MEETINGS BLOODY MEETINGS

Hints for how to get more out of these daily distractions

Beverly Brown with John Cleese

April 26, 2010

AGENDA

WHAT DO YOU HATE ABOUT MEETINGS?

Poorly organized, not sure why we are here? Do you cover the same ground over and over

again? Exhausting and not productive… There is always someone who is a trouble maker We never start on time or end on time! Why are they needed?

WHY TEAMS (& MEETINGS) MATTER

Improve your promotion prospects!

The leader as leader

Team cohesion

More meetings

+

More temporary teams

=

Need for better meeting skills

TYPES OF MEETINGS

Informational Making decisions Working on a problem Any meeting can have one or more of these

elements in it.

FIVE PRINCIPLES OF GOOD MEETINGS

Plan

Inform

Prepare

Structure and control

Summarise and record

PLAN & INFORM Is the meeting necessary?

Who should be invited? Development Knowledge experts Authority/decision makers

• Do they understand: what will be discussed? why? what the meeting should achieve?

AGENDAS

Sufficient detail

Logical order

Appropriate time slots urgent items

vs

important items

STRUCTURE & CONTROL

Evidence before interpretation

Interpretation before decisions

Keep stages separate

Stop: jumping ahead

unnecessary back-tracking

SUMMARIZE & RECORD

Summarising – the chair’s job

Summarise each topic

Summarising helps keep control

makes minute-taking easy

Recording – not the chair’s job

GENERAL RULES Respect everyone’s time

Start & stop on time Stick to agenda

Three phases of meeting Opening Work Closing

Meeting order Share information first Make decisions (bring food for best results) Solve problems last

No Agenda: NO Attenda Summarize work outside meetings in Action

Items and cover progress until closed

MEETING ROLES

Leader Facilitator Scribe Contributor Expert Gate Keeper Devil’s Advocate Joker Cheerleader Etc.

you

familyschool

employer

community

professionalassociation

OPTIMUM MEETING SIZE DEPENDS ON PURPOSE

Decision making 6-8 from relevant stakeholders Empowered representatives

Brainstorming 18 Maximize diversity

Information sharing 1800 Shortest meetings are in rooms without chairs

BRAINSTORMING State the problem

Find all perceptions of problem Seek to agree on the problem Discuss time & scope of problem

Open floor for all (fixed time) Fixed time (10-15 minutes) Scribe all responses No judging or editing any idea

Clarify & consolidate similar ideas Open floor to discussion Seek to rank the ideas Select winner(s) (multi-voting) Assign working group to explore top options

MEETINGS COME IN ALL SIZES BUT THE SAME RULES APPLY

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION