I was just reading an interview with one of Australia’s chief bankers, Cameron Clyne-the CEO of the National Australia Bank and he highlighted the need for greater speed in business today. ‘If you think about a dealer room, the flow of information is immediate and time-critical; you don’t make appointments.; he notes. He went on to say, ‘no-one asks for a three minute appointment, but there are plenty of two to three minute issues that you have to deal with’ (The Australian, 24/6/09, pg 19).

This made me think of a new way of leading and managing people.

The two minute meeting.

Why not have a relatively formal two-minute time frame where managers meet with their staff? My suggested guidelines are as follows:

- Location can be anywhere

- The leader commits to two minutes of undivided attention on the issue at hand.

- The issue, challenge or decision must be an every-day one (rather than should we invade New zealand for example).

- The decision must be able to be communicated in under one minute and the leader then has at least one minute to decide or suggest a course of action.

- No notice is required of a two minute meeting other than the words-are you free to have a two minute meeting.

- There can be no more than three people at the meeting (no crowds allowed).

The two minute meeting means that you do not have to wait around for days or weeks on something that can be decided on immediately.

Who is willing to give this a go? I am calling for vounteers to trial this new way of working.

Do something in the next two minutes–Ken