Making Meetings Matter

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Making Meetings Matter

• Ellis Melton
• June 24, 2006

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Part I
What is your situation?
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Do your meetings look like this?

• Question of authority
• Personality conflicts
• Poor environment
• Win/Lose Approach
• Grandstanding
• Vagueness of purpose

Personal attack Manipulation Overload Wheel
spinning Rushed feeling No follow up

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How mature is your group?

• Seedling?
• Sapling?
• Old Growth?

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Characteristics of a High-Performing Team

• Participative leadership
• Shared responsibility
• Aligned on purpose
• High communication
• Future focused
• Focused on task rather than self
• Rapid response

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Think/Pair/Share

• What are some sticky issues that your group deals
  with?

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Part II

• Getting ready for a good meeting

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Questions to ask ahead of time

• Is the meeting necessary?
• Are the right people involved? (and are there
  too many people involved?)
• Is the agenda focused?
• Do we know what result we want?

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Question Is a bad meeting worse than no meeting
at all?

• Every meeting should contribute to the positive
  climate of the organization.

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A pessimistic view A meeting is where the
unwilling, selected from the uninformed, lead
by unsuitable, discuss the unnecessary, and
write report on the unimportant.
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A meeting is a place where you keep minutes but
throw away hours.
The best meeting is a group of three with one
sick and another out of town.
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Three Reasons to meet

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• Gather information (e.g., brainstorming)
• Processing information
• Clarifying Focusing
• Redirecting Advocating
•   Making decisions

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Four-to-one Rule

• Spend four hours preparing for every hour of
  meeting.
• (If you are too busy to plan for the meeting,
  youre too busy to have it!)

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• If you don't have time to prepare for a meeting

• ..you don't have time for a meeting.

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Meeting Roles

• Convener
• Facilitator
• Public Recorder
• Gatekeeper
• Warm up leader
• De-brief leader

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Urgent Not Urgent
Crises Deadline-driven projects
Planning PreparationRelationship building
Org. Improvement Staff Development Values
clarification PreventionTrue recreation
Empowerment
Important
Interruptions Some phone calls Some emailSome
meetings Some drop-in visitors
Trivia, busywork Some phone calls Some email
Time wasters "Escape" activities
Not Important
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Urgent Not Urgent
Crises Deadline-driven projects
Planning PreparationRelationship building
Staff Development Values clarification
Prevention True recreation Empowerment
Important
Sharpening the Saw
Not Important
Interruptions Some phone calls Some emailSome
meetings Some drop-in visitors
Trivia, busywork Some phone calls Some email
Time wasters "Escape" activities
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Urgent Not Urgent
?
Planning PreparationRelationship building
Staff Development Values clarification
Prevention True recreation Empowerment
Important
Sharpening the Saw
Not Important
?
?
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Decide Who Decides

• Outside entity
• Board
• Administrator unilaterally or with input
• Administrator and staff by consensus
• Staff by consensus or vote
• Individual staff member
• Committee

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The Written AgendaEllis 7 commandments

• Include lots of names.
• Be specific (Not new business or AOB)
• Include actual proposal in writing.
• Every item is owned by someone.
• Time limit on each item.
• Be clear about information vs. decision items
• Distribute ahead of time.

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Build the agenda

• (see examples)

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Responsibility Grids

• (see examples)

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Preview your idea to each stakeholder. 

• Prevents reflex reaction during the meeting.
• Allows participant time to digest the idea.
• Allows participant play his/her tape prior to
  the meeting.

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Part III

• Holding the meeting

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The 30 minutes before a meeting

• Is there anything I can do to improve the
  prospects of having a successful meeting?
• Count chairs and hand-outs
• All supplies are in position
• Get together with any presenter of a key item
• Be there to greet people

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Start the meeting witha warm up

• Gets everyone talkingabout the group.
• Reminds people what the group is about.
• Set a nice tone of togetherness.
• Functions as an entrance hall.
• Focuses on having a quality meeting. 

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End the meeting with a debrief.

• Ask members to share with each other, or with
  the group. (Examples)
• How do you feel about todays meeting?
• Did you get a chance to make your opinions known?
• Is there anything you wished the group had done
  that was not done?
• Is there anything you can do before the next
  meeting?
• I am happy that _____________
• I wish _______________

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Questions at the end

• Who will do what by when?
• Who will communicate with whom?
• What will be communicated regarding todays
  decisions?
• What are the next steps?

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Part IV

• After the meeting

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Part V

• Consensus

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Consensus is reached when Every member can say

• I believe that you understand my point of view
  and that I understand yours.
• Whether or not I prefer the group decisions, I
  support them because
• They were reached fairly and openly
• They are the best decisions we can make at this
  time.

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Consensus does NOT mean...

• a unanimous vote
• everyone's first choice
• that everyone agrees, although enough need to be
  in favor to get the decision carried out.
• that the administrator has given up
  responsibility
• a compromise

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Process of Consensus

• Agreeing to use Consensus
• Building consensus (brainstorming, clarifying,
  advocating)
• Working toward Consensus (first survey, refining,
  ensuring inclusion)
• Testing for Consensus (Final Survey)
• Reaching Consensus (Have we reached consensus?)

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• Parliamentary Decision Making

Consensus Decision Making
Cleary understood Quicker Time tested Winners
losers Not always best solution
Often misunderstood Slower Feels too new to
some Group has one voice Best solution at this
time
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A lesson from the Bahá'í faith

• When an idea is put forth it becomes at once the
  property of the group.
• (There is no minority report.)

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Five Finger Survey

• 5 - Im enthusiastic about the idea.
  
• I can be a leader
• 4 - Im all for the idea.
• I can provide good support
• 3 - Im not sure.
• But Im willing to trust the group
  decision
• 2 - Im not for it.
• But I wont block the group
  decision
• 1 - I cant support the decision.
• I will create an alternative
  proposal.

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Part VI

• Techniques

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Focusing Four(when groups need to quickly
narrow the options)

• Brainstorm
• Clarify
• Advocate
• Survey

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Everyone deserves some air time

• Think
• Think/pair
• Think/pair/share
• Think/pair/share/list
• Think/pair/share/list/prioritize
• Think/pair/share/list/prioritize/decide

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Obstructive Roles in Groups

•  Shutting Off
• Analyzing
• Dominating
• Yes-butting
• Naysaying

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How to break bad news.

• Separate the message from the messenger.
• Acknowledge resistance disappointment.
• Focus on facts, not interpretations.
• The problem is it but the solution is we.
• Use the we gesture avoid the podium.
• Let any irate persons play their tape.
• Offer, dont state, the answer to a question.
• Feel/felt/found

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It's easier to solve a problem if we say it as a
verb.
Not communication, but communicating. Not team,
but teaming. Not trust, but trusting. Not
collaboration, but collaborating. Not conflict,
but conflicting. Not decisions, but deciding.

•  

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• ??

Kai - zen
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??Kaizen (Change for Good)

• "Making tomorrow better for all of us!"
• Keep improving things, bit by bit.
• Making small daily improvements for huge
  long-term gains."  

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How can a meeting be like a balloon?