How to Run an Effective Meeting

1
How to Run an Effective Meeting
Barry L. Shoop, Ph.D. IEEE Region 1 Director Elect
IEEE Region 1 Summer Meeting August 15,
2003 Schenectady, New York
2
Preliminary Thoughts

• Who likes a meeting
• Without a clearly defined agenda
• That seems to drag-on forever
• That rambles from topic-to-topic
• That ends without any apparent result?
• These types of meetings are
• Frustrating
• A waste of one of the most valuable resources of
  any organization time.

3
Outline

• Meeting Management A Leadership
  Responsibility
• Why Effective Meetings?
• Elements of an Effective Meeting
• Types of Meetings
• The Meeting
• Before the Meeting
• Agenda
• Group Dynamics
• Personality Types
• During the Meeting
• Parliamentary Procedures
• Meeting Room Arrangements
• Roles Chair, Secretary, Members in General
• How to Deal with Disruptive Members
• After the Meeting
• Additional Thoughts

4
Meeting Management A Leadership Responsibility
Many people are promoted, elevated, or elected
into leadership positions without receiving any
formal training or education on how to run an
effective meeting.
5
Why Effective Meetings?

• Time a critical resource
• Opportunity Costs
• For-profit environment, example a one-hour
  meeting with 2 managers and 4 engineers
• manager 100.00/hour 200.00
• engineers 60.00/hour 240.00
• Total 440.00
• Not-for-profit or professional society
  environment
• volunteers do not want their time wasted
• ineffective meetings cause discontent

6
Meetings

• Characteristics of negative meetings
• 83 drift from the subject
• 77 poor preparation
• 74 questionable effectiveness
• 68 lack of listening
• 62 verbose participants
• 60 length
• 51 lack of participation

From Achieving Effective Meetings Not Easy
But Possible, Bradford D. Smart in a survey of
635 executives.
7
Effective Meetings

• What people are looking for in effective
  meetings
• 88 participation
• 66 define the meetings purpose
• 62 address each item on the agenda
• 59 assign follow-up action
• 47 record discussion
• 46 invite essential personnel
• 36 publish an agenda

From GM Consultants, Pittsburgh, PA 1993
8
Elements of an Effective Meeting

• Effective meetings dont just happen
• Require deliberate planning
• Must be conducted in an effective and efficient
  manner
• Responsibility of leader

9
Types of Meetings

• Formal or Informal
• With agenda, rules of procedure, minutes or
• Casual and relaxed - structure but nothing
  written
• Planning
• To prepare or evaluate a plan
• To seek information
• Reporting
• Progress to date
• Providing information or status reporting

10
Types of Meetings

• Administrative
• Regular Staff Meetings
• Monthly Executive Committee Meetings
• Decision
• Brainstorming
• Combinations

11
Before the Meeting

• Define the purpose of the meeting.
• Identify the participants.
• Every invitee should have a role.
• Identify a recorder or secretary.
• Prepare an agenda in advance of the meeting.
• Communicate the intent of each agenda item using
  labels such as (A) Action,
• (I) Information, (V) Vote.
• Identify estimate of time allocated to the agenda
  item.

12
Before the Meeting, contd

• Prepare or identify background information.
• Assign responsibilities for agenda items and
  communicate to those responsible.
• Publish the agenda and identify background
  information to be reviewed.
• Plan for breaks lunch, coffee, etc.

13
Before the Meeting, contd

• Think through the conduct of the meeting
• - Use a trusted member of your staff or deputy.
• Consider logistics
• Room layout, seating, distractions, etc.
• Support items projector, white board, pens,
  etc.

14
The Bell Shaped Agenda
Purpose of the Bell Shaped Agenda is to
structure events around the groups
energy and attention. The first few items
help the meeting participants to work as a
group on easy items before they tackle more
difficult items.

• Item 1 Welcome
• Item 2 Minutes
• Item 3 Announcements
• non-controversial
• short
• example upcoming events
• Item 4 Easy Item
• More than one item may be included in this
  section, but should not be controversial

15
The Bell Shaped Agenda, contd

• Item 5 Hardest Item
• Why in the middle?
• Attendance late comers have arrived and
  early-leavers have not left.
• Attention focused on meeting by this time, not
  yet concerned with next appointment.
• Item 6 For Discussion Only
• Will often be presented as Item 5 Hardest Item
  at subsequent meeting for vote or decision.

16
The Bell Shaped Agenda, contd

• Item 7 Easiest Item
• End of this meeting is the beginning of next
  meeting.
• End on positive note of agreement and
  encouragement.
• Good time for member recognition.

