If you’re looking for a way to put productivity and (yes) fun in meetings, take a look at Boulder’s Office of Contracts and Grants (OCG). For the past two years, OCG has been conducting biweekly, 15-minute stand-up meetings instead of the weekly, 2-hour staff meetings they used to hold.

The stand-up meeting format has engaged the office as a community, fostered information sharing, furthered professional development, and provided timely opportunities to celebrate successes. Furthermore, by creating a venue for frequent communication, the stand-up meetings help address staff concerns and dispel rumors.

Topics covered at these meetings range from the weighty (federal regulations) to the mundane (how to keep the office refrigerator clean). The meetings are led by teams within the office and each team gets to decide what the topic/s will be and how to run their meeting. The only requirement is that each meeting be completed within the 15-minute timeframe.

The new approach was implemented and tweaked by Cynthia Husek (now Associate Vice Chancellor for Performance Improvement) and Denitta Ward (Assistant Vice Chancellor for Research Operations and Director of OCG). Cynthia talks about the benefits in her CUSP submission this year.