. This can derail meetings , making them take longer and distract from the purpose.

Like in any social settings, the talkers often influence others and assume the role of opinion leaders
The quantity of interaction is commonly used as a gauge of influence – so much so that Klout (https://klout.com) that gauges your ‘influence score’ by your social media interactions, blogging activities, etc. Of course there are people gaming the system.

This is not be a game, quality should beat quantity.

As a participant in any purposeful conversation you can improve both your influence and the value of the conversation for everyone by speaking when you truly believe it will improve the silence.

Speak only when you can improve the silence – Jim Estill

Image credit: Bea

Work Backwards: The Key to Overcoming Impostor Syndrome

Like many (semi) accomplished individuals, I experience Impostor Syndrome almost daily. It recently accelerated because I was asked to do an AMA and put on a page among some amazing people who have done amazing things, and I… I’ve just done things.

But then I thought about what my friend Nikki always says:

If I’m not in over my head, I’m not having fun.

While this is a healthy attitude to have, many people will react in the opposite way when forced to face things they don’t know about. And the thing is, even the most accomplished people experience this.

I have heard famous people admit they have it, watched my heroes explain how they wake up every day, not believing their “luck” and worrying if they’ll be able to meet their fans’ bloated expectations.

I used to get paralyzed from expectations myself. Whether I expected too much of myself or others did of me, my reaction was always the same: I would refuse to do anything that could get me in that position, ever.

And yet, I said a big YES to the AMA. Why?

Because fear is the worst driver. And it never goes away. The only way to vanquish it is not to feed it. Even though most of us feed our inner fears and doubts daily, it doesn’t mean we have to be “stuck” in this mentality. It simply means that we need to dig deep, find the source, and face it.

Before We Start

Let’s find the best definition of I.S. and go from there.

(I’ve put numbers next to the points I’ll discuss in reverse order.)

Impostor syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments(4). Despite external evidence of their competence, those with the syndrome remain convinced that they are frauds and do not deserve(3) the success they have achieved. Proof of success(2) is dismissed as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be. Notably, impostor syndrome is particularly common among high-achieving women(1).

It’s from Wikipedia. Forgive my sources, but you’ll find no better definition of this syndrome anywhere, and so detailed. Now, in order to get to the bottom of it, we have to work backwards, point by point.

1. The Gender Gap

Before we can tackle this on an individual level, we have to look at the global implications. The fact is that more women tend to feel this way than men, which says a lot about our society.

In a world where men are generally paid more and are encouraged to be more confident and successful, women fall slightly behind. Except we don’t. We only perceive ourselves as standing on a lower level because of these unfair conditions we’re fighting to change.

And, as we all know, perception is reality.

I’m not suggesting that men are intentionally making women feel that way, but they’re not helping themselves either – attitudes in the tech world have been toxic and a lot of men have been making asses of themselves lately (like Google executive Eric Schmidt at SXSW and T.J. Miller at the Crunchies). All this media attention reflects the reality we live and work in, so it’s natural for women to feel bullied and under-appreciated in such a hostile environment.

If we want to turn this around, we have to start with a better appreciation system (not to mention fair wages), especially in the work place where male ego reigns (and frankly, needs to be deflated).

2. The Locus of Control

There are two types of people: those with internal locus of control and the ones with external locus of control. Internal locus of control means that you see yourself as the driver of your life — everything you do happens as a direct result of your actions and decisions. External locus of control just means you tend to blame external factors for your failures and successes.

So if you tell your boss you’re late on that report because your colleague hasn’t given you all the information you needed, you’re viewing the situation externally. You must know there are things you can do to speed up the process, but you either see yourself as helpless or you’re lazy.

I generally disagree with this type of thinking. If you see things this way, you’ll never be able to take responsibility for your life. The sooner you do it, the better you’ll be at: solving problems, overcoming fears, getting results, advancing your career, forming relationships, etc.

And by doing so, you won’t have the need to prove you deserve your success. You’ll just know you do.

3. The Confidence Problem

A person with high self-esteem will not be experiencing the Impostor Syndrome, at least not frequently and/or deeply. A person with high self-esteem knows what they’re capable of, where their weaknesses lie, and thus sees no reason to feel inferior to anyone.

If this is you, great! The other 70% of the population, however, doesn’t feel the same way. Most of us go from day to day slightly terrified of being exposed or laughed at. (This is especially true if you work in a high risk/high reward environment, like entrepreneurship for example.)

But this is low confidence speaking. Don’t listen to it.

You’ve reached this level because you worked hard and you took the right opportunities. In fact, if you learn how to apply the “internal locus of control mindset”, you’ll be more likely to recognize your success as your doing, as it should be.

(And of course, refrain from focusing on failure too much.)

Whatever you can do to raise your confidence, do it. Ask friends, colleagues, etc. what positive traits you possess. Look into the mirror and tell yourself what you love about your personality. Just anything that can help.