17
The Agenda
18
Group Dynamics

• Attempt to identify understand interpersonal
  dynamics of the group.
• If you will lead this group over an extended
  period, consider Myers- Briggs Type Indicator
  (MBTI) instrument.
• Not definitive but allows you to better
  understand the members of your meeting.
• Most scientists and engineers are introverts
  prefer to sit-back, listen and think-through
  their response.
• Extroverts tend to develop their opinions and
  responses by talking out-loud.
• 126 item Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
• Instrument publisher, Consulting Psychologists
  Press (CPP, Inc.)

19
Personality Types

• Based on the well-known research of Carl Jung,
  Katharine C. Briggs, and Isabel Briggs Myers
• Theory of Personality Types contends that
• An individual is either primarily Extraverted or
  Introverted
• An individual is either primarily Sensing or
  iNtuitive
• An individual is either primarily Thinking or
  Feeling
• An individual is either primarily Judging or
  Perceiving
• The possible combinations of the basic
  preferences form 16 different Personality Types.
• Learning about other people's Personality Types
  help us understand the most effective way to
  communicate with them, and how they function best.

20
MBTI
21
MBTI Type Descriptions

• Theory is that every individual has a primary
  mode of operation within four categories
• 1. Our flow of energy
• 2. How we take in information
• 3. How we prefer to make decisions
• 4. The basic day-to-day lifestyle that we prefer
• Within each of these categories, we "prefer" to
  be either
• 1. Extraverted or Introverted
• 2. Sensing or iNtuitive
• 3. Thinking or Feeling
• 4. Judging or Perceiving

22
MBTI Type Descriptions

• Flow of Energy how we receive the essential part
  of our stimulation.
• Receive it from within ourselves (Introverted)
• Receive external sources (Extraverted)
• Take in Information how we deal with taking in
  absorbing information.
• Trust five senses (Sensing) to take in
  information
• Rely on our instincts (iNtuitive)

23
MBTI Type Descriptions, contd

• Make Decisions decide things based on
• logic and objective consideration (Thinking)
• personal, subjective value systems (Feeling)
• Day-to-day Basis
• Organized and purposeful. More comfortable with
  scheduled, structured environments (Judging),
• Flexible and diverse, and more comfortable with
  open, casual environments (Perceiving)

24
During the Meeting

• Arrive early
• Arrange the room if necessary
• Know how to control the lighting and temperature
  in the room.
• Distribute handouts.
• Begin on time.
• Introduce members if not familiar introduce
  visitors.
• Establish ground rules, if necessary.
• Run the meeting.

25
During the Meeting, contd

• Control interruptions ask that cell phones and
  pagers be turned-off.
• Identify and record results.
• Assign responsibilities for follow-up Action
  Registry.
• End on time.
• Thank participants for their input and reinforce
  the importance of outcomes on the organization.

26
Meeting Room

• Space matters!
• Members must be able to easily see one another.
  
• Room should be comfortable temperature.
• Adequate space for planners, notebooks, or
  laptops
• People should be able to hear the discussion
  easily.
• If it is a large group, the meetings
  facilitator should consider standing.

27
Meeting Room Arrangements

• Theater Style
• Leader has great power by position.
• Participation and interruption by audience is
  limited.
• U-Shaped Style
• Equality of membership.
• No doubt of who the leader is.
• Good visibility for visual aids.
• Circle Style
• Democratic equality is stressed.
• Great visibility by participants.
• Obvious body language.
• Excellent participation.

28
Member Roles The Chair

• Prepare for the meeting.
• Appoint secretary/minute taker if there is not a
  regular.
• Conduct and control the meeting.
• watch timing or assign someone to this
  responsibility
• ensure all have an equal opportunity to speak
• adjudicate as and when necessary
• effect compromise on occasion

29
The Chair, contd

• Close each item
• Ensure action is clear
• By whom and by when
• Check that the minutes are produced accurately
  and in timely manner

30
Member Roles The Secretary

• Ensure agenda and relevant papers are
  distributed in time with date, time and place of
  meeting.
• Prepare and book the meeting space.
• Have background papers and information for the
  chair.
• Carry a copy of (1) the constitution, (2)
  rules of procedure, (3) previous minutes.
• Record names of attendees and apologies for
  absence - check quorum.

