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THE IMPORTANCE OF TAKING NOTES
Any management process is
more efficient and effective if you make
notes about what you plan to do, and
what you have done so far.
People-management is no
exception. Indeed, there is a greater
need for note-taking in
people-management. It helps you keep
control during the interaction, and
helps you keep track of the facts and
commitments over a series of
interactions.
People forget things.
People disagree about their memories of
facts. People deny the facts.
In people-management the
facts are verbal behaviour, so it is
important to record the actual words
used by both parties.
This will save you a lot
of time and effort later, and could save
you from losing at an Industrial
Tribunal.
The “ideal” record of a
meeting would be a complete transcript.
This is not going to happen, obviously,
otherwise you would spend more time
writing up meetings than actually having
them.
However, you can get
close to this with a little forward
planning. This is helped by the fact
that all the people-management
interactions follow their own set
pattern.
Each interaction should
be planned anyway. (Please don’t try to
do people-management “on the hoof”).
Most of the interactions
start with you setting the scene;
explaining the context of the meeting.
You can write down beforehand the
essential points, or the actual words
that you will use. You can even write
down reminders about where it would be
useful to apply a specific skill to
modify the person’s feelings.
You will also know
roughly what kind of questions you will
need to ask. If you write these down
beforehand, and leave spaces for notes
on the responses, it will provide you
with a checklist during the meeting, and
all you have to do is write down the
answers, plus any subsidiary questions
and answers.
Then all you need is a
few keyword notes on any ideas
generated, and slightly more detailed
notes on specific commitments and
timings.
The reason that most
people find note-taking burdensome and
time-consuming is that their meetings
are not structured. Therefore it is more
difficult to prepare. Therefore the
meeting takes longer than it needs to.
Therefore there is more information to
sift afterwards.
With a structured meeting
you will be able, after a little
practice, to reach the desired
conclusion in the shortest time
possible, and generate a set of notes
requiring minimal tidying up.
The essential components
of your notes include:
Date
Time
Type of
discussion
Cross
reference to previous meeting(s)
Reason for
the discussion
Questions and
answers
Commitments
given
Timescale for
actions
Date of next
meeting
The purpose of
note-taking is not just to supply you
with an accurate historical record. It
is also a management tool which enables
you to demonstrate your control of the
meeting and reinforce your image as an
effective manager.
Note-taking demonstrates
that you are listening. It gives you
control over the progress of the meeting
by signalling that a point has been
identified, and gives you an opportunity
to check the other person’s agreement to
proceed.
Note-taking also
demonstrates to the other person that
you are taking what they say seriously.
This reduces the likelihood of the
person telling you things that are not
true. It is difficult to maintain a
coherent fiction when someone is writing
down what you say.
Note-taking also makes
your subsequent managerial actions
easier because you are managing the
person on the specific commitments
given. You are not managing their whole
job, just the bits that they have agreed
to change. |
