@@door1771 Nothing comes free in this world my friend, there is a price tag attached :). Visit Udemey, you wont regret skipping a coffee for that cost, can say that.
Heinrich, Thanks a lot for these great tips to structure meeting notes! Short question pls - any tips to succinctly summarise lengthy discussions to capture key insights / conclusions without transcribing?
sometimes the 'why' underlying the how is helpful context. I'd say the goal here is to learn how to fish, not to just mimic his exact approach. But to each his own.
I've just started my career as a Lawyer and have found that MANY lawyers don't know how to properly take notes (myself included). This will DEFINITELY help me adopt a model like this towards my note-taking in my daily meets with clients/potential clients. Thanks for the help!!
Great topic- very very useful. Most folks underestimate how much time goes into a) meeting prep and execution b) notetaking and c) emailing clients {requesting data, requesting meetings} in this job. People see the decks etc, but success is often won by doing these three things really well.
Heinrich - This video is maybe the most important lesson in my professional career! I have been an NGO fundraiser for 25 years and now a software consultant for 6 years. I have stacks and stacks of notes but you taught me how to change that method for the first time in my career. I'm starting to apply your recommendations today!! I will search your other videos and the Firm Learning community. Topics where I need help include: - How to create accurate sales pipeline/timeline estimations in CRM? - How to decide what information to include in CRM for my team to see? - How to manage my next steps in a CRM system? (I don't like CRM!) - How to write more efficient (shorter) emails for prospects and clients? - How to convert an intro call with a prospect into a next meeting? - How to manage a sales process with multiple decision-makers? - How to organize for consultant who has multiple clients? I am now an independent lead-generation consultant working on behalf of several businesses. Sounds like I need to join Firm Learning today!! You are a career life-saver for people like me who want to work smarter and enjoy life.
Thanks for these detailed comments - and sorry for late reply. Appreciate your suggestions, have added some of them to my ideas list! (the CRM ones are of course quite niche) - All the best to you and a great start to the year! Heinrich
You can clearly see that you have experience in consultancy because these are the most structured, concise and impactful videos ive seen on youtube lol. Awesome work!
Thanks for sharing your note taking tips from your corner of the business world. Note taking is one step in an ideal process of communication a) Plan the contents of a meeting. Topics, participants, input, output b) Hold the meeting. Make clear criteria, decisions and commitments. Or clarify who will provide the info by when. c) Make clear meeting notes to document the output, common understanding and agreement. d) Distribute meeting notes to participants and affected people. The unique part about a consultant's experience with notes is that is short term with a specific power balance. a) You are subordinate. You can't tell the client how the meeting and note process should be run for an efficient and clear result. b) You don't have time to educate the meeting participants. The meeting partner may have low meeting and note taking skill. It takes multiple meetings to teach efficient participant behavior. c) Some meeting participants are not used to waiting for the notes to catch up with the meeting. They are not used to clarifying vague statements, due dates, etc. Business is most productive when people put focused effort and time to an efficient communication process. Sometimes it is useful to draft the meeting notes before the meeting. This becomes both the agenda and notes of the meeting. For computer assisted meetings, you need 2 screens. 1 for presentation content, 1 for notes. It saves lots of time because everyone can check the accuracy of the notes while they are being drafted.
As a former IT projectmanager I totally agree with your comments on taking notes. Indeed the bottom half of your notes are exactly what I did. Have a goal in mind for the meeting, especially when you organize the meeting yourself. This includes who gets invited and what they will bring to the table in order to further the goal of the meeting. Also what you did with noting the commitments that you and others agreed to in the meeting is very helpful to get a list out to the participants of these commitments quickly so everyone is on the same page and for you to follow up on. Thank you.
I feel so blessed that this is free out here on the internet. These kinds of tips are worth thousands and to hear it from a Mckinsey consultant free of charge at your convenience, whilst knowing their hourly rate range in the hundreds/thousands is mind boggling. Thanks!
15 years after Mck, Basic Consulting Training (BCR) is still my go to toolbag. People are always amazed at how quickly I turnaround clear, concise notes. This is how.
Well, with Zoom and MS Teams - the ability to record the meetings now have changed how we take notes. It is certainly less stressful knowing that you will have a chance to go back and watch the recording and not miss anything important.
Automatically subscribed. I am senior but sometimes have to take notes because all other persons are more senior. And often take notes and present at the same time.
This is honestly the video i need! I am a new to the industry of security consultancy and when i was asked to create meeting notes from a meeting i dont understand, i was so lost. I have been searching for videos on how to take notes wisely like this, but all i see are those journalling and pretty aesthetic notes in college
As I commented elsewhere, this is a very handy way to create a concise result of any meeting or when you study a report. I really like how Heinrich also notes the commitments of the client. These are sometimes forgotten by the consultants or thought to be the clients responsibility for follow up and through. But you as a consultant are the captain of this projects ship, so you oversee everything, both your commitments and the clients in order to satisfy the set out goals best.
Bullet journaling does work, but here we're talking about professional note taking with notepad in firm meeting or private consultation with clients. Which we can also put to the bujo in form of highlights after we're carefully read back the topic and observe the notes that we take during the meeting. Here it will works as reminder and time management between our private life and professional work.
Thank you so much for this video! As a new project manager, I did not have a system for note taking. Seven months in now and I am scrambling to adopt a new system and implement it into my work. This instructional has helped me a ton! Best,
Great video, very practical. I am a financial auditor, this could help me in my meetings with the Company's finance team. I usually take notes on paper and then digitize it for future reference in Evernote.
I have been using this notetaking method for the last year. It's much better than just writing stuff down. I changed a bit in the layout. I always place the tasks on top. Sometimes you don't have an agenda. On the second bar I have 2 columns: 1. Agenda, with topics A1 A2 A3, so it is easy to find my notes for those bullets below. 2. Questions, marked Q1, Q2, Q3
I am astounded - I have struggled for years at effective note taking! I have resorted to recording the meeting (sometimes secretly) so I can dissect it later. You crunched it into a neat summary and concise format. I have attended so many seminars with a McKinsey presentation and they are always the highlight for the day. Now I know why. I have worked for years at for a consulting firm and I realize we failed our junior engineers and managers by not training them in these skills - it was assumed they would "develop" the skills - but maybe we never had the skills ourselves to share? Thank you
Currently in uni, I suspected the tricks and techniques used by consulting professionals would be far more useful for note-taking during lectures and tutorials. Thank you for making this video, the ideas outlined here are really helping me for study and for helping me get the most out of my lectures.
