The only real downside to this principle is the amount of time you must
devote to it. As you might guess, writing the summary of every meeting
can be time-consuming. However, it becomes easier the longer you do it.
If you complete the summary right after each meeting or as soon as pos-
sible thereafter, you will be both fast and accurate. You can also train your
assistant principals to help you, having them review documents prepared
by staff members they supervise. A competent and well-trained secretary
is also a godsend in this matter, as she will root out every misspelling and
grammatical error she sees. All the time you devote to these tasks saves
you time in the long run, for poor communications always leads to prob-
lems difficult to solve.
Monitor the Communication 143