Making decisions is never easy. Organizations don’t like to rush into things and thus we meet a lot. When it comes to government, decision-making follows a long and arduous path. Do you hold a position in a bureaucratic agency, for instance, in a municipality? Then you know better than anyone how many layers of hierarchy each proposal must go through. Eventually the proposals to the city council, often still on paper. And after that, the documents often need to be forwarded to committees and the board. This means an investment of an enormous amount of time and money in unnecessary...
4 shortcuts to stop the gridlocked meeting habit
Do you also wonder sometimes how you can spend less of your time in meetings? You aren’t the only one! Many organizations are examining smarter ways to work and meet. Some organizations have even decided to eliminate meetings all together. Instead, they align one-on-one. The Dutch clothing concern Zalando is an example of this. Abolishing meetings isn’t suitable for all organizations, but reducing them is a definite possibility. With the following tips you can find shortcuts to avoid the gridlocked meeting “habit.” Tip 1: be critical Weekly meetings: most organizations have them, but are they always necessary? If you examine...
4 tips to sprint through meetings
Many records will surely be broken during the Olympic games in Rio this summer. Everything revolves around speed and muscle power. Many organizations can learn from that. Take, for instance, the tempo of meetings. Surely there is room for improvement, right? Particularly if you note that the average employee sits an astonishing 6.5 hours a week at the conference table!! If you can boost the efficiency of meetings. Result: enormous time-savings. With the following tips your meetings will run in record time! How to limit your meeting time Tip 1: Active meeting team No Olympic performance is purely individual: it...
High-speed meeting minutes: 6 handy tips
Just imagine: never having to take minutes again! How great would that be? Sorry to burst your bubble. Taking minutes is, and will likely always remain, a necessary evil. You know as well as anyone, that proper minutes--including clear lists of decisions and action points--ensure that the subsequent meeting flows faultlessly. Unfortunately, we cannot erase the necessity of taking minutes, but the following tips will help you to take them much more quickly! Here are 6 tips for efficient meeting minutes-taking. Tip 1: Clear agenda With a clear agenda, you simplify life significantly. It saves a lot of irritation. If the...
Paperless meetings: to each his own…meeting tool
Many organizations that have prioritized maintaining a paperless office also seek a digital-meeting tool. It is no secret that there are several ways to build such a tool, for instance, with SharePoint. You can share documents, take notes and compile summaries. And yet, optimal paperless meetings require more functionality. That is why we are eager to address the question we commonly hear: “What is the real difference between iBabs and SharePoint?” Our list: 1. Clear overview per action point We meet to make decisions and define action points. What is more convenient than to have the option to register them...
Celebrate Administrative Professional’s day! Go paperless.
On Thursday, April 21st it is the Administrative Professional’s day for the 28th time in the Netherlands. On that day many secretaries, administrative assistants and PAs will receive well-deserved extra attention. Perhaps even a bouquet of flowers or a gift… When it first started in the Netherlands in 1989 the business day was totally different than now. If you were trained to be a secretary in the ’80s you still had typing lessons on an “old fashioned” typewriter. With carbon paper! With all of the digital advances the “secretary” of today needs a radically different skill set. Working with a...
Meet to the max, with flexible meetings!
Telecommuting is standard in more and more businesses. Perhaps you and your colleagues can already decide where and when you work. If not, would you like to work more flexibly? Here in the Netherlands, the Law for Flexible Work should help. This law has been in effect since the beginning of this year. If your Dutch company has more than ten employees, then you have the right to ask permission to telecommute. The new law fits perfectly with the swelling trend for more flexible work hours of the last decade. In addition, here in the Netherlands there are almost 2...
Paperless office: changes that allow trees to blossom
Dutch businesses make an average of 74,7 million copies per day. Do you have any idea how many trees that is? An astonishing 9500! 8000 A4s can be gained from an average tree (10 meter long, 30 centimeter wide). Per year, worldwide almost 8,8 million hectors of natural forest disappear due to the production of paper, wood, soy and palm oil. Luckily some organizations are dedicated to the protection of forests. One initiative here in the Netherlands is the National Festival of Trees, or Dutch Arbor Day (Nationale Boomfeestdag), that will take place for the 60th time on March 16th....
