Dr. John P. Kotter is a former professor at the Harvard Business School and is regarded as one of the biggest authorities on leadership and change. He has authored 17 books, many of which are bestsellers. ‘Leading Change’, his biggest success was reedited last year a little earlier than his article ‘Accelerate’ in which he [...]
People unite and gather to make great achievements. When these gatherings become formal we call them meetings. And everyone will agree that there are good and bad meetings. Sadly enough, in most organisations the bad ones dominate over the good ones. And it is sad indeed. Because you disengage from the group and that, in [...]
Meetings do cost money. Definitely. And you can find numerous tools that help you calculate the costs of your meetings, such as TIM, Time = Money or many more downloadable apps on the internet. But what do these numbers really say? It only tells you how much money you invested in the meeting. And that [...]
The discussion heated up. I simply asked all participants, a management team, to take a stance by physically putting on a scale a coloured dot. For this growing organisation I was curious to know what the management wanted: more systemisation of processes on the one hand or more self-organisation and responsibilities on a lower level. [...]
There’s a fine line between pushing others into something new and letting them decide for themselves. It was only a matter of time. The decision to cut the budget by more than 50% was formally not yet taken, but only a miracle could save the organisation, a big music school in the South of the [...]
I’ve already been blogging here and here about the importance of failure when changing or innovating. Despite the lessons I write about failure, I try to avoid them. Just like any other human being. Failure is not something I have built into my normal operation mode. I don’t wake up in the morning with [...]
Al Pittampalli calls himself meeting culture warrior. He’s on a mission to change the way organisations hold meetings, make decisions, and coordinate action. It’s a beautiful mission that echoes a lot with the work I do. His manifesto: Read This Before Our Next Meeting sets a new standard for the endless meetings intoxicating our corporate [...]
You’re in a meeting. The stuff that’s being presented is boring, as is the presenter. You know the discussion will be long and tedious. So you start daydreaming. “Meetings are by definition a concession to deficient organization” is what Peter Drucker wrote in the The Effective Executive. You either meet or you work. You [...]
A while ago I came across The Strength of Weak Ties, an article written by Mark Granovetter some 40 years ago. After the article had been refused in the sixties by the American Sociological Review it was eventually published in the American Journal of Sociology in 1973. That was the tipping point, as Granovetters’s theory [...]
Hurray! My site has reached the young age of 1. And look at all the possibilities that exist with number 1. 1 quote: ‘It’s better to be 3rd instead of 1st’ Malcolm Gladwell 1 thing I’m thankful for: Ella, born on October 11th 1 book that inspired me: ‘Delivering Happiness’ by Tony Hsieh 2011: [...]
About you
You're leading a team. And you hold meetings; regular ones, occasional ones.
Meetings consume valuable time so you want to get the most out of them. You want them to energize the participants, develop your team and help you achieve your change or innovation.
About Ruben
I'm Ruben van der Laan and I'm here to make your team flow.
I coach, (re)design and lead your meetings unleashing creativity, building teams and organising expediency.
