|
A
MEETING OF MINDS: Getting
Results with Others
|
Quick Tips for a Successful Meeting
Anyone who has spent any time in the corporate world knows
that meetings comprise a huge chunk of our day. Some meetings
are very productive, however, the feedback one most often
hears is that the bulk of the meetings attended are a
waste of time.
What
makes a meeting a success or failure? The following
tips should provide a skeleton structure for productive
gatherings.
1.
Preparation:
Understanding the criticality of meeting preparation
is the single most important element in producing a
successful meeting. The points listed below represent
components of preparation. Depending on the nature of
the meeting, prep work can take a month or it can take
a day. The time invested in preparation is time well
spent. It will amplify your results and will build credibility
for you within your organization. You will also find
that attendance at your meetings will be good since
participants will appreciate the time saved by the prep
work done, the structured and organized nature of the
meeting which produces solid results.
2.
Clear Objective:
It is essential to have a clear objective for the purpose
and outcome of the meeting. Are you gathering to make
a decision as a group? Is the meeting a brainstorming
session and the outcome a list of ideas? Is this a problem-solving
session, perhaps a crisis resolution task force? Or
is this a business planning session to determine a group's
goals for the coming quarter, six months or a year?
The
possibilities are many but the essential piece to clearly
and succinctly communicate is the objective of the meeting
and the anticipated yield from the meeting, i.e. an
action plan, a decision, a strategy, etc.
3.
Correct Participants:
Identifying the right people to attend your meeting
is the task which immediately follows #2 (Clear Objective)
above. That is because until you determine what it is
that you wish to yield, you won't really know who would
be best positioned to assist you in obtaining the desired
outcome. For example, if the objective is a technical
problem solving session, it will be essential to identify
the key technical experts, very often cross-functional
representatives. Technical problems tend to overlap
key skillset areas. An effective outcome will be ensured
if the right knowledge — and the right facilitator
— are included.
4.
Agenda:
Many people overlook the importance of an agenda to
creating a good structure for their meetings. A good
agenda is one that is carefully thought out by the meeting
host and/or facilitator. The agenda will break out time
segments for specific tasks during the meeting. For
example, a brainstorming session may have an agenda
that involves the following components:
a)
Introductions
b) Communicating the vision
c) Defining the problem
d) Facilitated brainstorming (decide on brainstorming
methodology/tool to be used)
e) Synthesizing the outcome, i.e. categorization
such as groupings for short, medium, long-term, or
actionable/not actionable.
f) Next steps
g) Meeting closure
Questions
to ask yourself when determining the meeting agenda
are: What components are necessary? For example, does
there need to be a "stage-setting" presentation
to familiarize the participants of the problem/task
at hand that they are being asked to solve for? If so,
how complex a problem/task is this? Does it make sense
to forward meeting materials to participants in advance
and ask that it be reviewed prior to attending the meeting
so that everyone has a chance to get up to speed?
How
much time is needed for each meeting task? Be realistic
here. If it is apparent that the meeting will require
a full day session in order to address the issues, it
is better to plan it all for a single day and walk away
with closure rather than split the meeting up over the
course of several 2 hour sessions. Splitting a meeting
up causes you to lose traction and delay results. (There
are specific tips for full day, or several day sessions
and these will be covered in another article).
(An
agenda template is
offered.)
5.
Conference Room:
Part of the preparation for a successful meeting includes
planning a comfortable location for the meeting. This
does not imply that lavish or extravagant accommodations
be sought. Rather it speaks more to having a room with
adequate seating for all meeting participants, with
white boards or easels depending on the planned meeting
tasks, good lighting, ventilation, work surfaces (tables
etc.), accessible rest rooms and water.
Projectors,
overheads, telephones, video conferencing and computer
systems are also essential components for today's meetings.
Having a computer system available in the room makes
it easy for the meeting documentation to be done in
tandem, and also provides greater flexibility. For example,
if the meeting is a software review, it is helpful to
have a system available so that the software can be
pulled up and questions can be addressed on the spot
rather than through anecdotal reference.
