This is the latest news and information for workers and managers from across the Web universe, brought to you by Monday Morning Manager writer Harvey Schachter. Follow us on Twitter @Globe_Careers or join our Linked In group.
Dave Kashen, CEO of MeetingHero, a cloud-based meeting tool, recommends periodically summarizing the discussion so participants know where they are in the process and are reminded what happened so far, freeing them to focus on the next stage of conversation. Inc.com
TIME MANAGEMENT
Trim your to-do list by choice
Leadership coach Susan Mazza suggests studying your to-do list for items you simply said yes to doing and those you willingly chose to do. Resist the temptation to accede to other people's initiatives. And consider which items you can delete, stop doing, or renegotiate. Random Acts of Leadership
STRATEGY
Leave the SWOT analysis until later
Reconsider starting your strategic plan with a SWOT analysis evaluating strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Former Rotman School of Management dean Roger Martin says that until you know your market and your strategy to win, the traditional SWOT foray will be long, complicated and not particularly valuable. Harvard Business Review Blogs
PSYCHOLOGY
Keep your word but don't exceed it
Underpromising and overdelivering may not be the wonderful operating premise we have been led to believe. Researchers found that although broken promises are evaluated negatively, exceeded promises are not evaluated more positively than simply keeping your word. Breaking a promise was seen as lack of effort, but no extra effort was acknowledged in overdelivering. Social Psychological and Personality Science Journal
TECH TIP
Find your phone with Marco Polo
Can't find your iPhone? Shout "Marco" and it will reply "polo" if you are using the Marco Polo app(http://findmarcopolo.com/). You can choose other phrases for query-response, and it will also find your iPad and iPod. Lifehack.org
Harvey Schachter is a Battersea, Ont.-based writer specializing in management issues. He writes Monday Morning Manager and management book reviews for the print edition of Report on Business and an online work-life column Balance. E-mail Harvey Schachter
Harvey Schachter