Very interesting and helpful. The tip about taken note of where everyone was seated is good one, especially in new employment situation or when starting a new role, when you don’t know all the new faces yet.
Really insightful, appreciate it! The value-add is how you delineated the difference between a professional context vs. an academic context for note-taking. Thanks again!
I learned from articles from Netflix and while serving on a school board, to always have an Agenda. Of course, there is often talk outside of the agenda, so that must be accounted for. Our school board secretary would use the proposed agenda to take notes, but she opened up lots of space to hand write the notes in, for each topic. I usually tried to sit near her over the first year or so when I joined the board, she would help me with small bits of advice or information on certain topics. When you are meeting with a client, that is sometimes hard to do. I would argue that it is the best thing to do, as it sets the ground rules on what really is important, before the meeting starts, and helps to ensure it covers the actionable items that are truly important. Thanks for your video and other videos. They are GREAT!!
Hi Darin, thanks for sharing, of course super valid! Agree, structuring the notes along the agenda points is an approach that works quite well in many cases. Best! Heinrich
Nice video! Two questions: - Does working remotely change your note-taking method? - How to you organize notes from multiple meetings about the same topic? Do you build up some separate, perhaps digital, document elsewhere?
I'm no expert but figured i'd give some input on your querry. 1) don't think it should change much as being remotely or in person is more or less the same thing as everyone can speak freely thus notes taken as you would a normal face to face meeting. 2) while in the video it mentioned to use pen and paper i would advice against it as being the digital age we could use it to make things much easier , you could have a rough note taking file in a particular programmed then a better arrange the notes for reference anytime anywhere and if it was in digital format you have access to it on any device and even share parts of it for whatever reason. hope this helps quarry
Interesting - I've learned most of this technique working as a consultant and been using it. My chief takeaway from this video is that lip balm is much more important than I thought.
Thank you for the video! Although I'm not a consultant I have worked with quite a bunch over the last years. How quickly consultants are able to extract and formulate the most important points in a meeting often sets them apart from most "regular" employees IMO. Can't wait to try this myself. Your channel is really helpful, please keep up the good work!
Hi Alex, thanks for sharing your experience! Yes agree, this is one of the key skills consultants are valued for. Happy to hear that thanks!! Best, Heinrich
Being a consultant I agree this methos works. I use a similiar system, but use keys to note the key items. Stars for goal items, capital A and the person"s initial for action items. I did like the table visual. If we ever get back to face to face meetings I will use it.
Tks for the value man. I can confirm even at big companies like Fortune 10, people are still unorganized and do not take notes in big meetings and sometimes barely anything would happens afterwards.
Hi Long, thanks so much. Yes, fully agree that also in many large corporates (e.g., the DAX companies in Germany) these best practices are not really being followed. It is the little things that can make a difference!! :) Best, Heinrich
Thank you for making this video! for years actually decades I've been struggling how to take notes at work. This process is the most helpful way for ME to take notes and get the most out of my meetings at work. Thank you very much!
Excellent video and very well covered. Some things make pen and paper not a workable situation is immediately after meeting you are asked to share the MOM with all the team members. Usually I put the action items at the top for team members to not go through all the discussion paragraphs. Also highlighting the lines in the discussion pointers (emphasize by the clients) make you remember what is important to them.
Hi Nandini, thank you for sharing your experience! Yes, agree that in some situations taking the notes with a laptop / digital format works well too. Best! Heinrich
Thank you Heinrich! I’m starting at a management consultancy in Australia in 2022 and identified note taking to be one of the areas I need to improve on. This video and the rest of your channel have been incredibly insightful and I greatly appreciate the time you’ve taken to educate your audience!
Excellent advice for note taking. I personally shifted from paper to iPad. I agree with you that laptop, on a meeting, often can irritate people and distract the note taker from the meeting. In addition, I've switched off all of my notifications, so no one would think that I'm browsing internet and I try always to keep my note taking app open.
This is exactly the kind of video I was looking for. You're right that most other videos focus on making notes look pretty, instead of a simple system to allow you to take notes quickly. Thank you!
This was really good, the insight about “pre-filling” the notes page with what you want to get out of the meeting is something really interest. I can see clearly how I can apply this to my work as an industry analyst. Thank you!
Thanks for the video! I'm a salesperson, not a consultant, but during first calls/meetings with prospects I have to write down tons of points in order to organize the salesprocess properly. Before this video my notes were messy and chaotic and i was always need to washup them after meeting, now I know how to keep it in order from the very begining!
This is so helpful. Thank you. I’ve been having a lot of trouble with excessive notes and missing parts of discussions because I’m too busy taking notes.
Your video has changed my career for the better. I made some modifications to the template you presented, however, the original ideas and the techniques are yours. My manager loved my notes to the point where he asked me to do the meeting minutes for all meetings (including the high-level ones (VPs meetings)) when I am in them whether they are in person, over the phone, or through the web calls. Again!!thank you :).
Hi Heinrich, I am checking your note taking tips again as I am transitioning from industry to consulting. Still very useful and effective note taking templates especially for business meetings !!! From personal experience, I find it might be even more helpful if we can further "bucketize the main section into sub-categories such as background, meeting goals, sub-topic 1, sub-topic 2, sub-topic n, concerns and next steps"
Good video for new consultants. As a Project Lead, I set the agenda prior to any meeting with the various topics I plan to touch on in the meeting invite. This forms the basis for the various themes & buckets to capture in the notes.
One hack you can use is: Open a Word file and start the dictate function. It will record the bulk of the conversation (still not perfect) and would help filing in your missing parts of the notes.