The
system can also be used for quick reference or to communicate
with someone not in the room but who can, perhaps, answer
a "show stopper" question for the group. For
example, what if the assembled team is a Sigma team
determining the scope of a particular effort? There
may be an item that falls on the line between in- or
out-of-scope, but said item can significantly change
the overall outcome of the session. The team may choose
to send a question off to the Sigma Champion or Master
Black Belt to clarify the vision and scope further.
6.
Documentation:
Documenting the meeting, the decisions and the action
items is the glue that holds the deliverables together.
It is this documentation work that will represent the
yield, and that will help ensure accountability and
adherence to commitments.
It
is a good habit to always include a "scribe"
in meeting participants who will document the proceedings.
If the conference room does not have a computer system
set up, it is useful to bring a laptop.
7.
Roles and Responsibilities:
Depending on the length of the meeting, you may choose
to break out roles and responsibilities into Timekeeper,
Facilitator(s), Scribe, Phone monitor (for conference
call participants) etc., or roll these up into a facilitator
and a scribe.
A
clear facilitator helps to ensure that all tasks are
accomplished, that the meeting stays on track, and that
conflict, which may arise, is managed successfully.
One of the key tools for a facilitator is the agenda.
This acts as the roadmap. Occasionally, the agenda must
be modified on the fly due to unanticipated items that
surface. If serious issues arise during the course of
the meeting, it is our recommendation to immediately
deal with the issues rather than try to suppress them
as this would only force acquiescence among the participants
and may subsequently undermine any results yielded.
Sometimes,
a meeting participant becomes disruptive. When this
happens, the facilitator/host needs to decide whether
the disruptive member is acting in good faith, i.e.
overall good in mind, or whether they are acting from
a singular position, i.e. "I personally dislike
change". If cohesion cannot be obtained using a
variety of conflict resolution strategies, then the
facilitator should call a break and take the person
aside to discuss perceptions privately.
8.
Closure:
Have you ever been to a meeting where you left the session
and had no idea what was accomplished or whether you
had any further actions? Closure of a meeting reinforces
the lacing on the meeting discussions and decisions.
Key aspects of meeting closure is a high level review
of:
a)
Meeting objectives
b) Meeting results, i.e. what was accomplished
c) Individual action items
d) Next steps, i.e. will the team reconvene,
if so, when? When can the team expect to see the followup?
How will communications be handled?
e) Feedback — depending on the meeting,
you may wish to request feedback on what went well,
what can be improved upon for next time.
9. Follow-up:
A successful meeting will have a yield. It is important
for the meeting participants to receive a follow-up
of the meeting. The follow-up is most often done in
the form of meeting minutes, however, depending on the
meeting type, the follow-up could well be a package
of documentation. For example, perhaps the meeting participants
created a future state process flow. The preliminary
prep work for this meeting would have included a current
state process flow. Therefore, the meeting results package
would contain the current state process flow, the future
state process flow, and a gaps analysis, among other
items.
Such
follow-up also builds the reputation of the meeting
facilitator and/or host. It shows planning, professionalism,
thoroughness and a results-oriented strategy. In other
words, this is work effort that will not be wasted.
10.
Hospitality:
I once had a Director tease me that the reason I always
enjoyed such good attendance at my meetings was because
of the food. The truth is, if it was important to set
an atmosphere of warmth, camaraderie and collaboration
for results, bringing homemade cookies or a poundcake
helps set the stage for comfortable participation.
It's
the same reason why real estate agents bake chocolate
chip cookies during open houses. The smell and taste
of something rich and familiar generates a sense of
comfort that often brings down pre-built defenses.
Special
touches, such as ensuring there is water available,
fresh brewed coffee and cream, hot tea, and something
lovely from the bakery, go a long way in creating a
mood. If the meeting is one that will last all day,
or into multiple days, make sure to provide snacks on
the table for the mid-afternoon slump. You will have
a much more productive session and happier attendees.
If
the meeting attendees include folks that had to do extensive
traveling to get to the meeting destination, these hospitality
touches will be even more appreciated.
We
hope these tips are helpful. If so, and if you would
like to see a series that further delves into successful
meetings and facilitation, drop
us a line.
|
