Have you ever failed to remember a great idea you\u2019d had and thought, \u201cIf only I\u2019d written it down\u201d? It\u2019s not a good feeling.<\/p>\n
Virgin Group founder, Richard Branson, wrote, \u201cIf you don\u2019t write your ideas down, they could leave your head before you even leave the room.\u201d Capturing your ideas is just one of the many benefits of effectively taking notes at work. Better note taking can also help you learn new concepts, organize your thoughts, encourage your creativity, help you share important information with others and so much more.<\/p>\n
Having great notes can reduce stress levels, keep you on task and make you more productive. To get great notes, you just need to find the right note-taking strategy.<\/p>\n
Key Strategies for Taking Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n Different situations call for different kinds of note taking. You probably wouldn\u2019t choose to make a detailed outline to capture a brainstorming session, or handwrite notes that you need to share with five other people via email after a meeting.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll walk through five different scenarios and how you can tailor your note-taking strategy to meet your professional goals.<\/p>\n 1. Team meetings<\/strong><\/p>\n The best team meetings result in a clear, shared understanding by everyone involved and actionable items.<\/p>\n When taking notes in team meetings or collaborative environments, you should focus on:<\/p>\n -> Facts: (Example: Jenna is the creative lead on this project)<\/em> For maximum efficiency, use a note-taking tool that allows you to easily capture and share notes (like Google Docs or Evernote) or try turning notes into tasks and to-do lists.<\/p>\n Mind maps can also be used for meeting management. An online mind mapping tool like MindMeister can help you take meeting minutes and then create and assign tasks within the mind map, in real-time.<\/p>\n To use the above free mind map, simply click on the \u201cCopy and edit map\u201d button in the bottom-right corner of the map. If you already have a MindMeister account, the map will be copied to your account automatically, so you can then edit or embellish the topics to make the map suitable for your team meeting. Don\u2019t have an account yet? You can sign up for free now.<\/p>\n 2. One-on-one meetings<\/strong><\/p>\n Sometimes you want to take notes in one-on-one meetings \u2013 maybe you\u2019re having coffee with your mentor or heading into a performance review. These are more intimate learning environments where you\u2019re engaged in discussion but still want to capture what you hear.<\/p>\n Taking notes in these situations is a balance. You want to record information without putting a laptop-shaped wall between you and the other person. And too much focus on your notes could make you seem distracted or inattentive.<\/p>\n Prioritize that personal connection by ditching your laptop as a note-taking device and opt for a small, unobtrusive notebook.<\/p>\n Tomasz Tunguz, a venture capitalist with Redpoint and former Google Employee, writes that when he worked at Google, \u201cI carried a laptop to every meeting I went to. I typed notes, jotted down action items, and distributed the minutes of almost each one of my meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n When he started working at Redpoint, \u201coutside the rainbow bubble of the Googleplex very few people take notes on laptops during meetings. It\u2019s just impolite. People wonder if you\u2019re typing emails (which I often was).\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes a personal connection is more important than recording every single word. Don\u2019t worry, though, you can still capture what was said: immediately after the meeting is over, write down everything you talked about while it\u2019s still fresh in your mind.<\/p>\n 3. Brainstorming sessions<\/strong><\/p>\n Brainstorming sessions can be a flurry of activity with ideas flying. When your team brainstorms, you need to be able to record a lot of information quickly, capture unusual concepts and combine, refine and build on those ideas. You need the freedom to be able to record whatever comes up, be they words, sketches, diagrams, photos or other visual elements.<\/p>\n Mind maps are great for brainstorming because they let you capture notes in a flexible format that doesn\u2019t limit you to a linear flow of words.<\/p>\n You can use good old fashioned paper or a whiteboard, but an online mind mapping tool allows you to share mind maps with the team or save maps so you can come back to them later. They also offer an endless amount of space, so your map can be as big as it needs to be.<\/p>\n 4. Interviews<\/strong><\/p>\n Interviews can take lots of forms. Maybe you\u2019re talking to candidates for a new position you\u2019re hiring or interviewing an expert for a blog post. Perhaps you\u2019re conducting interviews as part of user research. In these situations, look to journalistic methods of taking notes for tips.<\/p>\n \u201cWrite down all the questions you have beforehand,\u201d suggests Roy Peter Clark, senior scholar at the Poynter Institute. \u201cAt the end of the interview, scan your questions to see if there\u2019s anything you didn\u2019t cover. Now\u2019s the time to ask.\u201d<\/p>\n Clark also says you should record the interview but not rely on the recorder completely. \u201cEven if you have a chance to record an interview, back it up with notes in your notebook,\u201d he says. \u201cYou never know when technology will fail you.\u201d<\/p>\n WOC in tech chat FLIKR – note taking interviews<\/p>\n Taking notes on what you observe in addition to what\u2019s said will also help. \u201cDivide your note-taking areas into two sections,\u201d writes journalist M.T. Wroblewski. \u201cDevote the first and bigger section to the interviewee\u2019s answers and the second, smaller section to your observations and impressions. In this second area, you might write, \u2018Seemed most enthusiastic about this job\u2019 or \u2018Avoided eye contact at this point; seemed nervous.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n 5. Educational settings<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re taking notes to learn \u2013 at conferences, workshops or professional development events, for example \u2013 academic note-taking styles can help you record information so that you actually absorb and remember it.<\/p>\n First, you might opt for pen & paper to help you process ideas. According to one UCLA study, even when you use your laptop solely for note-taking (and not browsing social media or getting distracted by email notifications) processing still might be more shallow than it would be with handwritten notes.<\/p>\n You can draw from several academic note-taking systems, like outlining or charting, but the Cornell Method is most applicable to professional situations.<\/p>\n This method has you divide your paper into one small column on the left and a larger column on the right. During the event, try taking notes in the larger, right-hand column. When the event is over, review your notes, and for every significant piece of information, write a \u201ccue\u201d in the left margin. The cue can be a single word or short phrase that summarizes the information.<\/p>\n This method helps you condense your notes so they\u2019re easy to remember and talk about later, which is especially great for sharing what you learned from a conference when you get back to the office.<\/p>\n Taking the right notes means you have all the information you need to do your best work. Next time you prepare to take notes, think about your goals and your environment and tailor your note-taking strategy based on those things. Never again will you think, \u201cIf only I\u2019d written that down.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This article first appeared on meistertask.com and was written by Genevieve Conti<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Have you ever failed to remember a great idea you\u2019d had and thought, \u201cIf only I\u2019d written it down\u201d? It\u2019s not a good feeling. Virgin Group founder, Richard Branson, wrote, \u201cIf you don\u2019t write your ideas down, they could leave your head before you even…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advicecave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advicecave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advicecave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicecave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicecave.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=399"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicecave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":401,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicecave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399\/revisions\/401"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicecave.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.advicecave.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicecave.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.advicecave.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n-> Issues: (Example: There is too much work to get done by the deadline.)<\/em>
\n-> Decisions: (Example: We will break this project up into smaller, more manageable chunks.)<\/em>
\n-> Action plans: (Example: The project manager and creative lead will determine how to break this project up, then the project manager will schedule a meeting to discuss how to distribute that work.)<\/em>
\n-> Questions and answers: Take note of questions team members bring up during the meeting and the answers that are given.<\/em><\/p>\n