Time to Tweak Your Meetings? - NaBloPoMo #3

 Patrick Lencioni described the  "death by meeting" syndrome in his book of the same title.  
What makes your meetings work? 

What's not working? 

What changes can you make in this coming week to be more focused and gain greater accountability?

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Potentials Realized
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices of Team and Group Coaching (Jossey-Bass, 2013)

Five Ways to Keep Your Meetings on Track

Five Ways to Keep Your Meetings on Track

Copyright Jennifer Britton, All Rights Reserved, 2013

 Meetings are a huge time-consumer in today's workforce. What is the state of your meetings? How
efficient are they? Today's blog post includes five ways to keep your meetings on track, so you can avoid what Patrick Lencioni describes as "Death by Meeting" syndrome.

Some key tips to keep in mind are:
1. Assign a  meeting facilitator. Facilitation comes from the Latin word "facilis" or to make easy. The facilitators role is to keep an eye on the process. As the facilitator, the focus is on:

•  starting and ending the meeting on time, 
• keeping the flow moving, 
• summarizing and capturing key discussion points,
• identifying issues which may need to be shifted to other events (use of a parking lot)
• summarizing key action steps

It can be very useful to have a rotational facilitator role if meetings are held regularly with the same group. This supports capacity and skill development, and also recognizes that the facilitator's power is rlated to that role, not the role people usually inhabit. Who will be the "facilitator" for your next meeting? How will this be rotated?

2.  Have an agenda, and assign timelines to it. Does each meeting have an agenda, which has been circulated before the meeting to ensure that nothing else needs to be added? Putting time-frames on each item, and sticking to them, helps to manage time, as well as identify issues which may need to be carried into other venues. What does the agenda for your next meeting look like? How much time will it take?

3. Ensure who you need is at the table. A common challenge in effective meetings is not having who you need at the table. This may be someone who has specific information, background on  a topic, or authority to sign off/give approval. Who needs to be at your meeting, based on the agenda?

4. Confirm Action Steps and Responsibilities - A common pitfall is that action steps, and who is responsible for moving things forward, is lost in the dialogue. Key action steps, and those who will take responsibility for making sure they are done, should be summarized at the end of each meeting. What are the major next steps? Who will be responsible for them?

5. Circle Back to Make sure Actions are being Actioned. What is the status of the action steps? How are they being moved forward immediately, and in the longer term. Who needs to know? Who is accountable? Action Plans are only as good as they are tracked and followed. What will support the implementation of decisions, and the reporting out of these actions?

As you consider your upcoming meetings, in which context might you be able to incorporate some of these ideas?

Have a great week!

Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, MES, CPT, CPCC
Potentials Realized - Leadership | Teamwork | Retreats | Coaching
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (Now available for Pre-order at Amazon)
Phone: (416)996-8326

Facilitating Effective Virtual Meetings

Patrick Lencioni said it really well - "Death by Meeting". How much time have you spent this week in meetings? How effective have they been?

Chances are, you have probably been on a couple of conference calls or virtual meetings. Where did your attention go?

Here are seven tips to keep in mind when considering facilitation of your next virtual meeting:

1. Send out an agenda a few days prior to the call, asking for feedback and input (by a specific date). Follow the agenda during the call.


2. Make the purpose of the meeting explicitly clear so individuals can gauge their need for participation, and what they may need to bring or do prior to the call.

3. If possible, keep it conversational or interactive. Research from virtual learning indicates that virtual participants need to be engaged every 5-7 minutes. Whether it is throwing a question out to the group for discussion, comments (by email) or written reflection, engagement is key!


4. Summarize key decisions, action items and agreements throughout the call. It is easy to "get lost" without the visual cues of a face to face meeting. Summaries along the way will help to keep everyone on the same page.

5. Encourage group members to "bottom line" their comments. As a facilitator of the call, keep an eye on process and keep the call moving. It is easy to get sidetracked and have long-winded stories. Establishing some process guidelines to keep the conversation moving will be very useful.

6. Follow up with a BRIEF summary of the call after wards..

7. Ensure that there is a circling back to check in on action items/commitments as appropriate.

What other tips would you suggest to ensure that your virtual meetings are most effective? Any good resources you know about?

As always, please feel free to share your thoughts below

Warm regards
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Potentials Realized - Leadership, Teamwork, Retreats

Tips for Making Your Next Meeting Work

Making Your Next Meeting Really Work

Copyright 2011 -Jennifer Britton

The Death by Meeting syndrome is endemic in today’s work environment. Did you know that the average employee spends 25% of their time in meetings. Here are five tips for making your next meeting the best it can be.

Have a clear focus – Clarify what the purpose is, and be clear on the outcomes you want to achieve. Create an agenda, assign timefrwames to the itmes you deem necessary. Stick to the timeframes, and if you can finish more quickly – great, keep moving! You will also want to determine if two shorter, more focused meetings, can be as effective as one longer meeting.

Make sure that the right people are at the table. As you create your agenda, ask yourself - Who needs to be there? Who would be useful to have at the table to provide information on an item? To make a decision on an item? To take issues forward. Also, consider who doesn’t need to be there? It is important to recognize that decisions involving more group members take longer, so don’t hesitate to set up smaller groups or committees to take discussion forward, and report back to the bigger group.

Assign responsibility – Before moving off a topic make sure that next steps are clear. Assign responsibility to one person who will take action on the item and report back to the group. Standard coaching questions such as :What will you do? By When? How will we know? will come in handy.

Follow up with follow up and accountability – On action items and important issues, ensure that you close the loop on what action steps were promised last meeting.

Assess and Readjust – As you become more proficient as a group with really effective meetings, notice what is really working. What old approaches need to be abandoned?.

Have a great week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Potentials Realized
Author of Effective Group Coaching (Wiley, 2010)
Phone: 416.996.TEAM