As a side note, I also think it’s important to encourage women to be more confident and not to punish them if they already are — because in today’s business world there’s a tendency to view “bossy women” as “bitches”, which is yet another gender lapse on society’s part.

4. The Accomplishment Book

Once you have the right gender attitudes, locus of control, and confidence, all you need to do is internalize your accomplishments.

This is easily done with the help of an “accomplishment book”.

After a tough spell of burnout/depression, I had to find a way to crawl back to my most productive self again, so I applied this hack. I bought a small notebook and started writing down small accomplishments I had made every day. At first they were things like “went for a walk” and “sent an email”, but they started growing bigger, and soon enough there was plenty to be proud of. And I’ve continued this ritual to this day.

It also helps raise your confidence and acknowledge the steps you’ve taken to be where you are. It’s the proof you need to see in order to believe that where you are is very much deserved.

In fact, you can read about Fast Company’s experiment with that same concept, where the team kept a daily journal of their accomplishments for a week and found out that it was beneficial to their night’s sleep and daily productivity.

If you followed the steps in that order, you may feel much better about your accomplishments. The key here is to remember and apply this process (or at least certain parts of it) every time that the unwelcomed feeling surfaces.

And know, you’re not alone. We’re all fighting the same demons.

The Number One Meeting Rule: If You Are In, Be In.

I really don’t want to be here!

How often have you sat in a meeting and wished you were somewhere else, or seen others who are clearly miles away – in some other work, some other place or time.
The signs are always there – staring into the distance, fiddling with a gadget or being engrossed in the laptop.

When I convene any meeting of more than 3 people – I stress my number rule of group collaboration:

It’s ok to be out, but if you are in – be in!

What does it mean to be ‘In’?

Being ‘In’ means being 100% engaged in the conversation – you don’t have to talk all the time or do anything spectacular, you just need to be mentally and emotionally present.
When you are in – you are focused on the conversation. You are listening, questioning, participating with others to reach the purpose of the conversation.

It is a specific kind of mindfulness – being in the moment, listening without judgement and being open to what is emerging – with the added aspect of doing it towards the purpose of the conversation. Being ‘in’ is pretty hard to sustain for long periods. Clearly, how long anyone can sustain it at a stretch is relative and personal – for me, I struggle to be ‘in’ for more than 45 minutes at a time.

Why is it important to be ‘In’?

important , Be in photo — Image by Valerie Everett

There are few reasons why being present and accounted for in any conversation is important, here are some that I think are particularly important:

You get more from your conversation
Your senses are open to more that is being said – you really hear what is being discussed. You notice more, you question more and you likely get better answers.

You give more to your conversation.
When you are engaged and present, your collaborators feel that you are engaged and so you are more likely to have your input respected and heard. With your senses in the conversation, it is more likely that your collaborators feel they are being heard – one of our fundamental human needs.

Your conversations become more productive.
Imagine if everyone was ‘in’ – there would be fewer distractions and fewer distractions tolerated. You and your group could focus all your resources on the purpose at hand. With this kind of collective focus, your group will

You can count on your co-collaborators and they can count on you.
There is nothing worse than not being able to count on the participation of people who show up at a meeting. You are there for a purpose and there are people who don’t really want to be there – they are less likely to help tease and idea into some wonderful. If they contribute at all, it is usually because they are prodded to respond and even then, it is the barest minimum engagement.

When you are ‘in’ , your collaborators learn to count on you being present and you can count on them for the same.

5 Tips for being ‘In’.

Have more interesting meetings
You are more likely to be ‘in’ if something that is being discussed interests you – either that you can contribute to or learn from. So learn to say ‘No’ to meetings that do not interest you.
Have shorter meetings
It is a safe bet that anything over 1 hour without breaks will burn out the ability to be ‘in’ of most people. Encourage people who invite you to meetings to keep them shorter to help you give your undivided presence.
Ban laptops in meetings, discourage phone fiddling
Meetings where everyone is armed with their laptops are awful – everyone has their head down doing who-knows-what. Declare a general amnesty and ask attendees to check their ‘weapons’ at the door – this could actually be another way to get shorter meetings. Few people in this ‘always on’ world can bear to be away from email or IM for more than an hour!
Also – ask that people not check their phones – put them on silent or vibrate – instead build breaks every 15 minutes or so to help them get their notification fix.
Be Explicit.
Be explicit about being ‘in’ , but make it ok to be ‘out’ and people don’t have to attend if they are ‘out’.
Explicitly Check In
For longer meetings – do a check in at the start and after every break. Also make it ok for attendees to ‘check out’ at any time – by raising their hand or simply notifying the group with as little disruption as possible.

I hope these tips help you be more present in your meetings and to recognise when others are. I’d love to hear what other ways you find to help you and your group be ‘in’.

Image by David Blackwell.