31
The Secretary, contd

• Take notes of what is said and decided
• Minimum necessary
• mixture of mnemonics and full transcript
• amount of detail depends on nature and purpose
  of meeting
• must be enough to enable accurate minutes
• Essential to have
• gist of discussions
• exact words of proposals
• names of those proposing and seconding
• names of those responsible for future actions
• Write the minutes - preferably as soon as
  possible

32
Members in General

• People often react to other people - not to their
  ideas.
• Chair must stress that effectiveness disregard
  for personal or departmental allegiances.
• Self perception - some see themselves as elder
  statesman, joker, voice of reason.

33
Members in General Supportive
34
Members in General Disruptive
Based on HC Wedgewood's Fewer Camels, More
Horses Where Committees Go Wrong. Personnel, Vol
44, No 4, July-Aug 1967, pp62-87. Quoted in
Pearce, Figgens Golen. Principles of
Communication. New York, John Wiley Sons, 1984,
pp. 383-384.
35
Member Stereotypes
Based on Sadler and Tucker. Common Ground. South
Melbourne, Macmillan, 1981. pg. 82.
36
How to Deal with Disruptive Members

• Make sure that all meeting participants
  understand their responsibilities.
• All members were invited to the meeting for a
  reason
• All members should feel free to contribute
• Members who are silent
• Begin meetings by engaging every member of the
  group
• Bill, havent you done this in your work? What
  was your experience?"
• "Janet, youve been rather quiet to this point,
  do you have an opinion or an idea?"
• Consider breaking larger group into smaller
  groups to develop input

37
How to Deal with Disruptive Members

• Members who are vocally dominant
• Redirect discussion to other members
• "We all recognize your expertise in this area,
  but lets hear from some others in case some new
  ideas emerge.
• "John has made his opinion clear does anyone
  else have something they would like to add?"
• Members who are negative
• Probe the negativity to validate concerns
• Redirect discussion to other members
• If behavior persists, consider speaking off-line
  or excluding them from future meetings
• Lets not shoot down this idea prematurely
  lets give it some time for evaluation."

38
After the Meeting

• Publish the minutes promptly.
• Identify responsibilities for action items.
• Assess the meeting.

39
Parliamentary Procedures

• Roberts Rules of Order
• Parliamentary guide for running meetings.
• First Edition February 1876
• Guiding principle, by General Henry Martyn
  Robert
• All shall be heard, but the majority shall
  decide
• For details, see Meetings and Parliamentary
  Procedures Simplified, by Irving Engelson.

40
Additional Thoughts

• Dont Read to the Group
• Place more emphasis on processing information,
  than on giving information
• A meeting is a place to discuss an issue to
  assure agreement or full understanding.
• Everyone contributes to a meetings success.
• Everyone must do their part.
• When possible, make sure the right people are at
  the meeting.
• If the material covered is not relevant to some
  people, arrange to have them excused from that
  portion of the meeting.
• Make sure all meeting participants understand
  their responsibilities

41
Additional Thoughts, contd

• Balance participation
• Meetings will have people who are silent, vocally
  dominant, or negative.
• The facilitator/chairperson as well as members of
  the group can redirect this unproductive behavior
  
• Allow time for process and group development
• Checking off agenda items in a rapid-fire process
  is not always productive. It may move the meeting
  along more quickly, but may leave you wondering
  what happened? when its over.

42
Final Thoughts

• Praise! Praise! Praise!
• Praise people twice as much as you criticize.
• Never let any good deed or action go unheralded
  in the group.
• Say thank you publicly at every meeting.
• Recognize the value of peoples contributions at
  the beginning or within the meeting.
• Plan. Plan. Plan.
• Meeting design is the Number 1 mechanism for
  effective meetings.
• For each agenda item, make sure the group is
  clear about the goals, processes, and functions.
• Never, Never, Never attempt to compose, draft, or
  edit a report or document in committee!

43
Summary

• The techniques described in this presentation can
  be applied to any type of meeting you encounter.
• Consider compiling your own list of successful
  techniques based on specific meetings.
• Effective meetings are the result of deliberate
  planning.

44
References
H. C. Wedgewood, Fewer Camels, More Horses
Where Committees Go Wrong, Personnel, Vol. 44,
No. 4, July-Aug 1967. A. Jay, How to Run a
Meeting, Harvard Business Review, March-April
1976, pp. 43-57. Sadler and Tucker, Common
Ground, South Melbourne, Macmillan,
1981. Pearce, Figgens Golen, Principles of
Communication, New York, John Wiley Sons,
1984. B. L. Shoop, How to run an Effective
Meeting, Focal Point, Optical Society of
America, October 1996. Reprinted in IEEE
CrossTalk, Vol. XXXIV, No. 8, January 1998.