Effective Meeting

WHAT THIS POWER PACK WILL COVER Constructing an Effective Meeting Organizing an Effective Meeting Running an Effective Meeting

Constructing an Effective Meeting 1. Identify the purpose. 2. Make sure the right people are there. 3. Develop the agenda.

Constructing an Effective Meeting 1. Identify the purpose. Focus on the outcome you are trying to achieve. People meet for one of, or for a combination of these reasons: - Information exchange - Self-awareness or consciousness raising. - Learning - Creative thinking, generating ideas - Accomplishing tasks - Building relationships and commitment

Constructing an Effective Meeting 2 Constructing an Effective Meeting 2. Making sure the right people are there. Who needs to be there? Are they providing information, are they getting information or exchanging information? Will people have to have a meeting before the meeting? You should have someone to make the decisions. And someone to carry out the decisions.

Constructing an Effective Meeting 3. Develop the agenda. - Establish how long the meeting will last. - List the agenda items that need to be covered or process steps that need to occur. - Estimate how long each item will take factoring in time for dialogue. - Leave about 15 minutes at the end for summary and agreement on what comes next.

Organize an Effective Meeting 1. Prepare necessary materials. 2. Room set up, location. 3. Lead the meeting as a facilitator. 4. Ground rules.

Organize an Effective Meeting 1. Prepare necessary materials. An agenda before the meeting allows people to ask questions and prepare if necessary. Will you need maps, flowcharts, old reports, proposals, calendars, etc.? Visual aids assist in making dialogue more concrete.

Organize an Effective Meeting 2. Room set up, location. Think of seating. Will people have to break up into smaller groups? Will you need a flip chart or an overhead projector? Will you need audio/visual equipment? Are there working outlets? Will you provide food or refreshments?

Organize an Effective Meeting 3. Lead the meeting as a facilitator. Facilitator helps group improve the way it solves problems and makes decisions. Ensures the group accomplishes its identified outcomes on a timely manner. Fosters an enhanced sense of commitment to one another and to the achievement of goals. Sees that group members share and understand all information and seek new information when necessary. Buffers the group from internal/external manipulation.

Organize an Effective Meeting 4. Ground rules. Any preordained rule will garner minimal commitment. Only through dialogue will a rule achieve its maximum self-enforcing potential. ie: “We should respect each other.” not as effective as if brought up through dialogue. ie: “What are some important guidelines we should all keep in mind when we work together in these meetings?” dialogue begins.

Organize an Effective Meeting 4. Ground rules continued... The facilitator can normalize strongly held values or emotional issues that surface right from the beginning. Sensitivities will surface and be taken care of early.

Typically ground rules center around these issues: What people expect to have at the end of the meetings Significant or ambiguous definitions Timelines for meetings length of meetings, when they are held and for how long Meeting leadership and other roles Participation and attendance How decisions will be made (consensus or voting) How to express disagreements Communication with those outside the group

Running an Effective Meeting 1. Facilitation skills. 2. Decision making techniques. 3. Handling conflict. 4. Next steps and assignments. 5. Effectiveness of the meeting (Evaluation).

Running an Effective Meeting 1. Facilitation skills. Analysis - Separating content from process work Communication - Choice of words - Ability to listen, summarize and reframe - Using questions to stimulate thinking Familiarity with process models - Leadership - Decision making and voting - Decision making and consensus building - Techniques to keep the meeting on track and moving

Running an Effective Meeting 2. Decision making by Vote. Voting makes sense when: Many people are involved. The population is diverse. Moving forward is more important than settlement. There is ample time for dialogue before the votes are cast. The dialogue includes looking at and evaluating a number of options.

Running an Effective Meeting 2. Decision making by Consensus. Consensus is the cooperative development of a decision that is acceptable enough so that all the members of the group agree to support the decision. Keep in mind that the members of the group are team members, not adversaries.

Running an Effective Meeting 3. Conflict. Conflict is less likely to occur if meetings are well-planned. The most common reaction to conflict is avoidance. Forms of avoidance? Repressing conflict, pretending it doesn’t exist, admonishing participants for disagreeing.

Running an Effective Meeting 3. Step for handling conflict. 1. The facilitator gains rapport and commitment from the parties to address the conflict. 2. Agreement on the scope of what you are trying to solve. (first meeting) 3. Agreement on ground rules, including meeting protocols, timelines, who participates, and decision making process. (second meeting) Continued…

Running an Effective Meeting 3. Step for handling conflict. Continued… 4. Gathering and exchanging information from technical data to feelings. (in a joint session) 5. Framing the decision to be made incorporating diverse interests into the problem statements. 6. Developing criteria by which to evaluate the decision. 7. Developing options to address the problem statement. Continued…

Running an Effective Meeting 3. Step for handling conflict. 8. Negotiating the options. 9. Making decisions, fine tuning terms and implementation plan. 10. Checking back to see how plans are going.

Running an Effective Meeting 4. Next steps and assignments. Leave time to ask where the group goes from here. Summarize who is going to do what, with whom, and by when. Rough-out major agenda items for the next meeting before adjourning.

Running an Effective Meeting 5 Running an Effective Meeting 5. Effectiveness of the meeting (Evaluation). Help participants become more comfortable with self-critique by asking them to evaluate the meeting. - What did they like? - Any insights? - What didn’t go particularly well? - Suggestions?

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