Career Tools: Find Focus in Meetings

A late night can make for a rough morning at work, but daydreaming can also be as much of a culprit when stealing focus and attention.

That's why it's important to minimize the time you let your mind wander at work, especially when sitting in a meeting with coworkers.

You don't want to miss an important conversation because you're reimagining last night's dinner.

"It's a matter of asking yourself, 'why am I distracted?' " said Wendy Hamilton Hoelscher, team leader for Learning and Organization Development. "By figuring that out, you're able to better focus and increase productivity."

Cathy Davidson, Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English and John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, highlighted three ways to stay active when meeting with coworkers:

• Take notes to engage your brain and think critically
• Contribute to the discussion
• Refocus on the task at hand if your mind starts wandering.

Most notably, Davidson said, these tasks can be enhanced through the help of technology.

"One of my favorite tools is to have everybody in a meeting put agendas on a Google document and allow it to be editable by everybody in addition to having everybody take minutes during the meeting," she said. "You can easily see who is and isn't contributing, because taking notes becomes collaborative."

Davidson also noted the importance of keeping meeting attendance with only people who need to be invited. Topics and conversations should be kept on-task and with coworkers who are impacted. If an agenda item only matters to three people in a meeting of 10, discuss that item later with only those who need to discuss it.

That process has bode well for Lynne Grossman, executive assistant to Deborah Jakubs, Vice Provost for Library Affairs. When leading meetings of library staff, Grossman prepares and shares an agenda ahead of time.

"That way, our key goals and issues are known and everyone has what topics are most important to discuss," Grossman said. "It allows me to engage coworkers before a meeting so we can all remain focused and on-task when we get together."

On the flip side, Grossman also participates in meetings with Duke's Library Council by taking minutes. That means she's making an extra effort to listen attentively and keep focused to what each person has to say.

"Because I know I'm putting my minutes on our website, I try to record the Council as closely as possible to their actual words," Grossman said. "I don't try to go word-for-word, but I want to make sure I get all the highlights."