Awesome! I have done parts of this all the time, but often forget - and especially get so absorbed in the discussion that at the end my notes page is a blank. I used to say "I suck at note taking" and just depend on others or depend on my memory - less and less reliable :-) But I am changing my mindset to say that I can get better - and expect members of my team to also get better. This will have an immediate positive impact me for starting with my next meeting.
Hi David, thank you for sharing your experiences. Yes, fully agree that note taking is a skill that you can indeed work on. Trust you will continue to improve. Lots of success to you!! Best, Heinrich
Apart from number crunching and working on Excel (secondary data capture and analysis), the most common task which helps to create strong basics for a Consultant is notes taking (primary data capture)... Really critical, yet not so much focused on.. great video, awesome insights... thanks!👍🏼
Great content. I’d be really interested to know your personal system for combining and managing digital and hand written notes and actions. Always great to see how others do this.
If i am to understand you correctly Matthew, you are looking to connect the analogue and difital world in the context of the activity of note taking? I myself have a drawing tablet and of course a pen and paper. I find this is the most effective tools for me to both actively listen AND note reminders. How do i do this? My workflow used to consist of using a smart pen, but due to the circumference of the stylus, i cramped up and turned to a drawing tablet. I have ready made templates (headings and tick boxes etc) then i use the drawing tablet to store notes, syncing with google photos. In the event others cant read my notes, i use the image to text extraction software. Furthermore, if i use pen and paper, i use the extraction software or upload as an image. Without clarification around understanding, I'm not certain this answers your query.
This is incredible advice! I’m starting as a new grad in consulting, I interned there prior and was so lost during client interviews. Looking forward to apply it soon!
Thank you. This is really helpful and so true that most other videos are more for college and school. Only items I would suggest is to have an additional column for "Parking lot" items (not necessarily an action) and a "Decisions" section which directly links to your objective for the meeting.
Great points, and your experience really shines through (especially the point about using a pen and paper to ease the client was important and clearly derived from deep know-how)! I have faced the very problem you describe during my internships, taking 5+ pages of notes but not being able to summarize afterward. Now I realize how I could do this better - thank you!
This is extremely helpful! I’ve just started as a consultant and I noticed for my first two projects I mainly tried to jot down as much information as possible, which made it very inconvenient to later parse out the important bits. Thanks for sharing this, I will definitely use this method!
What I used to do was highlight the key to-do's with large asterisks and/or brackets so they can stand out for a post-meeting discussion. This way of bucketing the key sections in advance would be very helpful indeed, thanks!
Thanks for your comment and sharing! Yes, I also started out doing it similar to your approach in the beginning, then over time moved to my new approach that I showed in the video! :) Best, Heinrich
Thanks Heinrich, awesome as always! I would be interested in personal development. What helped you to distinguish which path you want to follow and you whats the next step to achieve this
This makes sense and something I’ll try. I think the point can be numbered and when you write down the todos/observations can just write in the number at the side like @32, so it’ll give context to the todo
Thank you so much for your tips. It will help a lot. I'm a regional sales manager and all the time I'm in meetings with clients, most of them directors and managers, so I can't go back and keep asking to repeat, but every end of meeting, I review with them all the topics I wrote down and the next steps for each one. Thanks again!
Thanks Manuel!! Yes, this is indeed the idea to talk about topics that are relevant to people outside of consulting as well :) Happy to hear it worked. Lots of success to you! Best, Heinrich
10 minutes talking about how much time pressure and efficiency matters and less then 3 min. Showing the actual note taking - jepp, that’s a McKinsey consultant. In IT we use pretty much the same format. I also prefer hand writing, but truth is having it in digital right away is more efficient, if you have to share the minutes with others (esp. the client). And most important: If asked, always volunteer to be the minute keeper - makes you the most tactical influential person in the room - esp. if you write those deliverables.
Hi Martin, thanks for your comment. Agree that I could have shown the technique a bit earlier in the video, thanks for the feedback. Fully agree with your last point - writing the minutes in the end is one of the best way to shape the results :) Best! Heinrich
Completely agree that it's not practical to take notes on paper, because often times the client or my manager/director will ask for notes right away. I can't take a picture of my hand-written notes and send that to them. I do think there's some truth to improved retention when taking handwritten notes - how do you ensure retention when you take notes digitally? i.e. what has worked for you? Would love to get your thoughts.
You have to be careful with taking digital notes in front of old school clients or superiors. They may think you are texting or checking emails while they are talking. Not a good outcome for a young professional.
Love this!! Going to start implementing it today. I started working at a startup a few months ago and getting used to the lack of structure is taking some getting used to and this method will definitely help in my new role.
Thank you so much for this! I’m interviewing today for an executive assistant position in which exactly this form of note taking will really come in handy, and your advice on note taking has been invaluable for how to best utilize note taking in this position! Much appreciated!
What I do when taking notes is use different style bullet points for general comments, observations, questions for the end and action points. So once I look at the bullet I know what to expect, and searching for something isn't difficult.
One more comment. If possible, can you do a video on critical thinking? Like a how to think like a Fortune 500 management consultant. Or how to organize to think like a management consultant.
Hi John, thank you for your comment! Indeed this sounds like a great video idea - thanks for the suggestion! Might pick it up in the future. Best, Heinrich
As always a great video, defining the objective that you want out of the meeting was a turning point for me in my consulting career. Really helped me be much more effective
Hi, not working in consulting but still find your videos useful. I wish I knew about all this on my first day of work, but it's never too late to learn and improve. Thank you!
Hi Ed, sorry to hear the first 7 minutes did not appeal to you. Agree that the section could have come earlier. Have included video chapters in all my recent videos though to help you directly navigate to the sections that interest you most. Best! Heinrich
The system is nice, but the issue I've always had with technical notes is the amount of details you can get in a meeting. Keywords can guide you but it seems like I can't get all the notes I need and listen at the same time.
