THE SKILL-BUILDING SUPERVISOR: Top Tools For Your Journey to Excellence An Infopeople Webcast Session #3 “Making Meetings Matter” Presented by Dr. Steve Albrecht, PHR, CPP DrSteve@DrSteveAlbrecht.com

COMMUNICATION METHODS E-mail and instant messaging. By telephone. Through written media – memos, reports, letters, policies, procedures, rules, guidelines. Face-to-face, one on one meetings: informal or formal. Group meetings: informal or formal. You have response-ability, or, the ability to determine your response to the other person or the group.

MEETING KILLERS Too long. Too many topics. Too many long-winded speeches. Over and under-contributors. “Superball syndrome.” They deteriorate into gripe sessions. No goals, roles, and processes.

TAILGATE TALKS Best used before the work day begins. Be brief! (15 minutes total) Stick to one subject. Provide additional material only if necessary. Keep the group on their feet if you can. Ask for questions or feedback on the subject. Thank them and turn them loose with a bit of motivation.

REAL BRAINSTORMING It’s rarely done well. Use Alex Osborn’s process! First ask the group for the quantity of their ideas, with no focus on the quality just yet. Write down exactly what each person says. After the lists are full, then go back and fine tune the ideas down to what’s workable. Rank the ideas and create an operational plan.

IDEA KILLER & IDEA SELLERS “That won’t work.” It’s not in the budget.” “We tried that before.” “You’re new here, right?” “No one will agree to that approach.” “It’s too late for that.” “We can’t make drastic changes.” “Let’s discuss it a bit.” “How about if we suspend our judgment for a moment?” “This may sound crazy, but what if we . . .?” “I’d like to hear feedback from some others.” “Can we test it first?”

THE P.I.N. FORMULA What’s POSITIVE about the idea, proposal, policy, or plan? What’s INTERESTING about the idea, proposal, policy, or plan? Finally, what’s NEGATIVE about the idea, proposal, policy, or plan?

THE S.P.I.C.E. MODEL SKILLS – Who is in the room? PROCESS – What tools will we use? INFORMATION – What do we know? CONSENSUS – Do we agree on the answers? EMPATHY – Are we supportive of each other?

REVISITING OUR O.D. MODEL What do we need to KEEP doing around here? What do we need to STOP doing around here? What do we need to START doing around here?

Thanks for your time and attention. Good luck, from Dr. Steve