Just because youre writing everything down when youre in a meeting doesnt mean that youre engaged.
This post originally appeared onFast Company.
A reporter recently interviewed me foran articleabout a product called the Listening Table.
The reporter asked if this was an efficiency breakthrough.
My gut reaction was no.
Physically taking notes isnt a burden, its a benefit in meetings.
She confirmed that note-taking has both a process and product benefit.
The product benefit is obvious: You have an artifact from that meeting.
Hereshow to do that better.
Start Before the Meeting
The best students dont go into lectures blind.
Whats the meeting about?
What am I supposed to be getting out of this?
Try reframing agenda points as questions (which you could write down where youll write your notes).
But unless youre a court stenographer, you probably dont have the ability to get it all down verbatim.
If possible, put it in your own words, says Weimer.
Connect concepts that go together with arrows.Circle what you find most interesting.
Write your initial reactions to action items, or observations (e.g.
John not thrilled with thisneed to follow up individually with him.)
Revisit Your Notes
Come back to your notes from time to time.
If so, perhaps that meeting doesnt really need to happen.
Save the calendar invites for those meetings that make all this note-taking seem worthwhile.
Image byAnnaZubkova(Shutterstock).
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