Hi, yes agree that it can get difficult if it gets really technical. In these situations, it might not be a bad idea to get a notebook if this helps you to get it right. Best, Heinrich
Why should they teach this in school? This is stuff you learn in professional societies and clubs. It is the Xfactor among all other graduates. You learn it outside of school because you’re serious about your professional development
I work as an assistant. (specifically in Real Estate) How should I best take notes or assist my broker? If you would generally tell us about what makes a good assistant, specifically in organizing around priority of items, that would be awesome!
I can summarize the learning from video as follows: * General discussion with client in the 1st part of page * mid page with list of ideas jotted down prior to the meeting to match with agenda or topic of meeting * 3rd part divided into two pieces 1st to-do for yourself and 2nd part to-do for client.
Hi, Thanks for the video. Very interesting!. I think I did not understand properly the section in the middle of the page, described in the end. I did not understand if I should prepare myself BEFORE the meeting and collect insights during the meeting, or , I should just down during the meeting. Can you please clarify? Thank you very much
Hi Abimael, thanks for your comment! The idea is that BEFORE the meeting you think about what you want to get out of the meeting (e.g., working capital reduction ideas in this example). Then during the meeting you use the section to write down all working capital reduction ideas that you hear about in the video. All the best to you!! Heinrich
Do you want to learn to create slide presentations like leading consulting firms? Check out my course:
link.firmlearning.com/slides
It’s a great course, similar to these knowledgeable insights on UA-cam. Great efforts from Heinrich 👍
@@Adityakhurana10 Thank you Aditya, great to hear you found it helpful :) Best, Heinrich
Free ?
@@door1771 Nothing comes free in this world my friend, there is a price tag attached :). Visit Udemey, you wont regret skipping a coffee for that cost, can say that.
Heinrich, Thanks a lot for these great tips to structure meeting notes! Short question pls - any tips to succinctly summarise lengthy discussions to capture key insights / conclusions without transcribing?
7:20 for those who are here to see how he takes notes and want to skip the story time
Thanks Ian! Also included chapters to help you navigate to the parts relevant to you. Best! Heinrich
I was going to skip it but I found it very insightful actually
Thanks
thank you very much!
sometimes the 'why' underlying the how is helpful context. I'd say the goal here is to learn how to fish, not to just mimic his exact approach. But to each his own.
I've just started my career as a Lawyer and have found that MANY lawyers don't know how to properly take notes (myself included). This will DEFINITELY help me adopt a model like this towards my note-taking in my daily meets with clients/potential clients. Thanks for the help!!
Hi Michael, thanks for your watching and sharing! Agree that the learning are applicable to other industries / professions as well. Best, Heinrich
Great topic- very very useful. Most folks underestimate how much time goes into a) meeting prep and execution b) notetaking and c) emailing clients {requesting data, requesting meetings} in this job. People see the decks etc, but success is often won by doing these three things really well.
Very good points Martin, thanks for sharing this. Appreciate you watching! Best, Heinrich
Heinrich - This video is maybe the most important lesson in my professional career! I have been an NGO fundraiser for 25 years and now a software consultant for 6 years. I have stacks and stacks of notes but you taught me how to change that method for the first time in my career. I'm starting to apply your recommendations today!!
I will search your other videos and the Firm Learning community. Topics where I need help include:
- How to create accurate sales pipeline/timeline estimations in CRM?
- How to decide what information to include in CRM for my team to see?
- How to manage my next steps in a CRM system? (I don't like CRM!)
- How to write more efficient (shorter) emails for prospects and clients?
- How to convert an intro call with a prospect into a next meeting?
- How to manage a sales process with multiple decision-makers?
- How to organize for consultant who has multiple clients? I am now an independent lead-generation consultant working on behalf of several businesses.
Sounds like I need to join Firm Learning today!!
You are a career life-saver for people like me who want to work smarter and enjoy life.
Thanks for these detailed comments - and sorry for late reply. Appreciate your suggestions, have added some of them to my ideas list! (the CRM ones are of course quite niche) - All the best to you and a great start to the year! Heinrich
You can clearly see that you have experience in consultancy because these are the most structured, concise and impactful videos ive seen on youtube lol. Awesome work!
Thanks for sharing your note taking tips from your corner of the business world.
Note taking is one step in an ideal process of communication
a) Plan the contents of a meeting. Topics, participants, input, output
b) Hold the meeting. Make clear criteria, decisions and commitments. Or clarify who will provide the info by when.
c) Make clear meeting notes to document the output, common understanding and agreement.
d) Distribute meeting notes to participants and affected people.
The unique part about a consultant's experience with notes is that is short term with a specific power balance.
a) You are subordinate. You can't tell the client how the meeting and note process should be run for an efficient and clear result.
b) You don't have time to educate the meeting participants. The meeting partner may have low meeting and note taking skill. It takes multiple meetings to teach efficient participant behavior.
c) Some meeting participants are not used to waiting for the notes to catch up with the meeting. They are not used to clarifying vague statements, due dates, etc.
Business is most productive when people put focused effort and time to an efficient communication process.
Sometimes it is useful to draft the meeting notes before the meeting. This becomes both the agenda and notes of the meeting.
For computer assisted meetings, you need 2 screens. 1 for presentation content, 1 for notes. It saves lots of time because everyone can check the accuracy of the notes while they are being drafted.
Hi Eric, thank you dir sharing your experiences and insights. Trust this will be helpful to many here in the community!! Best, Heinrich
As a former IT projectmanager I totally agree with your comments on taking notes. Indeed the bottom half of your notes are exactly what
I did. Have a goal in mind for the meeting, especially when you organize the meeting yourself. This includes who gets invited and what they will bring to the table in order to further the goal of the meeting. Also what you did with noting the commitments that you and others agreed to in the meeting is very helpful to get a list out to the participants of these commitments quickly so everyone is on the same page and for you to follow up on. Thank you.
Thanks for sharing from your experiences Nico, very interesting to hear you are following a similar practice. All the best to you! Heinrich
I feel so blessed that this is free out here on the internet. These kinds of tips are worth thousands and to hear it from a Mckinsey consultant free of charge at your convenience, whilst knowing their hourly rate range in the hundreds/thousands is mind boggling. Thanks!
