1. Effective Meetings
Chapter 8

2. Meetings:
Between 11 million and 20 million business meetings take place each day
The typical American spends 5.5 hours per week in meetings
Many meetings are considered unproductive

3. Types of Meetings Information Sharing: exchange information
Problem Solving and Decision Making- make changes to policies or procedures (most challenging)
Ritual Activities: Informal socialization
Virtual: Teleconference or videoconference

4. When to Hold a Meeting Could it be handled over the phone
Could you send a memo, , or fax
Are key people able to attend
Is the subject to trivial
Is there enough time for the agenda
Are members prepared
Is the agenda routine
Can the agenda be handled without help
You need a meeting

5. Agenda- A list of topics to be covered in a meeting
What do we need to do in the meeting to achieve our objective?
What conversations will be important to the people who attend?
What information will we need to begin?

6. Conducting the Meeting
Beginning
Identify Goals, Provide Background Info, Show How the Team Can Help, Preview the Meeting, and Identify Time Constraints
Conducting
Parliamentary: Governed by a set of rules
Decisions: of interest to external audience, haste may obscure critical thinking, and emotions are likely to be strong
Order: Reading of the minutes, Reports, Unfinished business, and new business
Motions: Introducing topic for deliberation
Concluding
Signal when time is up, Summarize the meeting’s accomplishments and future actions, thank the group

7. Questions Overhead: Directed toward the group as a whole
Direct: Aimed at a particular individual
Reverse: When members ask the leader a question and the leader refers the question back to the member
Relay: When the leader refers a question one member asks to the entire group

8. Discussions Keeping discussions on track Tone
Remind the group of time pressures
Summarize and redirect the discussion
Use relevancy challenges to keep ideas on track
Promise to deal with good ideas later
Tone
Ask questions and paraphrase to clarify understanding
Enhance the value of members’ comments
Pay attention to cultural factors

9. Follow-Up Prepare and distribute minutes of the meeting
Build an agenda for the next meeting
Follow up on other members
Take care of your own action items

10. Stages in Group Problem Solving
Orientation Phase (forming)
Conflict Phase (storming)
Emergence Phase (norming)
Reinforcement Phase (performing)

11. Enhancing Creativity Brainstorming- free thinking
No criticism, members start conversation, encouragement, no speaking order, variety of members- not just experts
Nominal Group Technique
Everyone writes down an ideas, ideas are posted, discussion, rank-order, discussion
Systematic Problem Solving
Define problem, analyze problem, establish criteria, generate potential solutions, decide on solution, implement, follow up

12. Decision Making Consensus: collective group decision
Majority Vote: support of most of the members
Minority Decision: few members make a decision affecting the entire group
Expert Opinion: a single person with the skill to make an informed decision
Authority Rule: designated leader makes the final decision