The Team Meeting Process

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The Team Meeting Process

• Author VCU T/TAC

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Lets Get Started!

• The structured team meeting process addressed
  includes the following steps
• Assign roles
• Assign times
• Celebrate
• Review past notes, carry incomplete tasks over as
  issues
• List issues
• Prioritize
• Brainstorm solutions for each issue
• Reach consensus
• Record (who, what, when)
• List issues for carry over
• List date, time and location of next meeting
• Assign member to distribute notes

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Step 1 Assign roles Different roles are
assigned to people attending the meeting. When
roles are rotated and shared by all team members,
everyone participates and there is shared
ownership for the agenda, discussions and
decisions.
Fox, T.S., Williams, W. (1991). Implementing
best practices for all students in their local
school. Burlington, VT Vermont Statewide Systems
Support Project.
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Step 2 Assign timesThe facilitator asks for
suggestions from the team as to how much time
will be needed for each item on the agenda. The
timekeeper notes down these times and will use
these times to give warnings during discussions.
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Step 3 CelebrateEach meeting begins with team
members sharing some of the positive things that
have happened since the last meeting.
Celebrations can be both personal and
professional.
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Step 4 Review past meeting notesOne team member
reviews the past meeting notes to check on the
progress that team members have made since the
last meeting. Team members report out on whether
they have completed the tasks that they agreed to
do. Any incomplete tasks or issues that arise
during the report-out are listed as issues for
the meeting. The team also refers to the
Carryover Items section in the past meeting
notes and adds those issues to the agenda, if
applicable.
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Step 5 List issuesIn addition to the items that
arose during the review of the past meeting
notes, team members identify the issues that need
to be addressed at the meeting. Issues are
phrased in the form of a question, such as "How
can we", "When will we ", or "What are".
Issues can be collected ahead of time and
included on a Team Meeting Agenda Form, but
always ask if there are additional issues at the
meeting.
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Step 6 Prioritize issuesDetermine which
issues should be addressed first. If all items
are of equal importance and do not have an
apparent sequence, you may decide to simply run
down the list. If you only have a limited amount
of meeting time, this will help to determine
which issues must be discussed today and which
can be carried over to the next meeting.
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Step 7 Brainstorm solutions for each issueThe
facilitator reads each issue in the form of a
question to be answered. Team members follow the
rules of brainstorming to generate potential
solutions.
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BRAINSTORMING RULESEach team member shares an
idea in a 'round-robin' fashion.No negative
reactions to comments allowed.A negative
reaction may stop the next idea from being
expressed.Wild ideas are fine. Freewheeling is
welcomed. You will be able to be critical about
ideas later.Don't worry about quality at this
point. Quantity is the main thing.Set a short
time limit. Three to five minutes is about as
much time as the mind can stay intensely creative
in a group.Assign a recorder, but don't let the
recording slow down the thoughts. Just jot down
a phrase or key word and move on. Adapted from
Fox, T.S., Williams, W. (1991). Implementing
best practices for all students in their local
school. Burlington, VT Vermont Statewide Systems
Support Project.
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 Step 8 Reach consensusThe facilitator guides
the group in reaching consensus on what action to
take to address each issue. The timekeeper should
indicate when there are 1 or 2 minutes remaining
to discuss the issue ask whether the team would
like to extend the time if needed.
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Step 9 Record (who, what, when)For each issue,
the recorder should write down what task is to be
completed. As a team, determine who on the team
will complete the task and record that on the
form. Finally, agree on a reasonable deadline by
which the task should be completed and record
that as well.
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Step 10 List issues for carryoverAny issues
that the team did not discuss should be recorded
under the Carryover Items section. At the next
meeting, the team will refer to this section when
it reviews that past meeting notes.
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Step 11 List date, time, and location of next
meetingMake sure that team members are clear as
to where and when the next meeting will take
place. Try to settle on a time and place that is
convenient for the majority of the team members.
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Step 12 Assign a member to distribute notesAsk
for a volunteer to distribute copies of the notes
to all team members, including those not in
attendance at the meeting. Because some of the
tasks will be time-sensitive, be sure that the
notes are distributed soon after the meeting. If
possible, copy and distribute notes at the end of
the meeting.
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As you practice your team meeting skills, you
should see increases in the efficiency and
effectiveness of your meetings!
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• The Team Meeting Process, authored by VCU T/TAC,
  can be found in its entirety at T/TAC Online
  (http//ttaconline.org) as an online training
  course. The estimated time to complete the
  course is 25 minutes.

VDOE T/TAC College of William Mary 08/01/06