Thank you for your kind comment. Great to hear the video is helpful! Not at McK anymore though ;) Best, Heinrich
15 years after Mck, Basic Consulting Training (BCR) is still my go to toolbag. People are always amazed at how quickly I turnaround clear, concise notes. This is how.
Always great to see fellow alumni here on the channel. Oh yes BCR... good old times ;) Best, Heinrich
I have been an attorney for over 10 years. I got several really great ideas from this video. Thank you!
Well, with Zoom and MS Teams - the ability to record the meetings now have changed how we take notes. It is certainly less stressful knowing that you will have a chance to go back and watch the recording and not miss anything important.
Automatically subscribed. I am senior but sometimes have to take notes because all other persons are more senior. And often take notes and present at the same time.
Hi Erri, thanks for your kind message. Happy to hear it is helpful! Best, Heinrich
This is honestly the video i need! I am a new to the industry of security consultancy and when i was asked to create meeting notes from a meeting i dont understand, i was so lost. I have been searching for videos on how to take notes wisely like this, but all i see are those journalling and pretty aesthetic notes in college
Super happy to hear that :) Glad that the video was helpful. Best! Heinrich
As I commented elsewhere, this is a very handy way to create a concise result of any meeting or when you study a report. I really like how Heinrich also notes the commitments of the client. These are sometimes forgotten by the consultants or thought to be the clients responsibility for follow up and through. But you as a consultant are the captain of this projects ship, so you oversee everything, both your commitments and the clients in order to satisfy the set out goals best.
Bullet journaling does work, but here we're talking about professional note taking with notepad in firm meeting or private consultation with clients.
Which we can also put to the bujo in form of highlights after we're carefully read back the topic and observe the notes that we take during the meeting. Here it will works as reminder and time management between our private life and professional work.
Thank you so much for this video! As a new project manager, I did not have a system for note taking. Seven months in now and I am scrambling to adopt a new system and implement it into my work. This instructional has helped me a ton! Best,
Great video, very practical. I am a financial auditor, this could help me in my meetings with the Company's finance team. I usually take notes on paper and then digitize it for future reference in Evernote.
Super happy to hear it was helpful. Thanks for watching Amer! Best, Heinrich
I have been using this notetaking method for the last year. It's much better than just writing stuff down.
I changed a bit in the layout. I always place the tasks on top. Sometimes you don't have an agenda.
On the second bar I have 2 columns:
1. Agenda, with topics A1 A2 A3, so it is easy to find my notes for those bullets below.
2. Questions, marked Q1, Q2, Q3
Thanks for sharing your experiences! Best, Heinrich
I am astounded - I have struggled for years at effective note taking! I have resorted to recording the meeting (sometimes secretly) so I can dissect it later. You crunched it into a neat summary and concise format. I have attended so many seminars with a McKinsey presentation and they are always the highlight for the day. Now I know why. I have worked for years at for a consulting firm and I realize we failed our junior engineers and managers by not training them in these skills - it was assumed they would "develop" the skills - but maybe we never had the skills ourselves to share? Thank you
Hi Jeff, thanks for your comment! Super happy to hear that the video is helpful :) Much appreciated! Best! Heinrich
In Australia it's illegal to record conversions without consent
Currently in uni, I suspected the tricks and techniques used by consulting professionals would be far more useful for note-taking during lectures and tutorials. Thank you for making this video, the ideas outlined here are really helping me for study and for helping me get the most out of my lectures.
Very interesting and helpful. The tip about taken note of where everyone was seated is good one, especially in new employment situation or when starting a new role, when you don’t know all the new faces yet.
Glad to hear you liked the video, appreciate it David! Fully agree. Best, Heinrich
Spot on. Organization of ideas, decisions and next steps is critical.
Thanks Joseph, appreciate it! :) Best, Heinrich
Really insightful, appreciate it! The value-add is how you delineated the difference between a professional context vs. an academic context for note-taking. Thanks again!
Hi Mustafa, thank you! Great to hear that you found the video helpful. All the best! Heinrich
I learned from articles from Netflix and while serving on a school board, to always have an Agenda. Of course, there is often talk outside of the agenda, so that must be accounted for. Our school board secretary would use the proposed agenda to take notes, but she opened up lots of space to hand write the notes in, for each topic. I usually tried to sit near her over the first year or so when I joined the board, she would help me with small bits of advice or information on certain topics.
When you are meeting with a client, that is sometimes hard to do. I would argue that it is the best thing to do, as it sets the ground rules on what really is important, before the meeting starts, and helps to ensure it covers the actionable items that are truly important. Thanks for your video and other videos. They are GREAT!!
Hi Darin, thanks for sharing, of course super valid! Agree, structuring the notes along the agenda points is an approach that works quite well in many cases. Best! Heinrich
Nice video! Two questions:
- Does working remotely change your note-taking method?
- How to you organize notes from multiple meetings about the same topic? Do you build up some separate, perhaps digital, document elsewhere?
I'm no expert but figured i'd give some input on your querry.
1) don't think it should change much as being remotely or in person is more or less the same thing as everyone can speak freely thus notes taken as you would a normal face to face meeting.
2) while in the video it mentioned to use pen and paper i would advice against it as being the digital age we could use it to make things much easier , you could have a rough note taking file in a particular programmed then a better arrange the notes for reference anytime anywhere and if it was in digital format you have access to it on any device and even share parts of it for whatever reason. hope this helps
quarry
Interesting - I've learned most of this technique working as a consultant and been using it. My chief takeaway from this video is that lip balm is much more important than I thought.
;)
Thank you for the video! Although I'm not a consultant I have worked with quite a bunch over the last years. How quickly consultants are able to extract and formulate the most important points in a meeting often sets them apart from most "regular" employees IMO. Can't wait to try this myself. Your channel is really helpful, please keep up the good work!
