Archive for September, 2007

The Pastor’s Ass

September 26, 2007 at 4:18 pm · Filed under General, Management, Work

A nice story sent by MG:
The pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won.
The pastor was so pleased with the donkey that he entered it in the race again, and it won again.
The local paper read: PASTOR’S ASS OUT FRONT
The Bishop was so upset with this kind of publicity that he ordered the pastor not to enter the donkey in another race.
The next day, the local paper headline read: BISHOP SCRATCHES PASTOR’S ASS.

This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the pastor to get rid of the donkey.
The pastor decided to give it to a nun in a nearby convent. The local paper, hearing of the news, posted the following headline The next day: NUN HAS BEST ASS IN TOWN.
The bishop fainted.
He informed the nun that she would have to get rid of the donkey, so she sold it to a farmer for $10. The next day the paper read: NUN SELLS ASS FOR $10.
This was too much for the bishop, so he ordered the nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains where it could run wild. The next day the headlines read:NUN ANNOUNCES HER ASS IS WILD AND FREE.

The bishop was buried the next day.

The moral of the story is . . . Being concerned about public opinion can bring you much grief and misery . . Even shorten your life. So be yourself and enjoy life.
Stop worrying about everyone else’s ass and you’ll be a lot happier and live longer!

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Meetings

September 24, 2007 at 1:38 pm · Filed under Communication, Management, Work

Since I’ve been really busy the last couple of weeks with a lot of meetings, i thought it would be a good idea to briefly talk about what makes meetings work. Most of it is common knowledge and common sense but you’ll be surprised what really goes on in corporate life.

Whether you’re creating an agenda, organising an off-site meeting or aiming to inject some fun into your next meeting, it’s all in the planning.

Step One:
Clarify the purpose of the meeting. If you can’t figure out what you need to accomplish, you shouldn’t be calling a meeting. The purpose of the meeting will help everyone stay focus and will determine the agenda.

Step Two:
Prepare an agenda with the focus stated in a single sentence at the top. If someone else is preparing the agenda, contact him or her to add your topics. A first-rate agenda includes not only discussion topics and their time allotments, but also the names of attendees; the location, date and time; and a list of any background material attendees need to bring with them. Circulate the agenda in advance. Make sure you allocate time at the end of the formal meeting to ask if anyone has any other business, known as AOB.

Step Three:
Make it clear that the meeting will start precisely on time. Establish a reputation as someone whose meetings begin (and end) as scheduled. People will respect you for it.

Step Four:
Appoint someone to document a record of decisions made, action items assigned and follow-up strategies agreed upon. Promptly distribute a copy to all attendees.

Step Five:
Leave time at the end of the agenda to evaluate the meeting: Did you achieve the objective stated at the start? How can you improve future meetings on this topic?

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