Documents that we and others have developed are now available to anybody on the Internet free of charge. The questions are more than rhetorical, they are critical to our social and economic future. This document looks at some answers. Common causes include lack of training for those who lead meetings, and lack of guidelines on how to maximize the use of participants' time and talent. Here are a few thoughts on how to improve the quality of your meetings.
Teams bring diverse talents, experience, knowledge, and skills to the problem situation.
They can, therefore, react to a variety of problems that are beyond the technical competence of any one individual. Teams can deal with problems which cross department and division lines, and working on team's can be more satisfying and morale boosting for people than working alone. This Guide focuses on the purpose of team effectiveness, the use of meeting minutes and the role of the Facilitator as a team member. Although millions of hours and dollars are spent on work place training activities, the return on this investment is often dismal. Studies have shown long-term student retention of material to be less than one third.