Hi Alex, thanks for sharing your experience! Yes agree, this is one of the key skills consultants are valued for. Happy to hear that thanks!! Best, Heinrich
Being a consultant I agree this methos works. I use a similiar system, but use keys to note the key items. Stars for goal items, capital A and the person"s initial for action items. I did like the table visual. If we ever get back to face to face meetings I will use it.
Hi, thanks for your comment! Thanks for sharing your approach as well :) Best, Heinrich
Tks for the value man. I can confirm even at big companies like Fortune 10, people are still unorganized and do not take notes in big meetings and sometimes barely anything would happens afterwards.
Hi Long, thanks so much. Yes, fully agree that also in many large corporates (e.g., the DAX companies in Germany) these best practices are not really being followed. It is the little things that can make a difference!! :) Best, Heinrich
Thank you for making this video! for years actually decades I've been struggling how to take notes at work. This process is the most helpful way for ME to take notes and get the most out of my meetings at work. Thank you very much!
Hi, thanks for your kind comment, super happy to hear the content is helpful! All the best to you Delise, Heinrich
Excellent video and very well covered. Some things make pen and paper not a workable situation is immediately after meeting you are asked to share the MOM with all the team members. Usually I put the action items at the top for team members to not go through all the discussion paragraphs. Also highlighting the lines in the discussion pointers (emphasize by the clients) make you remember what is important to them.
Hi Nandini, thank you for sharing your experience! Yes, agree that in some situations taking the notes with a laptop / digital format works well too. Best! Heinrich
A video didn’t know I needed but so glad I watched it. Now I am astonished why no one else is teaching this in analyst trainings.
Hi Ake, thanks for your comment! Super happy to hear that the video is helpful :) Best! Heinrich
Thank you Heinrich! I’m starting at a management consultancy in Australia in 2022 and identified note taking to be one of the areas I need to improve on. This video and the rest of your channel have been incredibly insightful and I greatly appreciate the time you’ve taken to educate your audience!
Glad to hear you liked the video, appreciate it Lee! Best, Heinrich
Excellent advice for note taking. I personally shifted from paper to iPad. I agree with you that laptop, on a meeting, often can irritate people and distract the note taker from the meeting. In addition, I've switched off all of my notifications, so no one would think that I'm browsing internet and I try always to keep my note taking app open.
Hi Antoni, thank you for your comment! Indeed great points that you are sharing. Best! Heinrich
I needed this 10 years ago. Thanks so much!!!
Thank you, hope it is still helpful today! :) Best, Heinrich
This is exactly the kind of video I was looking for. You're right that most other videos focus on making notes look pretty, instead of a simple system to allow you to take notes quickly. Thank you!
This was really good, the insight about “pre-filling” the notes page with what you want to get out of the meeting is something really interest. I can see clearly how I can apply this to my work as an industry analyst. Thank you!
Thank you for your comment Fernando. Super glad to hear that! Best, Heinrich
Thanks for the video! I'm a salesperson, not a consultant, but during first calls/meetings with prospects I have to write down tons of points in order to organize the salesprocess properly. Before this video my notes were messy and chaotic and i was always need to washup them after meeting, now I know how to keep it in order from the very begining!
This technique really seems to be a great tool for fast moving and/or very free-flowing meetings. Thank you very much for sharing!
Hi, thank you for your comment. Fully agree :) Best! Heinrich
I don't comment often, but you deserve one... Great video!
This is so helpful. Thank you. I’ve been having a lot of trouble with excessive notes and missing parts of discussions because I’m too busy taking notes.
Hi, thanks for your comment! Very great to hear that you find the video to be helpful. Best! Heinrich
Your video has changed my career for the better. I made some modifications to the template you presented, however, the original ideas and the techniques are yours. My manager loved my notes to the point where he asked me to do the meeting minutes for all meetings (including the high-level ones (VPs meetings)) when I am in them whether they are in person, over the phone, or through the web calls. Again!!thank you :).
First thing that comes to my mind about Germans, well organized professionals!
Thank you Freddy ;) All the best to you! - Heinrich
Angela approves that comment. 👍
Making a template of this on an ipad using some notes app would increase the efficiency, overall excellent way of taking notes!
Sounds good. Hope it helps! thanks for watching Arnav! Best, Heinrich
Hi Heinrich, I am checking your note taking tips again as I am transitioning from industry to consulting. Still very useful and effective note taking templates especially for business meetings !!!
From personal experience, I find it might be even more helpful if we can further "bucketize the main section into sub-categories such as background, meeting goals, sub-topic 1, sub-topic 2, sub-topic n, concerns and next steps"
Good video for new consultants. As a Project Lead, I set the agenda prior to any meeting with the various topics I plan to touch on in the meeting invite. This forms the basis for the various themes & buckets to capture in the notes.
My note-taking is such a mess, but not anymore. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Watchareeya, great to hear you find it helpful. Appreciate it!! Best, Heinrich
One hack you can use is:
Open a Word file and start the dictate function. It will record the bulk of the conversation (still not perfect) and would help filing in your missing parts of the notes.
This video taught me on how to strategize meeting notes. Thank you for this!
Thanks for watching! :) Best, Heinrich
I know! added value :)
Awesome! I have done parts of this all the time, but often forget - and especially get so absorbed in the discussion that at the end my notes page is a blank. I used to say "I suck at note taking" and just depend on others or depend on my memory - less and less reliable :-) But I am changing my mindset to say that I can get better - and expect members of my team to also get better. This will have an immediate positive impact me for starting with my next meeting.
Hi David, thank you for sharing your experiences. Yes, fully agree that note taking is a skill that you can indeed work on. Trust you will continue to improve. Lots of success to you!! Best, Heinrich
Apart from number crunching and working on Excel (secondary data capture and analysis), the most common task which helps to create strong basics for a Consultant is notes taking (primary data capture)... Really critical, yet not so much focused on.. great video, awesome insights... thanks!👍🏼
Hi Ishan, thank you, yes agree that this is really important. Thank you for watching! Best, Heinrich
You are so right, most videos are about taking notes in school. This what I’ve been looking for!
Great to hear the video was helpful Stacey - much appreciated! :) Best, Heinrich
Great content. I’d be really interested to know your personal system for combining and managing digital and hand written notes and actions. Always great to see how others do this.
