Archive for the ‘Effective Meetings’ Category

You will lose.

People who are checking their email, exchanging text messages, surfing the web, tweeting or playing “Words with Friends” during a meeting are NOT fully engaged with the others in the room.

In the past, we never had to deal with smart phones, small laptops, or iPads in the meeting room. Now that these weapons of mass distraction are all but universal, we need to consider our choices:

1. Tolerate
2. Ban
3. Incorporate

Each of these options sends a message.

#1 (Tolerate) says: We recognize that this meeting may be boring for you at times, so feel free to do something else while the rest of us deal with the issues we came together to address.

#2 (Ban) says: We need you in the conversation. We recognize that, like everyone else in the room, you are busy. We promise to make good use of your time and end the session promptly at the announced hour.

#3 (Incorporate) says: We will use these technology tools at specific moments in the program. Until then, please turn them off.

Option #1 (Tolerate) is already the default setting at most meetings. Let´s explore what it would take for option #2 (Ban) to become the new normal.

• The facilitator must propose the ban at the start of each meeting, along with whatever other process agreements the group may have.
• The group must accept the proposal; otherwise the facilitator has no authority to impose it.
• The ban must be universal. No exceptions (other than for the person taking the meeting minutes on a laptop or if someone is asked to check a fact on the internet)
• The ban must be enforced. When the rule is violated, the facilitator must politely but firmly remind participants of the prior agreement and ask those who simply must use their devices to do so outside the meeting room.

Even more important, however, is the obligation of those convening and facilitating the meeting to have a clear, compelling purpose for the session and design an agenda that will engage participants instead of boring them to death.

In another post, I will consider option #3 (incorporate the use of BlackBerries and their cousins into the meeting design). Meanwhile, I would love to know your thoughts about personal electronic devices the meeting room.

Please leave a comment below!

Too often meetings start out by making a collective list of issues to be addressed. The resulting “laundry list” includes everything from broad concepts (strategic planning) to pet peeves (messy desks), of varying degrees of relevance to the group.

This practice is related to the “spinning wheels” phenomenon discussed in a previous blog.

• It is often a sign that no effective agenda planning has occurred before the meeting.
• It gives the misleading impression that whatever is mentioned will be discussed and/or decided.
• Long lists of random items tend to paralyze rather than energize a group.
• If repeated too frequently, laundry list-making produces a “here we go again” response from meeting participants.

What to do?

1. Limit collective list making. While this may be a useful strategy for collecting concerns in a new group or one that has not met in a while, do not make it a regular meeting practice.
2. Write each item on a separate card to facilitate sorting and prioritizing (see below).
3. Group the items. One effective way to accomplish this to put several images in a row along a wall or whiteboard. The images should be easily recognizable and NOT directly related to the purpose or interests of the group. For example, items of clothing (shirt, socks, pants, hat, gloves, shoes, etc.) or everyday tools (shovel, ladder, hammer, pliers, saw, etc.). Ask participants to place the cards that seem to go together under one of the images. If someone disagrees with the placement of a card he/she can move it to another location or make a duplicate card to put under another image. Give participants time to review the groupings. This is best done in silence. Then lead a brief discussion of the results, clarifying concepts and if necessary, moving items.
4. Name the groups. Start with one image and the cards clustered under it and ask “What bigger idea do these items point to?” or “What name should we give this family of items?). Substitute this new name for the original image. (For example, “shirt” becomes “staffing needs”).
5. Prioritize the named groups (not the items in the group). Assign each group of ideas to categories like these: Urgent (requires immediate attention) Important (needs serious, sustained attention), and Not now.
6. Assign the Urgent and Important items to a person, committee, department, or other working group who will be responsible for leading action on this cluster of ideas.
7. Put the “not now” items in cold storage - or the compost pile.
8. Follow up in future meetings.

Note: If it is impractical or impossible for the whole group to prioritize and assign responsibility for follow up, then the leader or executive team should carry out these tasks.

List making can be an effective first step toward identifying concerns, but it is never a substitute for constructive action.

Add a comment about your experience with group laundry lists.