Hi Matthew, thank you! Yes, this is an interesting topic as well. Might talk about it in a future video thank you! Best, Heinrich
If i am to understand you correctly Matthew, you are looking to connect the analogue and difital world in the context of the activity of note taking?
I myself have a drawing tablet and of course a pen and paper. I find this is the most effective tools for me to both actively listen AND note reminders.
How do i do this?
My workflow used to consist of using a smart pen, but due to the circumference of the stylus, i cramped up and turned to a drawing tablet.
I have ready made templates (headings and tick boxes etc) then i use the drawing tablet to store notes, syncing with google photos. In the event others cant read my notes, i use the image to text extraction software.
Furthermore, if i use pen and paper, i use the extraction software or upload as an image.
Without clarification around understanding, I'm not certain this answers your query.
@@steveperry6047 exactly what I’m trying to do more effectively
Man, you moved me light years into the proper direction. Thanks a lot! Keen to learn now everything you know :) !
This is incredible advice! I’m starting as a new grad in consulting, I interned there prior and was so lost during client interviews. Looking forward to apply it soon!
Hi Lana, thanks for your comment and sharing your experiences! Much appreciated. Best, Heinrich
recently i had a meeting with the client and same thing happened with me.....i could totally relate to your situation. thanks for great help
Happy to hear it was helpful, thanks for your comment Aditya! Best, Heinrich
I wish I knew this when I was a summer intern at the firm! Truly life-saving advice. Thank you!
Hi Corbin, great to hear that the advice is helpful. Lots of success to you!! Best, Heinrich
Thank you. This is really helpful and so true that most other videos are more for college and school. Only items I would suggest is to have an additional column for "Parking lot" items (not necessarily an action) and a "Decisions" section which directly links to your objective for the meeting.
Hi Roslynn, thanks for your comment and also your recommendation. Can see how this could make sense! Best, Heinrich
The best video i have seen for a long time. well done.
Super happy to hear that - thank you Vijay! Best, Heinrich
Thanks for the insights. Thia was a huge improvement for me. I allways strugled with taking notes in an organized way... thank you vert much Sir.
Super happy to hear that - appreciate it! Best, Heinrich
Great points, and your experience really shines through (especially the point about using a pen and paper to ease the client was important and clearly derived from deep know-how)! I have faced the very problem you describe during my internships, taking 5+ pages of notes but not being able to summarize afterward. Now I realize how I could do this better - thank you!
Super happy to hear that - thanks for watching Tiina! Best, Heinrich
Ok, this video was actually useful :) Writing down who is sitting where is a very good idea.
Hi Mehmet, super happy to hear the video is helpful! Thanks for watching! Best, Heinrich
I liked this video so much, not only did I smash the “like” button, I also smashed up my iPad!
Hi Richard, thank you so much!! Be careful with your iPad though ;) Best! Heinrich
Taking notes in meetings can be frustrating this is a great method!
Thank you! :) Great to hear you find this to be useful! Best, Heinrich
This is extremely helpful! I’ve just started as a consultant and I noticed for my first two projects I mainly tried to jot down as much information as possible, which made it very inconvenient to later parse out the important bits. Thanks for sharing this, I will definitely use this method!
Hi Divya, thanks for your comment. Great to hear you find the video helpful!! Best, Heinrich
What I used to do was highlight the key to-do's with large asterisks and/or brackets so they can stand out for a post-meeting discussion. This way of bucketing the key sections in advance would be very helpful indeed, thanks!
Thanks for your comment and sharing! Yes, I also started out doing it similar to your approach in the beginning, then over time moved to my new approach that I showed in the video! :) Best, Heinrich
Thanks Heinrich, awesome as always! I would be interested in personal development. What helped you to distinguish which path you want to follow and you whats the next step to achieve this
Hi Tobias, thank you for your comment - appreciate it! Interesting topic, might pick that up for a future video - thanks! Heinrich
Very helpful! I've been in the situation before of having to parse through many pages of notes to pull out the key ideas. This will help!
It was wonderful Heinrich, I would like to suggest can we trim down the introductory part a bit, it almost constituted 50% of total time.
Hi Aakash, thank you for your comment! Yes well noted, will try to be more concise in the future. Best, Heinrich
Thank you for your help!
Thank YOU for watching! Best, H
Great video, thank you for sharing your experience!
Thanks for watching!
This makes sense and something I’ll try. I think the point can be numbered and when you write down the todos/observations can just write in the number at the side like @32, so it’ll give context to the todo
Hi Omar, thanks for your comment! Super happy to hear that the video is helpful :) Also thanks for sharing! Best! Heinrich
Hi Heinrich, thank you so much for creating this video!! You really outdid yourself with specific and hands-on things about consulting 🙏🏼
Hi Berry, thank you!! Super happy to hear that - appreciate it :) Best, Heinrich
Thank you so much for your tips. It will help a lot. I'm a regional sales manager and all the time I'm in meetings with clients, most of them directors and managers, so I can't go back and keep asking to repeat, but every end of meeting, I review with them all the topics I wrote down and the next steps for each one. Thanks again!
Hi Rogerio,thanks for your comment. Glad to hear the video was helpful for your situation :) Lots of success to you!! Best, Heinrich
Good job Heinrich! I think I can apply this to my work as project engineer! Keep going, your tips are not just helpful for consultants! :)
Thanks Manuel!! Yes, this is indeed the idea to talk about topics that are relevant to people outside of consulting as well :) Happy to hear it worked. Lots of success to you! Best, Heinrich
I have watched your video several times and I always learn something new.
10 minutes talking about how much time pressure and efficiency matters and less then 3 min. Showing the actual note taking - jepp, that’s a McKinsey consultant. In IT we use pretty much the same format. I also prefer hand writing, but truth is having it in digital right away is more efficient, if you have to share the minutes with others (esp. the client). And most important: If asked, always volunteer to be the minute keeper - makes you the most tactical influential person in the room - esp. if you write those deliverables.
Hi Martin, thanks for your comment. Agree that I could have shown the technique a bit earlier in the video, thanks for the feedback. Fully agree with your last point - writing the minutes in the end is one of the best way to shape the results :) Best! Heinrich
Completely agree that it's not practical to take notes on paper, because often times the client or my manager/director will ask for notes right away. I can't take a picture of my hand-written notes and send that to them. I do think there's some truth to improved retention when taking handwritten notes - how do you ensure retention when you take notes digitally? i.e. what has worked for you? Would love to get your thoughts.
You have to be careful with taking digital notes in front of old school clients or superiors.
They may think you are texting or checking emails while they are talking. Not a good outcome for a young professional.
Volunteering to be the note taker is a good move unless you're writing and sending the notes to your immediate superior who then takes the credit.
Hi , actually I found this video very interesting and I think that 10 minutes was an efficient usage of the time !
I really appreciate your style of presenting and find it easy to absorb.
Hi James, super happy to hear the video is helpful! Thanks for watching! Best, Heinrich
Love this!! Going to start implementing it today. I started working at a startup a few months ago and getting used to the lack of structure is taking some getting used to and this method will definitely help in my new role.
Hi Juhi, thanks for your comment. Great to hear you find this helpful :) All the best to you! Heinrich
Already put it to practice. It works absolutely fine! TIP: It doesn't have to be a big sheet of paper.
Thanks, as always, Heinrich!
Hi Nicolas, thank you for your comment! Great to hear it works for you :) All the best, Heinrich
Enjoying your accent. Makes it more fun!
Thank you Jeff - much appreciated! ;) Best, Heinrich
Wish I could've watched this 2 years back when I started as a noob Analyst. Simply amazing!
Hi Dhruv, thank you for your comment. Great to hear you find the video helpful :) Best, Heinrich
Thank you so much for this! I’m interviewing today for an executive assistant position in which exactly this form of note taking will really come in handy, and your advice on note taking has been invaluable for how to best utilize note taking in this position! Much appreciated!
Hi Raven, super happy to hear that. Thank you for watching! Best, Heinrich
What I do when taking notes is use different style bullet points for general comments, observations, questions for the end and action points. So once I look at the bullet I know what to expect, and searching for something isn't difficult.
One more comment. If possible, can you do a video on critical thinking? Like a how to think like a Fortune 500 management consultant. Or how to organize to think like a management consultant.
Hi John, thank you for your comment! Indeed this sounds like a great video idea - thanks for the suggestion! Might pick it up in the future. Best, Heinrich
"Let's get tangible" is a pretty great catchphrase. It might even look good on a t-shirt
As always a great video, defining the objective that you want out of the meeting was a turning point for me in my consulting career. Really helped me be much more effective
Super happy to hear that - thank you Chris! :) Best, Heinrich
Hi Hienrich! So happy that I came across your video. I am going to try this system starting today.
Hi, not working in consulting but still find your videos useful. I wish I knew about all this on my first day of work, but it's never too late to learn and improve. Thank you!
Definitely never too late to learn. Thanks for your comment Amanda! Best, Heinrich
This video is a perfect example of consulting. 7 minutes wasted time for 2 minutes of good content.
Hi Ed, sorry to hear the first 7 minutes did not appeal to you. Agree that the section could have come earlier. Have included video chapters in all my recent videos though to help you directly navigate to the sections that interest you most. Best! Heinrich
The system is nice, but the issue I've always had with technical notes is the amount of details you can get in a meeting. Keywords can guide you but it seems like I can't get all the notes I need and listen at the same time.
Hi, yes agree that it can get difficult if it gets really technical. In these situations, it might not be a bad idea to get a notebook if this helps you to get it right. Best, Heinrich
The accent is awesome!
;) Thank you for watching! Best, Heinrich
Aaaahnold
I loved the idea of drawing the meeting table. I am so bad with people's names. That's really clever. Thank you
I love the accent, naturlich 💯
Great to hear that - thank you! :) Best, Heinrich
@Firm Learning do you recommend note taking on IPAD in front of client (IPAD PRO/AIR) which comes with a pen.
Hi Pearl, yes, if you are comfortable with it, I think that this should work well. For sure more interactive than typing on a laptop. Best! Heinrich
This is what they should teach in schools🙄
Thank you for your comment Rutu. Super glad to hear that! Best, Heinrich
Thank you for the outline, this is exactly what I've been searching for to take my note taking to the next level! Great video production also!
Why should they teach this in school? This is stuff you learn in professional societies and clubs. It is the Xfactor among all other graduates. You learn it outside of school because you’re serious about your professional development
Thank you for your leadership on this initiative
Appreciate it! ;)
Heinrich, thank you for all the free value content! Btw: Den deutschen Akzent wird man wohl nie richtig los. :-) LG aus Hamburg
Hi, thank YOU for watching! Yes, guess the German accent is here to stay ;) LG! Heinrich
I work as an assistant. (specifically in Real Estate) How should I best take notes or assist my broker? If you would generally tell us about what makes a good assistant, specifically in organizing around priority of items, that would be awesome!
Hi Nikki, thanks for your comment. Great question indeed! Might pick this up in a future video - stay tuned! :) Best, Heinrich
I can summarize the learning from video as follows:
* General discussion with client in the 1st part of page
* mid page with list of ideas jotted down prior to the meeting to match with agenda or topic of meeting
* 3rd part divided into two pieces
1st to-do for yourself and 2nd part to-do for client.
Thanks for this summary Shankar, much appreciated! Best, Heinrich
Hi, Thanks for the video. Very interesting!. I think I did not understand properly the section in the middle of the page, described in the end. I did not understand if I should prepare myself BEFORE the meeting and collect insights during the meeting, or , I should just down during the meeting. Can you please clarify?
Thank you very much
Hi Abimael, thanks for your comment! The idea is that BEFORE the meeting you think about what you want to get out of the meeting (e.g., working capital reduction ideas in this example). Then during the meeting you use the section to write down all working capital reduction ideas that you hear about in the video. All the best to you!! Heinrich